My very best friend in the world is a guy named Jim Rogers, who has not only coached swimming for over 30 years, but has served on numerous KHSAA rules committees. He sent me an interesting statistic immediately post NFL draft. According to Jim, whose integrity in such things I wouldn’t dare question, 29 out of 32 of the first round draft choices, this year, played multiple sports in high school. Well, that should bode very well for Caldwell County‘s Oliver Parker. I will get to his football prowess in a moment. As a baseball player, through Caldwell County’s first twenty games on the season, he was batting .376, with an on base percentage of .446, collecting 24 hits through the first 20 games. Pretty darn good, if you ask me.
Now, as my friends down at yoursportsedge.com will tell you, we only cover one sport at KPGFootball. So, basically I could care less how well he hits a baseball. I will gladly concede the field to other news outlets in that regard. We have expertise in football and evaluating football players. Heck, it is even in the site’s name, for crying out loud. Oliver Parker is dad-burn good at that one sport.
Last year for the 10-3 Tigers, through 12 games (it doesn’t appear Caldwell ever entered stats from its Regional Finals’ debacle at home against E-Town), the 6-2 165 pound, 2019, WR caught 46 passes for 777 yards with 8 receiving TDs. As a passer, Parker completed his only attempt, on the season, for 23 yards and another score. Now last season, Joby Jaggers finished third in yards passing in the 3A classification, commonwealth-wide (204-297, 2,422 yards, 28 TDs, 10 ints). Parker and his two cohorts, Travis Newsom (48 receptions) and Jameer Riley (48 receptions), caught 142 of Jaggers’ 204 completions, through the first twelve games. Now I don’t know many teams in Kentucky who have three competent cover guys among its back four. What was apparent to me was there were 10 on the schedule, for David Barnes’ team, who didn’t (Tigers last year were 10-3).
Parker, as a college prospect, is someone who has excellent frame and length for the position at which he is primarily deployed (WR). He is also listed as a FS, and I wouldn’t rule him out at that position, next-level, as he has the intelligence and ball-skills (and baseball pedigree) to play as the back-four’s centerfielder should that be a direction a college should choose to travel with him. I have recently learned Parker attended a camp at Lindsey-Wilson College at which he was timed running the 40 yard dash in 4.60 seconds. I can tell you that the highlight film doesn’t appear to reflect him struggling to gain separation from any of last season’s second or third level defenders against whom he was matched and that 40 time certainly explains why that is. At Parker’s height and with his length, a 4.6 flat forty is FBS level speed at his position in college which figures to be as a slot receiver if I am guessing. Oliver Parker reminds me of Steve Largent who ran excellent routes, had excellent hands, possessed sneaky speed, and had good length at 5-11 at a time when receivers were quite a bit shorter than today. Parker, to me, is a no-doubt college football player, and I would say that level, with his speed is from FCS all the way up to FBS, power 5 given a team’s specific need and the right situation. Regardless, there is nothing around here which seems capable of checking him.
This is Fletcher Long reporting for KPGFootball reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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