1. WHAT CHANGES IN EVERETT AFTER GRADUATING JONATHAN DIBIASO, THE STATE'S ALL-TIME LEADER IN TOUCHDOWN PASSES? AND HOW WILL THEY DO?

Brendan Hall, ESPN Boston High Schools Editor: The game has changed since the Tide last had this dilemma of moving on from a star quarterback (Matt Nuzzo and J.R. Suozzo come to mind). The way the spread has evolved, stuffing the hashes is no longer requisite to an efficient rushing attack. And so you have two terrific perimeter athletes in Jakarrie Washington and Jalen Felix, and a third who will be taking over at tailback (Kenny Calaj). The assumed incumbent under center, sophomore Lukas Denis, presents a different look -– a lefty like Jonathan, but a smaller, speedier player more suited for an option-style attack.

We won’t know what Everett’s doling out until after their first scrimmage. But add an offensive line that (last we checked) averages 318 pounds across, including one of the Northeast’s premier left tackles in John Montelus, and I expect the Tide to adopt a power-option scheme, a la Urban Meyer. The Tide usually find a way to optimize your speed without compromising their rushing principles, and in the past that has sometimes involved getting the receivers some handoffs (think Manny Asprilla in 2009-10).

Scott Barboza, ESPN Boston High Schools Editor: This all comes back to Calaj, who presents John DiBiaso with some intriguing options with the playbook. Calaj is rugged enough to be a between-the-tackles runner, but also has a receiver's set of hands. So you will probably see him lined up all over the field. Along with Felix and Washington operating on the outside, Denis, the incoming starter, will have plenty of targets and keep defenses guessing. The Crimson Tide might not operate at the historic level it did with the younger DiBiaso under center, but there's no let down in sight.

Adam Kurkjian, ESPN Boston correspondent: For starters, you go from having an extension of the coach on the field with Jonathan to someone who has very limited varsity experience in, presumably, sophomore Lukas Denis. Denis is smaller but possesses a strong arm and very quick feet. The offense will still be very potent. You load the box to stop the run and good luck trying to hang with their receivers in space. You drop more guys into coverage and they'll run it down your throat with their giant offensive line and endless stable of speedy backs. Pick your poison.

Corey Allen, ESPN Boston correspondent: The team has to get their offense in a groove that is missing one DiBiaso while DiBiaso the Elder still calls the plays, so they are not weak. The Crimson Tide offensive line will provide protection on the ground and allow the passing game opportunities to post high numbers if the connections are good down field.

John Botelho, South Shore Sports Journal Editor-in-Chief: Everett probably won't beat up on opponents by six or seven scores before the fourth quarter, like they were capable of last year. Without DiBiaso, they'll probably run a more "traditional" high school offense. All I mean by traditional is they could end up running the ball more than passing it this season. That said, they still have arguably the state's top receiver in Jalen Felix and an NFL-sized offensive line, led by Notre Dame commit John Montelus. It'll be interesting to see if anyone can slow them down once their line off 300-plus ponders starts pushing.

2. IS THE CATHOLIC CONFERENCE A THREE-HORSE RACE, OR DO CATHOLIC MEMORIAL AND MALDEN CATHOLIC HAVE SOMETHING UP THEIR SLEEVES?

Hall: The jury’s out on this one. Catholic Memorial has two quality receivers (Deijon Evans, Kevin Bletzer) and one outstanding defensive athlete that can play in a two, three or four-point stance (UMass commit Peter Ngobidi). But the sum needs to be greater than the whole to win the Catholic Conference, and that’s usually been the stigma with the Knights.

Barboza: In not so many words, yes. I don't think that statement is as much an indictment of CM or MC's talent though as it is a belief of how good BC High, St. John's Prep and Xaverian should be. Within those three schools, you can flip a coin to determine which is better than the others, but I'm hedging my bets on some bird-oriented mascoted team playing past Thanksgiving.

Kurkjian: I’m leaning toward a three-horse race, although CM does have the potential to surprise with the type of talent they bring back on defense. However, seeing someone other than BC High, the Prep or Xaverian take that crown would be a major surprise.

Botelho: Call it a gut feeling, but I think everyone but BC High is playing for second place. No disrespect to Xaverian, St. John's, CM or MC, but the Eagles are absolutely loaded. Joe Gaff would really solidify his place at BC in year one with a league title. Sure Preston Cooper is gone, and so is Deontae Ramey-Doe (who stepped in and replaced Cooper after an ankle injury sidelined the Eagles' starter), but this team has some very talented weapons coming back.

