PackAttack

Lufkin had a very good Spring with 136 kids out for JV and Varsity. The Spring game rosters had 78 listed on the varsity and 58 on the JV. Good participation. Lufkin will have a few 3 year guys coming back for their senior year. Have some depth at several key positions that we haven't had for a couple of years. Have a very good crop of JV guys moving up to fill the holes left by graduation. Should be a better year for the Panthers than 2013 with all the injuries and the 5-6 finish. I normally don't take much from an intra squad scrimmage, especially after they have practiced against each other for 4 weeks, however you can see where certain players show the potential to step up, fill some holes and help the team during the coming year. They for the most part looked solid across the board. Always something to improve on in all phases of the game. However, an improved more diverse defensive strategy has helped IMO and a few new tweaks and additions to the offense looked interesting. Lufkin use to run some Pro sets back in the Reggie days and they have brought some of that back. Very large and tall O line with three of them 6'3" or better and 295 plus. back ups have size too. Good mix of experience and young in the LB corp this year with some size. Haven't had any real LB in about 4 years. Deep WR group with three kids 6'2" or better, good hands, w/ KeKe Coutee in the slot. Have 4 very good RB prospects to back up or play the two man sets with senior Stephen Sowell. QB Cumbie comes back for his senior year and has grown taller and bigger since last year. Some quality back ups in #14 Brooks, #13 Rogers ( will be the QB for Lufkin in 2015-16) and #12 Abney. Rogers, a sophomore will start at WR this year. Abney is a back up slot receiver. Kicking game will be in good hand with 3 very capable kickers. Javier Montes had a 52 yard FG in the scrimmage and the other kicker #24 had a 44 yarder, both had plenty of distance. Of course I expect about 10-15 of these guys on the varsity spring roster will start next year on the JV. So Lufkin should still suit out 60 - 65 kids, which is plenty. Coaches all seem to be pleased with everything, all will be ready to finish putting in the rest of the offense and defense sets when they come back in August. Panthers begin 7 on 7 now and host their own SQT on June 6th with 12-16 teams on hand. Lufkin will be alright this year, very competitive group.

NVM

Don't know enough just yet about all the new 5A group but I think it will be just as tough for all of us in 15-5A this coming year. Here is my meager take on this. This may look like a mixed bag to some but they all are at this time of the year. 1. Aledo 2. Longview 3. A&M Consolidated 4. Cedar Park 5. Georgetown 6. Abilene Cooper 7.Angelton or Texas City ( Houston area picks ) 8. Ennis 9.Brenham 10. Lufkin and JT (tie) ** ** Lufkin will have a much better team this year IMO barring any key injuries as last year but I am just not ready to rank them any higher right now.

Don't think Lufkin is over hauling their offense, just adding a couple things they have not done in a long while. We were told they will show some of it in the Spring game.

You just hit the nail on the head.

All promotions from with in, same guys running the D this year as the last two.

Lufkin's D has not been good the past two years for sure. I don't know because you have the same folks running the D. Don't know what to expect but it sure has been the weak link for this team the past couple seasons.

Two teams dropped out and I think Acadiana was one of them, thus Lufkin getting paired with John Curtis. Lufkin is never afraid to play really good programs and whether we are as good as in past years is yet to be determined. We have not been the last few although we did go 3 rounds deep in 2012. You want to be tested and I think Longview, Tyler Lee and John Curtis in a row is a great test, win or lose, before district play, don't you think? http://lufkinpanthersports.invisionzone.com/index.php?showforum=3

That stuff is all part of the game of basketball. SFA stayed the course and made the biggest shots when it counted.

This is something. A big divot for Allen. All the structural cracks and concrete repairs will be made to everyone's satisfaction eventually. Someone somewhere will pay a ton for all of this mess. They might even play football there in the fall, but if not, the Allen ISD has something a little nicer right next door called ATT . I am as big of a high school football fan as you can get, but I see the gap with these new stadiums, between the have's and have not's is starting to get out of hand. Especially when most Texas schools have suffer financially the past 3 years, cutting budgets and programs, while the State piles new testing on districts to provide, with no extra money to implement. Allen could have built a State of the Art stadium with 1/3rd of that 60M, but no they wanted to be the best and built a Taj Mahal . We better find a way to educate our kids better, because if what I see coming out of school these days makes you wonder about the future of this Country, our future of Texas, cause it is turning out a few knuckleheads these days. I personally don't feel sorry for Allen in this deal, because they have been in bed with this same contractor for 30 years, they even knew of problems before the place opened, yet did it anyway because they wanted to show the world what they had. Now it has bit them in the butt for the time being, but I am sure they will come out this smelling like a rose.

The real reason the military style is going away are there are fewer and fewer directors still left who can teach that style. I like the military band because you must be precise, one messes up it shows, on the other hand you can never tell when a Corps band is on track or messed up most of the time.

Lufkin's Defense and tackling went South the past two years. There are issues there that us Pack fans know all about. They will pretty much continue to run same systems they have had in place the past 10-12 years. JT was young team last year, they will be better. Ennis made a nice playoff run last year they have some returning starters. Whitehouse loses a good senior group, I don't know what is behind them. Lufkin will have about 42 seniors with this next group and lots of starters that were on that 5-6 team. Nacogdoches returns most all their team from last year, they have to be in the consideration here. Corsicana use to be a very good program, they are an unknown. It will be an interesting race IMO, don't think Lufkin will run off with anything in this district,

Lufkin? I could not begin to guess about the expectations for next year. Just saying we have not been the dominate program we once were. JT and Ennis have had lots more playoff runs of late than Lufkin has. Last years 5-6 record was not fun to watch in any way. I believe Ennis and JT will do well in this district. Not sure about Lufkin, they have their own elephants too.

