SMQ: Carl Albert-Tulsa Washington
Not hard to sum this one up: Size and speed vs. Just speed.
Tulsa Washington has a lethal combination of football’s two most prized tools and used them to near perfection Friday night at Carl Albert. Tulsa Washington dominated the line of scrimmage and had the two best players on the field in Eric Bennett and Calvin Barnett. After week one, I’ve got to see Eric Bennett is the early front-runner for player of the year. I know, it’s early, but if Bennett would’ve stayed healthy last season, there’s a pretty good chance he would’ve won the award as a junior. It’s no coincidence that Tulsa Washington didn’t lose last year with him behind center. Bennett isn’t the most highly prized recruit in the state but he is the best high school player.
There’s no real secret to why Carl Albert lost: Bennett, the size of the Hornets line and four interceptions killed any chance of the Titans winning.
Carl Albert is going to have to find some offensive balance in order to be successful. The Titans completed just two more passes to their own receivers as they did to the other side. Like Gary Rose told me as practices started, Carl Albert could line up and run the ball 100 percent of the time and probably have a pretty good record and a decent playoff run. To win titles, though, Carl Albert needs some balance. It’ll be interesting to see how that evolves: Were the Titans passing problems a symptom of Tulsa Washington’s big linemen getting in Realmuto’s face and forcing him to make poor decisions or were they a sign of a larger problem? I’m going with the former. There’s no doubt Carl Albert needs to get its receivers/DBs in better condition to be able to play on both sides of the ball more consistenly. They’ll have time to do that and get into a better flow, though, as the season goes on. Carl Albert will face no other team like Tulsa Washington this season.
The bright spots for Carl Albert last night also came on the offense. J.T. Realmuto had an outstanding night running the ball, with 137 yards on 20 carries. He had runs for 48 and 33 yards. Junior Kenton Whittington had a breakout game at running back. He’d been in David Oku’s shadows before this season and likely would’ve been a fullback if it wasn’t for the season-ending injury to sophomore tailback Tyre LeBlanc very early in practice. Whittington had 91 yards on 15 carries.
“He’s a stud,” Rose said of Whittington. “If he’s not the hardest worker on the team, he’s one of them.”
One thing to watch for Carl Albert over the next days and weeks, though, is the health of center Anthony Frazier. Frazier suffered a shoulder injury early in Friday’s game but stayed in and toughed it out. Frazier is a critical piece of the Titans offensive line and losing him for any length of time could deal a serious blow to Carl Albert’s hopes.
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