Skyline Will Be Too Hot to Handle

The biggest school in the Dallas ISD has quite a football program. In fact, it somewhat resembles a college football roster.

The Skyline Raiders already have nine Division I commitments from incoming seniors and will likely have two or three more guys sign with Division I school when National Signing Day rolls around on Feb. 3.

This is no different from Skyline teams in the past, which have always been loaded with talent but seem to always hit a wall in the third or fourth round of the playoffs -- a respectable run without a doubt, but a stale one when it's what you're accustomed to.

This year could be different for the Raiders, who have one of the top receivers in the country in Mike Davis, who's committed to LSU after his 16 touchdowns and near-1,200 yards a season ago in Skyline's run-based offense. However, that offense took off through the air when quarterback Javia Hall (North Texas) was under center. He only started a handful of games, but threw for more than 1,000 yards and 18 touchdowns.

But the best players on the Raiders are usually on defense, and this year is no different, and it starts with linebackers Corey Nelson and Domonique Patterson, who are both committed to Texas A&M. They combined for nearly 300 tackles last season and Patterson had three picks and brought two of them back for six points.

Below the Raiders are the only team that beat them in the regular season last year -- the Lake Highlands Wildcats. They're led by a dynamic quarterback, Ricky Zorn. His monster season was cut short last year by injury, but he was still able to throw for nearly 2,000 yards and 21 touchdowns and rush for better than 1,200 yards and 23 touchdowns. The Wildcats return 13 starters total (7 on offense, 6 on defense) so should be poised to at least match their regional final run from a season ago.

However, that Skyline talent appears to be too much for this season.