10 thoughts heading into the 2021-2022 ACL season
Well the 2020-2021 season has concluded. The ACL went out with a bang, hosting an epic world championship event in Rock Hill, South Carolina. The world championship itself could not have been more perfectly scripted for the ACL. You had Cheyenne Renner make the deepest run of any female in the history of the game (at a National event), losing a hard fought match to Trey Burchfield. You had the future darling of the league, Isabella Surprenant (Bella) take home a title in co-ed with Tony Smith, who demonstrated his full potential; oh yeah and they only took down the GOAT Matt Guy and Cheyenne Renner to do so. In doubles, someone else outside of Fire cornhole wins. And finally you hosted a pro qualifier in which 32 individuals (out of 512) earned the right to call themselves ACL pros.
Now we are forced to wait through the long offseason period (dripping with sarcasm) to get our ACL fix. Since the end of the season, sooner for some, new teams have been announced! With the surge of talent that has been added to the league, it has me thinking of things to watch for going into next season….
1. Trey Burchfield, coming off an impressive singles season capped off by a world championship title, currently does not have a doubles partner for next season. Devon Harbaugh announced he will be playing with Derrick King next season. So where does this leave Burchfield?? Lucky for you all I was able to ask the man himself minutes before he entered the main court for his Singles championship match. Now while I don’t want to spoil all the fun, he did hint at a future partner who many would consider as a top pro in the game. This individual is rumored to be in negotiations with Lucky bags and HATES sleeves…….
2. How good will Josh Holland be? Now it’s only fair to remind people that he did lose the Advanced Singles championship to Alex Rawls, but the sky seems to be the limit for Holland. Is he the marketing dream child the ACL has been waiting for? Well, no…but he is really good at throwing bags in the hole. It almost feels easy to say he will win a singles title at a National event next year, but time will tell
3. Lucky Bags and Fire cornhole burst on the scene this year thanks to excellent performances by their sponsored players. Who will be the next BIG hit?? I know very little about them so far, but Zero Gravity Cornhole seems to be making a splash early with the signing of Jimmy Youmans and Tyler Cobb, who are two up and coming young talented players. Big Daddy cornhole was one of THE most popular bag companies in the ACO, but have decided to try their luck in the ACL…it would not surprise me in the least if they make some noise in the bag market. Noah Wooten started Kontraband and recently released the Kut-throat bags….if he and Tony Smith are successful next year, we could see this bag blow up as well. Keep an eye on player signings…my advice to bag enthusiasts…buy bags early from companies who sign big players…..it’s been the recipe for company success thus far (See Killshots)
4. Which rookie player will make the biggest splash next year? Alex Rawls is steady and just doesn’t seem to make mistakes. Berklee Pair might have the most hype and it wouldn’t surprise me if he backed it up. Does “Bella” establish herself as one of the favorites in the women’s division early on or will there be a learning curve? Could a 12-13 year old win a National title? Seems improbable, but tell that to Alex Hicks.
5. Which players get the nod to be pros through the application process? Do we see anyone from the ACO jump ship? I have my suspicions. What will the ACL value as the most important factors in determining who is accepted via application? Is it simply wins/loss resume? Do they take into account character? Social Media followers? You might laugh, but in a sport that is still trying to grow….everything at this stage needs to be considered
6. Will Fire cornhole dominate the doubles division again next season? It is hard to bet against them and I was thoroughly impressed with how, Matt, Bret, Jamie and Erick handled the pressure of having targets on their back. Who does Fire cornhole have their eye on for next season? Could they possibly live up to the ridiculously high standards Fire has set so far?
7. How difficult will it be to predict the winners of events next season?!?! The pro field will be absolutely stacked and every individual is talented to take an event down. There will obviously be favorites…but 2021-2022 season could be the year of the “underdog”
8. Will players start to land larger sponsorship deals with non-cornhole related companies? The biggest example of this is Matt, Jamie and Bret being sponsored by Bud Light. I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. I am also interested in seeing how many, if any, sign with management type groups. I am a big advocate of this! We all want this sport to grow and for this to happen, it needs to (at the very least) seem legit and having your top players managed will only help
9. New doubles teams are being announced daily it seems like. It is still early and not all have been announced quite yet. However, of the teams that have been announced, who do we feel has a legit shot at being contenders??? The easy choice would be Wooten/Smith….I am intrigued by the Corley/Stout and Rubin/Power duos though. I think these two teams will make some noise this season for sure
10. If you watched the ESPN broadcasts from the world championships you might have noticed an extra dose of electricity. The singles event, in particular was amazing to witness in person!! The atmosphere was electric…home town boy Duncan Clemmer getting the crowd fired up by hitting airmail drags…Cheyenne Renner killing souls like Cleopatra with a viper had people in a frenzy. The ACL needs more moments like this. We need more crowds like this. This is where we as fans can play a big role! Show up and show out!!