Luke Catarius might be the best linebacker in the state, and he'll anchor the defense for BC. Offensively, quarterback Brendan Craven will have ample opportunity to showcase his arm. The 6-3 Craven earned 2011 QB MVP honors at the National Underclass Showcase for the class of 2013, and he's going to have a D-1 lineman protecting him in Jack McDonald (Virgina) and a D-1 target catching his passes in Lincoln Collins (Villanova).

Guys like Maurice Hurst at Xaverian will make sure BC's road isn't an easy one, but the Eagles are getting back to the playoffs this season.

3. WHICH PLAYERS WILL LEAD THE STATE IN TOTAL OFFENSE, RUSHING YARDS AND TOUCHDOWN PASSES?

Hall:
Total offense – Troy Flutie, Natick
Rushing yards – Quron Wright, Holy Name
Touchdown passes – Nick Peabody, Barnstable

Barboza:
Total offense - Nick Peabody, Barnstable
Rushing yards - Vincent Burton, Blue Hills
Touchdown passes - Troy Flutie, Natick

Kurkjian:
Total offense – Troy Flutie, Natick
Rushing Yards – Jared Taylor, Mashpee
Touchdown passes – Drew Belcher, Reading

Botelho:
Total offense - Vincent Burton, Blue Hills
Rushing yards - Vincent Burton, Blue Hills
Touchdown passes - Nick Peabody, Barnstable

4. WILL THERE BE A MORE UNPREDICTABLE RACE THIS YEAR THAN THE HOCKOMOCK LEAGUE?

Hall: The Merrimack Valley Conference might have an edge in some eyes. But sometimes the MVC has a knack for beating itself up, and it also tends to be a spread league -- and in turn, the game sometimes turns into Arena League. If there’s ever an 88-82, eight-overtime final in the Hockomock, I'll owe somebody a car wash.

I’ve always felt the Hockomock can be unpredictable because of the low-scoring defensive games, where seemingly one broken play can turn the game on its heels. People are calling it a three-horse race in the Kelly-Rex division between King Philip, Mansfield and North Attleborough, but Franklin has made it interesting the last few years, and Attleboro is always dangerous with a solid running game. And I know Taunton has been down the last two seasons, but it’s their first year in this league, so you have to account for a potential element of surprise.

In the Davenport, I’m guessing most will anoint Oliver Ames or Stoughton as the favorites, but there really is no bona fide favorite here. I’m predicting one-score victories all around.

Barboza: We all know that the Hockomock races are typically not decided until Thanksgiving, but I'm going to go on a limb and say the real intrigue will come in the South Shore League. While Mashpee will be the prohibitive favorite, coming off a Super Bowl season, Abington and East Bridgewater also will have horses in that race. Also look for the South Coast Conference to be a tight one with Bourne, Dighton-Rehoboth and Wareham duking it out along with a potentially resurgent Fairhaven squad.

Kurkjian: The Merrimack Valley Conference is difficult to predict. Central, Andover and Lowell all bring back quite a bit and Chelmsford and Billerica are never far off in the Large. The Small could be almost anyone, as well, especially now that you throw North Andover into the mix. Also, the Middlesex Small will be interesting again with Wakefield, Burlington, Wilmington and Melrose.

Ryan Lanigan, Founder, HockomockSports.com: The Kelley-Rex will boil down to three teams in the end -– North Attleboro, Mansfield, and King Philip. The ridiculous tiebreaker situation probably won’t repeat itself this season, with the Warriors a slight step ahead of the Red Rocketeers and the Hornets. Quarterback John Dillon is poised to take this team to the next step. Mansfield will have an impressive receiving core with basketball stand outs Brendan Hill and Michael Hershman, while North has two of their three Hockomock All-Stars returning in Alex Jette and Eric Beckwith.

The Davenport is going to be a different story. Oliver Ames, the 2011 champions, lost a lot of talent in Alex Tepper, Keith Sullivan, and Jared Schneider, but they have a handful of strong players returning. Stoughton’s hopes will rely on Aaron Mack and the health of wide out/defensive back Marcus Middleton. Sharon will continue to rise up the rankings under second year coach Dave Morse and senior running back Sean Asnes. Foxboro will lean on Kiivone Howard offensively and sophomore Luc Valenza will be a leader defensively, while Canton has Dexter Green and Elias Camacho. The small side doesn’t have a decisive top three like the large side, meaning that the Davenport is up for grabs.

