We have a funny story for you. Uriah Virzi from Paducah, Kentucky posted some pictures from the State Wrestling tournament in which he was competing and in which he had made it to the championship round. By the time we print this he may well be the Kentucky MS champion in his weight-class. We don’t know, we don’t cover wrestling but recognize it as a good indicator of future football playing success.
The two photographs we are referencing are the featured photograph for this article and the one appearing in the body of the article. We don’t know who took the photographs but believe it may have been a family member, friend, or coach. They were really good photographs but looked more like amateur photography and not a professional shot for which we need to give credit.
So, we are watching the Super Bowl and sitting beside a young man who started much of the year for the Breathitt County MS Bobcats at offensive center. We said, “Hey, look at these two pictures! Can you believe he’s an eighth grader?”
“No way!” was the exclaimed response. KYMSFA Regional Players of the Year probably are accustomed to such commentary. Team Kentucky FBU or Future Stars players have grown accustomed, we are sure, to such exclamations. Ditto for Top Gun-caliber, MS, players and FBU All-American candidates.
The point, while all eighth graders may be created equally, they don’t all remain equal. Hard work, effort, offseason training and development, all weigh into the likelihood an entering player will report to the varsity end of the practice field or the JV/Freshman end.
A representative of our publication was being interviewed on a radio sports program. He was asked whether it was difficult to predict the high school success of a kid still in 8th grade. In truth, it is getting steadily easier. What’s getting harder is telling the difference between a HS, varsity starter and a MS “Team Kentucky” caliber athlete.
There are players in the 8th grade right now, entering the 9th grade this coming Fall, who we are quite sure will be starting sometime over the 2020 football season on Friday nights. Uriah Virzi, set to enroll at Paducah Tilghman and play for the Blue Tornado this coming Fall, is one of them. He may even be chiefly among the throng.
Virzi is listed in the 6-1, 6-2 range and weighs around 230-pounds. We had him on our MS, All-State team as a defensive lineman. We could see him playing with his hand in the dirt, either in a three or two point stance as a rush DE, or even standing up playing along a defensive second level. What we are confident in saying is we certainly see him playing. Kids with his level of physical prowess are just difficult to keep on the sideline.
This is Coach HB Lyon, reporting for KPGFootball, and we’re JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!
If you enjoyed this article and wish to gain full-access to the site, then subscribe monthly to Kentucky Prep Gridiron by following the prompts!
© The information contained on this site is the copyrighted intellectual property of KPGFootball. Any unauthorized dissemination of this material without the author’s express written consent is strictly prohibited!
Leave a Reply