While some might say I'm the co-founder of the Rex "Superman" Burkhead Fan Club, before that, my favorite high school football player was another Plano Wildcat, Justin Jordan.

Well I ran this story down that mentions Jordan. Scroll down and you'll see that Jordan is one of the most highly recruited JUCO players in the country.

I of course always knew Justin had it in him, and only have to flash back to him blowing by current Texas A&M defensive back Jordan Pugh for a long touchdown in the 2005 Plano-Plano West game.

I've been trying to track down Justin for an interview and will continue to do so.

Here's a couple of columns I had published in VYPE magazine's August issue:

In the Collin County issue, I wrote about Allen QB Matt Brown (please note that I wrote that Allen has been upset two years in a row in the playoffs. This was an editing mistake I made. In 2006, Allen lost in the state semifinals to Southlake Carroll, which was on its way to its fourth state title in five years. So Carroll's win was hardly an upset). I meant to say Allen had gone 7-0 two straight years in 9-5A.

In the Greater Dallas issue, I wrote about Carter and how I think the Cowboys are about to return to glory.

And for both issues I did the VYPE Hot 20, a countdown of the 20 teams in the area that have the best chance to win a state championship.

For the Sept. issue of VYPE I'm working on columns on Toben Opurum and the suddenly forgotten Plano East Panthers, and on Jesuit's entry into the powerful District 8-5A with the Plano schools, Allen, Wylie and newcomer McKinney Boyd.

Wow! Never let it be said that Richland High School Football sux.... Richland has now won the 7 on 7 National Championship!

So what if it is just a summer league, I am proud of my alma mater! Read on at ESPN.com.......YAY Richland! 

If you don't know it by now, Lake Highlands coach Scott Smith is probably my favorite area high school football coach.

I'm still stunned that he didn't receive more respect from the Plano school district when he didn't even make it to the final round of interviews.

But anyway, the good thing for Smith is he can concentrate on Lake Highlands now, and the administrators over there don't have to worry about him leaving for Plano in the next five or 10 years. So Smith can focus on rebuilding a powerhouse in the Boneyard.

The deck is set in his favor the next two years with Plano, Plano East, Plano West and Allen -- four of the state's top 10 largest schools -- off the schedule, replaced by Carrollton Creekview, Molina, Sunset and W.T. White. To put this is in proper persective, this is like taking Ohio State, Michigan, USC and Oklahoma of the schedule and replacing them with Rice, SMU, Tulsa and Louisiana Tech.

This of course means the players and rabid LH fans already assume a playoff spot and a view playoff wins this year. Smith is quick to reign that talk in, even though he is confident the Wildcats are on the road back after a two-year absence from the playoffs. A coach has to control the expectations with his players while wanting them to believe this is their year.

"We've got to address that with the kids," Smith said of the playoff expectations. "Bottom line, we're a 2-8 football team. Our kids better be ready to play every week or we're going to get beat. I don't care if it's Skyline or Plano."

One of my favorite morning shows is the Fox Business Channel's interesting show Money for Breakfast. Well, how about let's do some Plano Football For Breakfast this morning.

I was alerted to something very interesting, so I had to research it for myself. (quick note: this is not a personal attack, just the truth). The 2008 Dave Campbell's Texas Football lists 20 Top Sophomores for the Class of 2011. Included among these players is Plano WR Collin Brence. The 2006 Texas Football listed 20 Top Sophomores of what should be the Class of 2009 (they say 2008, whatever). Lake Travis' Garrett Gilbert and Aldine Eisenhower's Craig Loston were on there and should be. Unbelievably, Rex Burkhead wasn't.

Burkhead was the first freshman ever to play on varsity. He was on Plano's 7-on-7 team between his freshman and sophomore years. He was in the nine-man rotation on Plano's state championship basketball team. He is the best senior football player in the Metroplex. He has scholarship offers from Nebraska and Texas A&M just to name a few.

Brence wasn't on Plano's state 7-on-7 team last weekend. There were 20 players on the roster. He didn't play on varsity last year, and didn't intercept a pass in a state quarterfinal game against Southlake Carroll as a freshman (Burkhead did). He isn't likely to play on varsity. He may never play receiver at Plano.

I understand this list is partly based on potential, but this just cries of something wrong. It begs the question, where did Texas Football get its information in 2006 and 2008? From former coach Gerald Brence? From one of Plano's assistant coaches? Could this have really happened? Please tell me no. Please tell that when coaches turn in this information, that they understand that these lists must have integrity. I say that as someone that compiled The Dallas Morning News' Area Top 100 for three years.

A Plano insider has told me Brence will be a good football player at Plano. I will be the first one to write about Brence if he's one of the Top 20 seniors in 2011, or even if he's not.  I hope he's a team captain and leads Plano to a state title. I hope he gets a scholarship like his brothers.

Just know where I'm coming from, that I take these lists very seriously. 

1) I woke up this morning to this headline: Mavericks say no to Artest-for-Josh Howard deal. This is a hoax, right?  Because no one in their right mind would pass up getting Artest, one of the top 10 most talented players, for the blabber-mouth, everyone-in-the-NBA-is-smoking-pot Howard. The Mavericks are on the verge of being irrelevent again in Dallas. The Rangers have Josh Hamilton and a bunch of unreal young players. The Cowboys have Romo, T.O. and Pacman. The Stars have Ott and Avery. And the Mavericks turn down Artest, the gritty defensive-minded player who can score, a rare commodity in the NBA? That's crazy. If Artest ends up on the Lakers or the Spurs, that will be the end of Mark Cuban and he'll have to buy the Cubs or Steelers to save face.  

