re: Louisiana Bootleggers will no longer participate in IMG events

Sic lured me into this thread via Twitter. I was just about to go hamm, too.

Duckie hit it on the head. IMG and others with a vested interest in its program, headed a smear campaign against 7v7 and its organizers, all in an effort to minimize the impact others would have on them reaching their long term goal; building the IMG program. I took a ton of heat, while they sat back and plucked players right from under everyone's noses.

The disdain some coaches have for 7v7 lies at their feet, but they just pass the ball in our direction so they don't get hammered for what they are doing. After the Moses news broke I fielded numerous calls from coaches saying their kids would not be able to play 7v7.

The whole thing rubs me the wrong way.

There has been a lot of work done to legitimize the sport, but they are making it difficult with every move they make. This year will be the introduction into the Jr. Olympics etc., but everyone is worried about how IMG will recruit their kids.

By the looks of these tweets the bootleggers are being accused of giving these kids the exposure to IMG and the reason why top prospects are leaving the state. I know if I was a coach and my best player said he was going play 7v7 football at IMG for a few days I would be sweating my arse off hoping he doesn't play well.

70k to play at IMG should throw up a few red flags Jimmy. That's what a 4 year degree at almost all colleges now a days. (Insert kerment the frog sipping tea here)

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70k to play at IMG should throw up a few red flags Jimmy.

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What parent wouldn't want to pay $70K to subsidize the costs of the highest quality teammates for their children? For every Shea Patterson and Drake Davis there has to be a Milo Shmedlap paying to cover the cost of attendance. The sad part is there are too many parents of the Milo Shmedlaps who think their kids will somehow make it big by attending IMG even though they lack elite level skills.

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Sorry I'm getting up to speed on this: high schools allow their students to participate in 7v7, which is fine, but they go to IMG for their events, and if a student decides he wants to transfer, the 7v7 teams are catching heat?

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That's exactly what's been happening. And those high profile kids are getting scholarships to IMG, so the $70k price tag, while real, isn't applicable.

The Florida High School Athletics Association, or whatever entity they are, has given them a semi-pass as long as they don't recruit kids from Florida schools.

So they use national 7on7 tourneys held at their place to showcase the school and scout for talent.

I don't want to say that individual state associations should place penalties on schools that play against IMG, but I won't be surprised or upset if it happens.

So did Jimmy catch heat for promoting the 7v7 teams?

Wow. That's pretty scummy

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Drake and SP played for the BL. But Moses never has. IMG has been after Moses for three years. Moses has nothing to do with the bootleggers

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You're 100% correct and that should be made clear. Dylan Moses has never played a single down for the BL'ers. It's the perception, though, that really matters. I would bet a lot of people assume he did. Regardless, they have seen it before and this just seeds the negative sentiment these coaches have about the program.

For obvious reasons, IMG had a major interest in Moses. He is a tremendous athlete and kid, but it does not sit well with a lot of people, and rightfully so. This state changes its high school football rules due to the nature of recruiting between local private and public schools. Now you have an entity like IMG come in and flip the kid for his final season. It's just going to rub a lot of people the wrong way. It really threatens the fragile foundation of high school football.