“Gratitude leads to love.”- on my tea bag this morning

It’s mid-afternoon and the weather has been squirrely up until now. Driving rain and hail around midday. Stiff south breeze and showers expected later tonight and most of the day tomorrow. In the present–the sun is shining between puffy fast-moving clouds and it’s approaching 60 degrees. Perfect afternoon.

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Later this evening it’ll be the perfect evening for football. Blustery, chilly, maybe a bit drizzly for the Wednesday Night version of Friday Night Lights between UHSAA 6A Giants.

• #1 @ #9
• #3 @ #10

This weekend wraps the regular season of Friday Night Lights for UHSAA, and the big schools are finishing early to prepare for the playoff schedule. I’m fired up for both of these top 10 matchups, but there are more than a few games to check out if you are in the area. I think it’ll be possible to catch the first half of one and then the second half of the other. Might be worth it. Then again, it might be worth picking one and sticking with it. We’ll see.

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The college game is also on tonight. Sam Houston is hosting 1-5 UTEP. If the Bearkats can’t win tonight, maybe they will in two weeks when they play in Corvallis. If you don’t make a Friday Night Lights game tonight, tune in to watch this relegation worth matchup between a winless team and a one-win team on CBSSN. It’ll be riveting if only for the suspense of finding out will they or won’t they finally get a win. I’m rooting for Winless Oregon St and winless Sam Houston to remain that way until they play in three weeks. Now that’s a game I’d watch. Let’s root for a tie.

Now, you won’t find any of the below players playing in tonight’s game but look for them as they impress during their games this weekend.

20 IMPRESSIVE PLAYERS

10 Defensive Players I Like:

• NEB LB Vincent Shavers 26 Tackles, 1 Pass Defended, 1 FF
• MD EDGE Dillon Fontus 12 Tackles, 4.5 TFL, 2 Sacks
• MD MLB Dylan Wingate 56 Tackles, 3 TFL, 1 Sack, 1 INT
• WA EDGE Zach Durfee-INJ 8 Tackles, 1 TFL, 1 Sack, 1 Pass Defended
• MEM LB Demarco Ward 32 Tackles, 2 TFL, 2 INT, 1 for a TD
• UTE EDGE John Henry Daley 30 Tackles, 11 TFL, 8 Sacks, 2 FF, 1 PD
• BUF LB Khalil Murdock 70 Tackles, 7 TFL, 4 FF, 2 Sacks, 1 FR
• OSU EDGE Caden Curry 31 Tackles, 9.5 TFL, 6 Sacks, 1 FR, 1 PD
• Tulsa DL J’Dan Burnett 16 Tackles, 8 TFL, 6 Sacks, 1 PD, 1 FF
• TEN DL Joshua Josephs 25 Tackles, 5.5 TFL, 4 Sacks, 3 FF, 2 PD, 1 FR for a TD

10 Offensive Players I Like:

• MD WR Octavion Smith 375 Yards
• WA RB Jonah Coleman 761 Yards, 12 TD
• ND RB Jeremyiah Love 690 Yards, 11 TD
• ND RB Jadarian Price 457 Yards, 8 TD
• USC QB Jayden Maiava 17 Total TD, 2 Picks
• WA QB Demond Williams 14 Total TD, 1 INT, 74 pct completion rate
• IND QB Fernando Mendoza 19 Total TD, 2 INT
• UGA QB Gunner Stockton 12 TD, 1 Pick
• USC WR Makai Lemon 7 TD, 693 Yards
• ASU WR Jordyn Tyson 526 yards, 8 TD

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These are lists that are always incomplete but do scratch the surface of the top players that are playing this season.

Gunner for Heisman. 4 Total TD in this weekend’s top 10 win over Mississippi. The numbers will improve. Georgia is about to go on a run. I’d still have them ranked them #1 if there wasn’t a clear cut ‘one’ like we have with Ohio St. I mean it. Georgia looks real.

So do these players and so do the 6A teams playing ball tonight.

I’m grateful for football. In short, I love football. “Gratitude leads to love.”

Find the Humor and Keep on Movin’

Whit W.