2) By the way, here's dallasbasketball.com's exclusive interview with new Maverick Gerald Green, who is an intriguing acquisition.

3) Is Cowboys' training camp really this close? Nothing gets over-covered in Dallas like Cowboys' training camp. For some reason decision makers like Dale Hansen think it is always he care about in sports in August. Personally, it's still baseball season for me and that's where my attention will be, not on Romo and Pacman.

4) This is going to be an interesting two weeks for the Rangers because they are in this situation: Are we buyers or sellers at the tradeline? Namely, is Hank Blalock being showcased at third base for a possible trade after the team insisted several weeks ago that he was a first baseman now? Here's T.R. Sullivan's preview for the second half. The Morning News' Evan Grant takes a look at the second half.

5) I stumbled across a Washington Post series on Chandra Levy. If you don't remember, Levy's disappearance created a media frenzy and was a daily story on cable before it got lost in 9/11 coverage. Levy's story of course involves a U.S. Congressman, Gary Condit, and the intern, the kind of story the Beltway goes crazy over. It's a good series, not as good as the journalism the St. Petersburg Times rolls out there, but good. This is perhaps the best serial narrative ever.

6) So I just finished the new Daniel Silva book, Moscow Rules, and will have a full review soon. But let me just say, get the book. Silva has really outdone himself with this chilling, so real novel about a Russian international arms dealer. Silva will be at Dallas' Barnes and Noble across from Northpark for a book signing on July 31. 

7) I got a free pass to The Dark Knight, so I'll be going to see the new Batman movie today. I see a movie on its premiere day once a year. This is definitely the one. I'm going to go into this film disregarding the hype of Heath Ledger's Oscar candicacy. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve it. But I always question the media's fixation of an actor who has died before his last film comes out. From the trailers it looks like Ledger is outstanding. But I don't want to be swayed by the media's outlandish hype. I'll also try to get a review from Rangers' closer C.J. Wilson, who told me he would see the movie this weekend in Minnesota. I once did a season's worth of movie reviews with Wilson when he played for the Frisco RoughRiders. He is as knowlegable about films as anyone I know.

8) Nothing like reading Drudge in the morning, who has a stunning report on Obama's upcoming trip to Israel and Europe. Also, found this outrageous story.

9) Is it like 1920 or something? Greg Norman is leading the British Open? I guess let's give credit to his new bride, Chris Evert, still my all-time favorite women's tennis player.

Posted by Jennifer Wills

I went to Richland High School back in 1990-1994. Throughout my high school years, our football team was soooo very bad that my senior year we never even won a game. BUMMER....In fact, my Sr year as we were on the verge of winning the Basketball Championship, our rival school Haltom, taunted from the stands, "0-9-1, 0-9-1, 0-9-1"....yes - that was freakin' hysterical. They were reminding us of our football record that season. Lovely.

So here we are, July 2008 in AggieLand, and RICHLAND HAS WON IT ALL! Richland won the State 7 on 7 football tourney. SO FREAKIn' EXCITED! To hear my husband and father tell it, the win is virtually meaningless b/c there are just 7 players, the focus is mainly on passing and it's just a summer league.  well - ppppphhhhtttwwww on you two. (making that noise like phoooey on you). I can finally scream with pride, "RICHLAND HAS WON IT ALL!"

When trying to evaluate Plano football at this year's State 7-on-7 Tournament, one question looms -- can the Wildcats go one round deeper and get into the state championship game. For me, that evaluation starts on defense.

It's not easy to make judgments on a defense when there is no hitting, no running game, no physical play in the offensive line.

Of course in today's Texas high school football, you have to be able to cover people, and I will leave College Station believing Plano can cover.

Laron Kelly and Justin Collins made several plays in Plano's victories over Pleansonton and Houston Stratford. Jake Traylor had two interceptions.

And there is the interesting joking going on between the Plano offensive and defensive coaches over speedster Robert Robinson. The offensive coaches like Robinson's 4.27 speed at the receiver position. The defensive coaches see him as a cornerback. I say play him at both.

We'll have to wait until two-a-days to really get a feel for Plano's defense, but so far, I like what I see.

I have a group of ex-Plano football dads who I eat lunch with regularly who I kind of look to as my "Football Insiders."

Last Saturday the subject of Plano West football came up. These guys watch a ton of 7-on-7 football -- personally if I wanted to watch touch football, I'd drive to Austin and watch the intramural co-ed football at Texas. In other words, 7-on-7 bores me to tears.

 
But these guys swear by it, and I do agree that it does improve the passing game and you can find a couple of hidden gems on the 7-on-7 fields -- Arlington Bowie last year and West Mesquite two years ago. That doesn't make me want to go watch Tuesday night leage play like these guys.

Anyway, I digress. These guys insist that Plano West is going to be a surprise team this year. Contenders. They've already predicted a win over Plano West. They wouldn't commit to a win over Plano, which is not surprising since they are Plano homers.

We know about defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat. It will be interesting to get a feel for what else makes Plano West a contender.