Hey, Lufkin did very well for the most part in 6A, not counting last year. We are happy to be back in East Texas too. The Woods became a good rivalry and Lufkin/THW ended up dead even at 5-5 in their matchups. This move by Ennis on second thought is great for both schools in all their other sports because of the travel times during the week. Who wants to get home at 2 AM and try to take a math exam at 8 AM the next morning?

Lufkin and Longview have traveled all over the State to play football for years. In fact for years Lufkin and Texarkana were in the same district. Ennis only thinking about themselves here. Don't think Lufkin ever whimpered about going to Ennis. Did you see them file a petition with the UIL? It is what it is I guess.

Maybe the point is missing here. What I have heard on news reports are there is a trend in this country as many of you know toward safety and concussion issues. What I read are these schools will use their 7th grade for developmental football/ no pads in a PE period teaching better fundamentals. Don't think it is a cost issue at all. In fact there are some entities around the country that would like to see football abolished all together. I never played organized football until the 8th grade and I ended up just fine later on. The difference today is our kids start playing youth football at 6 and 7 years old and are exposed to more chances of injury at an early age when their bones and ligaments are developing and growing. This new change give the 7th grade kids more time to mature physically before they start taking a pounding for 5 years. On a different note, I have also read in several articles that more than 50% of NFL players do not want their own sons to play football because of what they have had to go through physically. Interesting? Can't comment on Lufkin, either way, I don't think it would impact how successful the varsity program will be down the road.

Just saying whatever the bond issue for a new stadium in Nac, it won't pass with the economy like it is right now.

Those people in Nacogdoches will not pass a bond for a new stadium, most in Nac don't care about NHS football. If Katy can't get the vote for a new stadium, what makes anyone think Nac will pass one?

IMO your only heartache is working so hard the last few years to get that gold ring, having it right in your hands a couple of times and then poof, nothing. Lufkin has been there too, yea we won one but we blew at least two other opportunities to win it. It is stinking frustrating. Longview has to be one of the Top 5 winning 4A/5A programs the last 7 or 8 years. I mean you only have so many chances to get there .....heartache is to be so close so many times. Whether it's Longview or Lufkin...........

Not new at all. Know the Lobo program well. You guys have plenty coming back. :)

Well, tell that to the Vikings, Ravens, LSU, TCU , U of Wash, North Western or K State about the purple digs..... :) Makes us unique.

I forgot that Whitehouse will lose that great senior nucleus to graduation, how did their JV do last year? Don't have a clue what Ennis has coming back. Do know that JT was a tough young team last year and will only be better in 2014. Nacogdoches also a young team returns most of their group in 2014, if they had not lost their QB last year, I think they make a better playoff run. Don't have much info on the Corsicana bunch, has always been tough out for Lufkin in the past. Not trying to leave out Jacksonville or Lindale but I don't think they are happy about this new set up much from a football stand point.

If I look at things in a statistical way and see an Ennis team coming off a 4A Semi finals appearance, losing to the eventually Sate Champions and a 5-6 Lufkin team who got bumped real good from the 1st round of the 5A playoffs. Then you have to figure that Ennis has a big edge here and you have to wonder how much can Lufkin improve with many of the same guys coming back from a 5-6 season. Lets be logical. Lufkin lost to Longview, Lee and Nacogdoches in this same rotation last year, JT was their only victim of the year with this group and that was the first game of the year. Nacogdoches has most of their team returning. That's not counting a good Whitehouse program who put up some big numbers last year. Corsicana has always been stout in years past. Non district will tell a bunch about Lufkin and where they stack up next year. This will be the biggest opening game test for Lufkin since 2002 and 2003 when we played Katy our opening games. You guys over in Longview have so much coming back, I just don't anyone in 15-5A stopping you unless you just get bored one night and slip up.

Ole Jess dropped off the Panther site last season. I really hated he did, although he sure had a burr under his saddle about anything Longview. Some of the rhetoric about our season that was posted last year upset him I guess and he requested his membership cancelled.

Lufkin also has an indoor practice facility. http://www.goodwinlasiter.com/gallery_eng/images/engineering_gallery/Site_Development/Lufkin_High_School_Athletic_Facilities_2006_500x375.jpg There is a reliable story related to me by then Super. Roy Knight as to why those stands at Abe are so steep. True story. When our school board fore fathers were in the process of building old Abe back in 1972 (opened in 1973), the Texas A&M Aggies were adding on to the upper deck at Kyle Field. They had some extra sections left that were not going to be used in that project, so some of our school board members, who had A&M ties, found out and bought those sections for a song and they became Abe Martin Stadium in Lufkin Texas. True Story. If you look at the upper deck sections at Kyle before the current renovation, you would see those sections and the ones at Abe are an exact match. Thus the STEEP climb. True Story! By the way, I have had 7 season tickets on the top row home side at Abe (Row 40) for about 25 year and most of the time I run up the stairs to our seats and I'm 60.