Botelho: King Philip may have just scratched the surface of how good they can be a season ago. A league title was followed by the closest call Duxbury had last season, a 7-0 thriller in which Duxbury needed to score on defense to win. Even state power Xaverian got run off the field against the Dragons last year, so not being able to score against K-P should hint at how good they really can be. Mansfield is strong too, but it seems like teams might have to shutout King Philip to beat them because the defense is that good.

On the other side of the Hock, Oliver Ames emerged as a strong team last year, but it's easy to be concerned about the toll graduation took. Sam Langston became Jim Artz's first ever 1,000-yard rusher a season ago as the Tigers went to the Super Bowl. He did that largely in part because of All-State lineman Keith Sullivan, a 300-pound bruiser up front, who also graduated. The team also lost QB Jared Schneider and leading tackler Brian Rezendes. Stoughton loses a big player in Brandon Alves, but this team has a lot of talent coming back. Marcus Middleton is one of the best two-way players in the league, and is a threat to pick off any pass that gets up in the air. He'll also do a little bit of everything on offense as a complimentary piece to running back Aaron Mack, who could emerge as the top running threat in the Hockomock this season.

While those leagues could come down to the wire, the Old Colony League and South Shore League look like anyone could win them. Barnstable and B-R are both ranked in the pre-season top 10, but don't sleep on Dartmouth either. All three teams bring back enough talent to win this league. As Dan Buron said the other day of his Trojans: "We'll probably be underdogs when we play both teams in our league."

The South Shore League might be the most wide open league, though, in the state. A lot of people are picking Mashpee because they return Jared Taylor, who popped off for more than 300 yards in the Super Bowl last season. They have holes to fill, headlined by SSL MVP and quarterback Zak Orcutt and starting running back Jordan Keli'inui. Replacing their offensive production won't be easy - they combined on 31 touchdowns, but these two were also among the best defenders in the league. Orcutt single-handedly shut down a potent East Bridgewater offense a year ago, piling up 17 of his team high 86 tackles as they held EB to one score. Kellinui added 16 tackles and eight interceptions a season ago. Abington returns 1,000 yard rusher Babila Fonkem and QB Brandon Cawley (they lost to Mashpee by two points last year), EB's Andrew Benson will get his chance to shine after the Vikings graduated stars Casey DeAndrade and Tim O'Brien, and Cohasset was a tremendously young team last year and lost just two league games. Consider that Rockland, Norwell and Hull are all improved, and this league could have a two-loss champion for the first time in more than a decade.

5. HOW REALISTIC ARE THE CHANCES OF SPRINGFIELD SWEEPING THE WESTERN MASS. DIVISIONS 1 AND 2 SUPER BOWLS?

Hall: 2011 was a banner year for the City of Springfield, capped with Putnam's Melquawn Pinkney shattering Cedric Washington's sacred single-season records of rushing yards and rushing touchdowns en route to the Division 2 Super Bowl. Three Springfield schools were represented in the D1 and D2 WMass bowls, and the same three teams (Central, Commerce, Putnam) could very well return.

At this point, I think Longmeadow has more firepower in the trenches than Central. But junior Cody Williams could be the X-factor here -- he's entering his second season under center for Central, and he brings some spunk to the offense. I'm predicting the two meet again in the Division 1 Super Bowl.

In Division 2, I think Commerce and Putnam stand a good chance of meeting in December again, when the D2 Super Bowl is set to be held at Gillette Stadium. But I'm told if Wahconah finds a way into this game, they will bring a serious wagon of fans. So there's that to keep in mind.

Barboza:No Alex Rotsko? It'll be the same old result for Longmeadow in Division 1 under Nick St. George. With that being said, I like Putnam to take the D2 West Super Bowl.

Kurkjian: Tough to go against Longmeadow in D1 despite the coaching change. Springfield Central returns a ton, though, so if it's not the Lancers, the sweep is likely because Putnam and Commerce look like they're reloading.

Botelho: Anyone who has lived in Western Mass. for more than a year knows that the Div.1 Super Bowl goes through Longmeadow, one way or another. Sure, Central beat them during the regular season last year, but the Lancers rolled by in the Super Bowl, winning, 35-7, at Gillete Stadium. They've won 11 of the last 15 titles in Western Mass., meaning for them to do anything but hoist the Super Bowl trophy next winter would be shocking. Yes, legendary coach Alex Rotsko is gone, but Nick St. George has been a defensive coordinator under him for a while now, and these boys will be as ready to go as ever.