*A Learning Experience | Brock Weathers - Printable Version +- [DEV] ISFL Forums (http://dev.sim-football.com/forums) +-- Forum: Community (http://dev.sim-football.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=5) +--- Forum: Media (http://dev.sim-football.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=37) +---- Forum: Graded Articles (http://dev.sim-football.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=38) +---- Thread: *A Learning Experience | Brock Weathers (/showthread.php?tid=9061)

*A Learning Experience | Brock Weathers - BWIII - 06-06-2018 Sometimes you need to make a change in order to grow. Sometimes that change needs to be forced upon you. Whether it was your idea or not, more than likely the initial reaction is one of discomfort, no matter how welcoming you were to that change. This has been my reaction thus far with switching positions from linebacker to defensive end. At linebacker I was standing up, taking a look around my surroundings, diagnosing and anticipating the play pre-snap in order to sometimes guess and other times react and basically get to the ball as fast as I could. Now I'm starting lined up next to an opposing player with a hand on the ground and trying to use an assortment of moves to get past that person, sometimes two, to get to the ball. It's new, it's uncomfortable. Playing linebacker was a great experience and I loved every bit of it. It was a freeing experience as most times I was able to do a bit of freelancing, using instincts I had developed and refined over the years in order to make snap judgment calls to get me in the best position possible on the field in order to make a play. It's what made me a good football player, allowed me to get an education, and has made it possible for me to make a living from playing a game I love. It's also the position that my grandpa played and the position my father played. I guess you could say playing linebacker was in my blood, that it was as natural to me as breathing. I came to the DSFL as a raw prospect coming from college, but I was eager to get to work and show that I had skill. It didn't take very long and soon enough I became one of the top linebackers in the league. When I was approached by my coach in San Antonio about switching positions I didn't turn down the opportunity, I may have even been a little too eager to switch. Maybe I just needed a new challenge to work towards after establishing myself as a good linebacker. Maybe I had an inner need to differentiate myself from my bloodline. Whatever it was, I was ready. The process itself was a rather weird one as I had a whole new meal plan and workout regimen in order to bump me up to 300 pounds, the weight that my coaches said was most ideal for me to play at. So I basically ate at my heart's content every day and put in a ton of time at the gym, all the while watching a lot of film. I also hired a consultant to come in and help me develop my skill as a defensive end, learning how to shed blocks as well as develop some pass rush moves. I'm not going to lie, it all is still pretty raw for me. One of the biggest things that has taken a bit to get used to though is my on field performance. Even though most of us don't get too caught up in our actual numbers from a game or season, we have a rough idea as to how we've done and how impactful we were to our team. It's how we judge ourself and how the industry and fans judge us as well. It's how a lot of us get paid and for some it's all we've got. As a linebacker you definitely have a good idea as to how many tackles you have and that usually has a direct correlation to how well you provided and it's a lot more individual. As a defensive end I've had to learn to ignore that and learn that my impact won't always be shown on my individual stat line and that more often than not it'll show up in my teammates' instead. On the defensive line we work as a group, taking on blockers, trying to collapse the pocket, and either getting to whoever has the ball or create enough pressure that the quarterback has to hurry his throw and throw a pass that'll be easily picked off by one of our defensive backs. Sometimes the quarterback will choose to just throw it out of bounds in order to not take a sack and basically lose his team a down. Sometimes we'll cause a ball carrier to cut it back inside and right into a linebacker's path. Sometimes we'll take on all the blockers and allow a linebacker a clean path to the quarterback. There are so many situations that don't show up on our own stat sheet and I'd e lying if I said sometimes it wasn't frustrating. It's only been four games so far, I guess eight if you count preseason, but it's definitely been a bit of a roller coaster thus far, but I'm definitely enjoying it. It's also great being on a defense with such amazing guys that I got to know last year and the new ones we've picked up this year. I mean Brian Urlacher was a dude who was used to playing and had to take a back seat once I got here and didn't even get to play last year and he's already almost at his career marks and is leading the league in sacks. So far through four games we're leading the entire DSFL in sacks, interceptions, tackles for loss, and touchdowns. In less than a third of the season we're almost at fifty percent of the amount of sacks and interceptions we had as a team last year. Like I said it's been an adjustment to realize that my contributions as a member of the defensive line won't always be individual efforts, but instead will be reflected on the defense as a whole. I've stopped looking for my own name in the box scores and instead look at our team's defensive stats and the stats of everyone on the defense. It's been a learning experience and for the most part I've enjoyed every minute of it. I look forward to what the future holds and with the way we're setup in San Antonio I see a championship coming our way. *A Learning Experience | Brock Weathers - kckolbe - 06-06-2018 This defense really is unreal. It's one thing to say defense wins games, but to barely win a game despite a pick six, a return TD and countless sacks, defense is carrying us hard. I really hop we win a championship before losing you guys.