With attention turned to football, the most interesting tidbit of information I learned in recent days was the Lennies McFerren III, who rushed for 1,697 yards and 18 touchdowns last year for New Madrid County Central, had transferred to a school in Tennessee before the start of his junior season.

It's probably not news to some of you.

It's a big loss, but I also hear the Eagles still are loaded after last year's Class 3 state quarterfinal appearance (and heartbreaking loss).

Bryan Waters, who rushed for 1,097 yards last year, apparently does return -- despite some rumors to the contrary making the rounds, and he's not alone in the backfield. And 6-foot-5 junior end Kony Ealy also should be a handful for opponents on both sides of the ball.

Could be another big season for New Madrid County, which opens the season trying to avenge its lone regular-season loss of last year in a meeting with Poplar Bluff.

That will be a great way to start the season.

Bluff, 5-5 last year, returns a lot of players from the team that gave Jackson quite a tussle. You can read more about the Mules here on Semoball.com.

Add some comments if you've heard anything interesting about fall high school sports. We'll be linking to a lot of previews in the coming week.

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Tonight I will be going to Farmington to see Cape Central, Poplar Bluff and Jackson in jamboree action for their new coaches.

I'm also looking forward to seeing a few plays for the Union offense with heralded quarterback Jordan Webb.

UPDATE: The St. Vincent jamboree with Grandview, St. Pius and Crystal City is moving to 8 p.m. at Ste. Genvieve.

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I won't be surprised if the initial Semoball.com ratings almost go down by class size:

No. 1 Jackson (Class 5 semifinalist last year)

No. 2 Poplar Bluff (Class 4)

No. 3 New Madrid (Class 3 quarterfinalist last year)

No. 4 Hayti (Class 1 quarterfinalist last year)

No. 5 Dexter (Class 3, lost to New Madrid in district play)

Dexter opens with Ste. Genevieve in a battle of two of the area's top quarterbacks: Dexter QB Ben Mills passed for 1,409 yards; and Ste. Gen's Kory Faulkner is being recruited by Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee Iowa and Nebraska, according to Mosports.com.

Here's the Rivals.com list of top prospects in the state,

MoSports has ratings here and MaxPreps has ratings here, and Massey has ratings here.

The biggest surprises to me are the lack of high ratings for New Madrid (not in Mosports; No. 28 in Class 3 in Massey) and Jackson (No. 6 in Mosports; No. 18 in MaxPreps for all classes; No. 37 in Massey for all classes and No. 13 in Class 5).

The state sports writers and sportscasters poll will be released next week.

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KFVS12 has released the following schedule of Webcasts for high school football and Southeast Missouri State athletics: