The Banquet Circuit

I have a whole pile of emails that need answering and that will come in the coming days as soon as state champions are crowned and the banquet circuit comes to an end. This Thursday, the 9th annual Chevy End Zone banquet will take place at the Holiday Inn West in Myrtle Beach. The very next day is the Mr. Football and North/South awards ceremony at Myrtle Beach high school.

There are many questions every year about the Zoneman and the All-Zone team so I will explain the process. First of all, the balloting for the Zoneman is decided by 40 voters. 34 coaches, Hags and myself, and four other media members and other coaches pick the Zoneman on the first week of November. Each ballot is first, second and third place for top player in the WPDE viewing area. Underclassmen are eligible as well as any player in the WPDE viewing area. The reason we choose the first week in November is so we have ample time to gather the ballots, solidify the podium and order the trophy which usually takes 3-4 weeks to get to us.

Many people will be upset that a certain person was not a finalist for the Zoneman Trophy. The fact of the matter is that there are 10 to 12 solid candidates every single season. I can't think of a better process than giving every coach an equal vote. Many of them watch our show and see the highlights of the top players in the area. We have four players on the podium this year because every one of them eclipsed the 20 point mark (3 points for 1st, 2 points for 2nd, 1 point for 3rd). We always have a minimum of three on the podium and I think this year's group is excellent. We have two future Clemson Tigers (Malliciah Goodman and Quandon Christian) to go along with two Myrtle Beach Seahawks (Everett Golson and Jamere Valentine). It was a fairly close race and we'll reveal the winner this Thursday night and air our special on Sunday at 2pm on WWMB-TV 21.

This year's Mr. Football presentation and the North South All-Star game is going to bring us a new and exciting project. WPDE Sports will be producing a 30 minute special that features the highlights of the North South All Star game and the presentation of South Carolina's Mr. Football. This will be a great opportunity to showcase all the great festivities of All-Star week and we will air the special on Sunday, December 14th across the state (WPDE in Florence/Myrtle Beach, WACH in Columbia, WCIV in Charleston and WYFF in Greenville). It's a great challnege to turn around a lot of material in a short amount of time and distribute it across the entire state, but we're excited to give the North South week its proper due.

Looking forward to answering a host of emails in the coming days!