Monday, August 04, 2008

PrepNation 101 Preseason FB Countdown: No. 2 Byrnes

2. Byrnes (Duncan, S.C.)
Last season’s record: 15-0, Class 4A/I champion
Coach: Chris Miller
Key players: RB Marcus Lattimore (6-0, 209, Jr.), QB Chas Dodd (5-11, 175, Jr.), WR Ricco Sanders (6-0, 175, Sr.), DB Riyahd Richardson (5-9, 165, Sr.), DB Justin Bright (6-1, 185, Sr.), LB Daniel Cleveland (5-11, 200, Sr.), OL Jamie Dunaway (6-4, 255, Sr.), DE Corey Miller (6-4, 222, Jr.), DT Brandon Willis (6-4, 255, Jr.), OL Hakiem Holmes (6-4, 230, Sr.), OL Mitch Skul (6-1, 225, Sr.), WR Nick Jones (5-9, 170, Jr.), LB Skylar Franklin (5-8, 160, Sr.), WR Jazz King (6-0, 170, Jr.)
Biggest strength: Experience, explosive offense
Question mark: Punting game
Outlook: Another year, another state title. At least it seems that way when you talk about the Rebels, who last season captured their fifth championship in six years. Could it possibly get any better for Byrnes? Maybe. Second-year head coach Miller has a team absolutely loaded with experience and Division I-caliber talent. Seventeen starters – nine on offense and eight defense – are returning. An exceptional junior class is headlined by national recruit Lattimore. As a sophomore, he ran for 1,829 yards and had 470 receiving yards with 30 total touchdowns. Lattimore is the first underclassmen ever invited to the US Army All-American Bowl a year before selections are made for the rest of his class. At quarterback, Dodd is already on track to be one of the most prolific passers in South Carolina prep history. He completed 288 of 410 passes (70 percent) for 3,208 yards and 32 touchdowns. There is great talent at receiver, as well. Sanders is a playmaker who caught 58 passes for 908 yards and 13 touchdowns while Jones and King are stretch-the-field speedsters who should put up big numbers this fall. There is less glamour in the trenches, but plenty of stability with all five linemen having started some or all of the games last season. The Byrnes defense gave up only 14 points per game last season and should be even better in ’07. The front seven features a pair of future blue chip recruits in Miller and Willis plus two returning starters at linebacker, led by all-region honoree Cleveland. He had 140 tackles, including 19 for losses, and seven sacks. Florida State recruit Bright and fellow Division I prospect Richardson are the holdovers in the secondary.
Toughest games: Aug. 29 at Snellville (Ga.) North Gwinnett, Sept. 19 vs. Tallahassee (Fla.) Lincoln, Sept. 26 vs. EC No. 19 Gaffney, Oct. 3 vs. No. 33 Pahokee (Fla.), Oct. 24 at No. 97 Dorman

15 comments:

SCfootball said...

little surprised Byrnes is not #1 - alot more starters are back plus tougher schedule than Euless TX

Naughts said...

Win all your games and you'll be #1...

Anonymous said...

pahokee will make sure byrnes fails once again at winning a national title.

Anonymous said...

Byrnes plays football in without a doubt the toughest region in SC. The last time Byrnes was ranked at #2 in the nation, it was their arch rival in SC Region II, Gaffney, that whacked their ass.....not once, but twice in the same season. Gaffney went on to win the State AAAA Championship that year. Look for a repeat again this year. As in 2006, Byrnes again has to play in Gaffney, where as anybody will tell you, it is difficult to win, ranked or not.

Anonymous said...

anonymous was right regardless of what anyone says all state championships must come through the reservation where ALL Byrnes fans realize that a win there is IMPOSSIBLE GO INDIANS

SCfootball said...

with what Gaffney has coming abck they will probably lose three games. Highly overated this yr!!

Anonymous said...

Gaffney football might be the worst team ever in the state of SC. They will lose 5 games this year. Byrnes will punish Gaffney in their house 56-7. Sorry Indians, I met your daddy the other and his name was JAmes F. Byrnes!!

barbara smith said...

YES WE ARE #2 AND THEIR IS NOTHING YOU ALL CAN DO ABOUT IT STOP HATING AND FOR AS GAFFNEY YOU ARE ON THE BACK BURNER SO YOU JUST KEEP GOING AND AND WHEN WE FINISH WITH GAFFNEY WE JUST SMILE AND WALK AWAY WITH THE PRIZE

Anonymous said...

congrats BYRNES!!! #1 will come in time. Gaffney will get beat by Dorman. To bad Byrnes will not give them their first big L in the new stadium! Oh well 2 loses in that stadium will have to do!! Marcus Lattimore is a man!!! Let's get started!!!

Anonymous said...

lets get this straight, the only reason gafney won is becasue they had a QB that was like 64, 220lbs, that just ran, he sucked. and he was dumb as crap. notice that he didnt make it to college bc his gpa was lower than a 1....gafney high cheated him into playing ball,

Anonymous said...

Gaffney is the only team in S.C.to beat My Rebels in the last 6 years.and i have to give them their props.But that was at that ghost stadium.This new field will be named Nixon Field #2.The Rebels Jr. class is too strong for many teams Sr. classes so if you didn't come to play some hard nose football,please just forfeit and stay at home.

Anonymous said...

Lucky for Byrnes that they're not playing in the Region 2-4A of the 80's & 90's when you had Gaffney, Spartanburg, Dorman, Northwestern, and Rock Hill when they were all good. It seemed liked every year during that time, the 4A Division I (or Big 16 to those familiar with SC High School Football) state champion would come from that division. John McKissic of Summerville would have won a lot more state championships during that era if it wasn't for those teams.

At the time, Region 2-4A was considered on of the toughest regions in the country. I wonder how would the Byrnes of 2003-2007 would fare against the old region 2-4A? I think that they would be good, but I doubt that they would be as dominant.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous:
That QB you are speaking of did go to college and is slated as the starting QB for SCSU this year. I am a REBEL Alumn and I give Gaffeny all the respect in the world. They are consistantly good and you can't take that away from them. My advise to my REBELS is to not pay any attention to all this preseason hype made up by man and just go out and play hard nose football night in and night out. If they do that, good things will happen. If they listen to some people having already rubber stamped their name on everything, they will fall way short. You should know that on any given night, any given team can win.

TheresaSASpursfan said...

Does Anyone know Gary Lynn Frye?

Anonymous said...

This comment is for BrotherJR. Byrnes did play in Region II/4A back in the 80`s and we did play Dorman,Spartan High and Gaffney.If you do your research back then Byrnes was the smallest school in that region behind Union.Yes back then Gaffney and Spartan High had our number but they were close games.We did however had Dormans.When it came to the playoffs the SCHSL moved us to the Divisiob II bracket which we were runners up in State in 85 but State Champs in 86.So please JR do your research.

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