For most of his life Rick Sanchez has always been one of the most athletically gifted guys on the field. In high school he played 3 sports; football, baseball and basketball. In his senior season he was averaging about 21 PPG on his basketball team, 10 RPG, and 3 APG as Small Forward. He was good enough to get an invitation to be a Mcdonald’s All American. In baseball as left outfielder he was named all conference for his position and was hitting .396 good enough to be ranked in the top 50 in his position. Football however was different. There have always been certain players that seemed destined for success from Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, and Lawrence Taylor. Sanchez showed that same flash from the very beginning.
He was the first freshman to start varsity in nearly 20 years at Jackson High School at running back. Granted it didn’t happen till the middle of the season, it’s still pretty impressive. That year he managed a respectable 500 yards and 6 tackles. However it was his sophomore season in which he really managed to make a name for himself. During that offseason he went from 5’8” to 6’0” and went from 170 to 200 lbs. According to his coaches it was all muscle his bench went from 170 to 260. This prompted them to ask him to switch positions to Defensive End, which he did. For someone who had never played defensive end before he was a natural. In the first game of the season he broke the Michigan State record for sacks in a game with 8. He finished that season with 12 sacks and was named an All-State his team however finished 7-6 and missed the playoffs. The struggle for his team continued into next season despite him putting up 18 sacks and 20 tackles for a loss. The Vikings finished at with 5-8. The offense just couldn’t seem to get moving, averaging 6 points a game during those two seasons. His Senior year a new Head Coach was brought in and the offense took a big step further with Rick taking another step as well. That year he broke his own record for sacks in a game with 9 and finished the season with 30 sacks and 40 tackles for a loss. As a result Sanchez held every record relating to sacks in Michigan history. He finished his career with a new state record of 60 sacks. However his team’s performance once again didn’t meet his own production. They fell in the semi-finals 10-7. With their lone touchdown coming off a sack fumble from Sanchez.
When it came time to go to the next level Sanchez had a lot of options he could go into baseball, basketball, or football. However His dream was always to play with the maize and blue, yet the team didn’t call. No offer came from Michigan, it left Sanchez devastated. So on signing day he chose the University of Texas, the rationale was he wanted to get as far as away from Michigan as possible. At Texas Sanchez struggled early on, with the playing field somewhat elevated he didn’t see the field till his sophomore year against Iowa State in a 51-10 blow out. This was the 8th game of the season. During the fourth quarter while chasing a rb on a sweep one of Iowa State’s Offensive Guards, Jerry Smith, chop blocked him. Leading to an ACL and PCL tear. A week later Sanchez got a call from his mom, that his father Jack Sanchez had died of a heart attack.
In December of that year he made a promise that he would get his degree at UT. During the offseason he pushed his rehab and worked harder than ever before adding 40 lbs of muscle and according to Coaches he came back faster than before. He then won the starting Outside Linebacker position in the summer of that year. In his Junior year he put up 15 Sacks and 30 tackles. His team also had great success making the BCS playoffs, but they lost in the championship game to Florida, 23-20, on a last second field goal as time expired. He faced pressure from his family and friends to go pro. At the point he was given a third round grade because he was a year removed from a serious knee surgery and had one great season of success. Sanchez didn’t care about any of that he made a vow and he was determined to come back and finish. In his senior year he put up another 15 sacks. He even was a heisman trophy contender as he had an additional 6 touchdowns with his sacks. He would end up finishing 5th in the race. He also got the championship that had evaded him since his early days with a dominating 35-0 performance against Michigan. He put up 6 sacks in the game and 12 tackles for loss and knocked the Michigan starting QB from the game. With his college career finished, Sanchez has set a new goal for himself make it big in the NSFL.
Graded
Payout=$1,256,000
He was the first freshman to start varsity in nearly 20 years at Jackson High School at running back. Granted it didn’t happen till the middle of the season, it’s still pretty impressive. That year he managed a respectable 500 yards and 6 tackles. However it was his sophomore season in which he really managed to make a name for himself. During that offseason he went from 5’8” to 6’0” and went from 170 to 200 lbs. According to his coaches it was all muscle his bench went from 170 to 260. This prompted them to ask him to switch positions to Defensive End, which he did. For someone who had never played defensive end before he was a natural. In the first game of the season he broke the Michigan State record for sacks in a game with 8. He finished that season with 12 sacks and was named an All-State his team however finished 7-6 and missed the playoffs. The struggle for his team continued into next season despite him putting up 18 sacks and 20 tackles for a loss. The Vikings finished at with 5-8. The offense just couldn’t seem to get moving, averaging 6 points a game during those two seasons. His Senior year a new Head Coach was brought in and the offense took a big step further with Rick taking another step as well. That year he broke his own record for sacks in a game with 9 and finished the season with 30 sacks and 40 tackles for a loss. As a result Sanchez held every record relating to sacks in Michigan history. He finished his career with a new state record of 60 sacks. However his team’s performance once again didn’t meet his own production. They fell in the semi-finals 10-7. With their lone touchdown coming off a sack fumble from Sanchez.
When it came time to go to the next level Sanchez had a lot of options he could go into baseball, basketball, or football. However His dream was always to play with the maize and blue, yet the team didn’t call. No offer came from Michigan, it left Sanchez devastated. So on signing day he chose the University of Texas, the rationale was he wanted to get as far as away from Michigan as possible. At Texas Sanchez struggled early on, with the playing field somewhat elevated he didn’t see the field till his sophomore year against Iowa State in a 51-10 blow out. This was the 8th game of the season. During the fourth quarter while chasing a rb on a sweep one of Iowa State’s Offensive Guards, Jerry Smith, chop blocked him. Leading to an ACL and PCL tear. A week later Sanchez got a call from his mom, that his father Jack Sanchez had died of a heart attack.
In December of that year he made a promise that he would get his degree at UT. During the offseason he pushed his rehab and worked harder than ever before adding 40 lbs of muscle and according to Coaches he came back faster than before. He then won the starting Outside Linebacker position in the summer of that year. In his Junior year he put up 15 Sacks and 30 tackles. His team also had great success making the BCS playoffs, but they lost in the championship game to Florida, 23-20, on a last second field goal as time expired. He faced pressure from his family and friends to go pro. At the point he was given a third round grade because he was a year removed from a serious knee surgery and had one great season of success. Sanchez didn’t care about any of that he made a vow and he was determined to come back and finish. In his senior year he put up another 15 sacks. He even was a heisman trophy contender as he had an additional 6 touchdowns with his sacks. He would end up finishing 5th in the race. He also got the championship that had evaded him since his early days with a dominating 35-0 performance against Michigan. He put up 6 sacks in the game and 12 tackles for loss and knocked the Michigan starting QB from the game. With his college career finished, Sanchez has set a new goal for himself make it big in the NSFL.
Graded
Payout=$1,256,000
![[Image: e998e5d9-0766-43c3-ad9b-267897484145-ori...fit=bounds]](https://beta-static.photobucket.com/images/y296/RedCydranth/s0/e998e5d9-0766-43c3-ad9b-267897484145-original.png?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds)
