(S24) - PT 4 - Trial by Fire

[yonggarius]

William Lim's 'welcome to the ISFL' moment was the moment when he first checked the Colorado Yeti depth chart. As a prospect from South Korea -a country not known for high competition in American football- William was used to having the number 1 spot locked in for him. Even in DSFL, where he first faced pro competition, his spot as the number 1 wide receiver was basically locked in as Dallas Birddogs were an expansion team competing for their inaugural season at the point that he joined. However, ISFL- the Yeti to be more exact- was a completely different story. William, for the first time in his career, found three names- James Bishop, Red Arrow and Jake Dropson- ahead of him in the depth chart. It was on that moment William truly realized that he needed to give everything to be a good wide receiver in the highest level. After that, he managed to get ahead of Dropson in the depth chart thanks to the hard work he put in, and became the third string receiver for the Yeti.

William's opportunity came after his rookie season, when the Yeti went all the way and won the Ultimus for the first time in team history. Both Bishop and Arrow announced retirement after the win, providing William with a prime chance to snag the number 1 receiver spot that he always wanted. Luckily, William's development level impressed the Yeti brass and he got the job, resulting in a splended 1200 yard season and offensive breakout player of the year award. (258)

[.simo]

Karmichael has had an interesting career playing multiple other sports in Australia at the top level but never finding prolonged success and never thought he fit in anywhere. Played for the Brisbane Broncos and did make some rep teams but for...reasons... he had to move on. Played some AFL for the Gold Coast Suns but again found it time to move on and moved over to America. Picking up a new sport he thought he'd try kicking and instantly fell in love with the sport and the two teams he's played for, Coyotes and Liberty.

Karmichael started out his ISFL rookie season well going perfect over 4 pre season games and the first 2 regular season games but since then has missed some kicks he'd rather not think about. There have definitely been some down moments but it's the ups that make it all worth it. Liberty are famously 1-10 this season but that one was amazing. Kicking everything he could including a 57 yarder was especially needed in such a tight game that went to overtime.

On top of this it's just the little things that make Karmichael know he's found a great home with some top mates. Given the offensive game ball after his performance in that win means he knows he's found a family that he never wants to leave.

[Forty Jordy]

Deshun Jones came from a small non FBS school in California. He had an immediate disadvantage from the start as most scouts either did not know his name or had immediately wrote him off. How would Jones go about getting is name out? Not only did he was this a major hurdle to overcome, but he also entered the ISFL, formally known as NSFL, during the biggest draft class the ISFL had ever seen at 273 players. Not only did he not have a name, he was just a number. However, Jones worked hard trying to impress the scouts with stunning performances during the DSFL Prospect Bowl and combine as well as getting behind the mic and writing media articles that help get his name out. As you may already know, the ISFL is not a poor man's sport. Yes, you get "paid," but unless you have money in the bank you won't be able to afford their ridiculous training fees and equipment cost. So Jones had to freelance and earn money so that scouts would take him seriously. This allowed him to be drafted in the third round and from there it was history as he would start performing beyond anyone's imagination as well as successfully transition to linebacker and knocking that position out of the park.

[Bayley]

SHL PT - Panda

[Asked Madden]

Raylan Crowder has had this moment before. Being that big fish in a small pond in high school then moving up to College where he became just another statistic was extremely difficult. He vowed to not let that happen again.
His second and final year at college was a lot better than his first. After making the transition to DE Crowder put up a career year for the Sun Devils and promised to take this onto his career in the DSFL.

His first competitive game suiting up for the Birddogs happened to be down in Mexico to take on the Tijuana Luchadores one of the pre season favourites for the championship. Crowder was a bag of nerves looking to make an impact.
A defeat and 8 tackles later left a sour taste in Crowders mouth. The game definitely hadnt been lost by him hit the lack of impact plays definitely didn't help. However 8 tackles at DE isn't something to shake a stick at.
Looking back on the off season Crowder would probably have focussed a bit more on his strength rather than his speed to help him get into the backfield and break the blocks of these much bigger and much more athletic offensive linemen.
A couple more training sessions and he should really start seeing the stats roll in.

[retrospace111]

My trial by fire moment was probably being called up in my first season. A lot of the s22 players stayed down for a season, but not the elite ones. In my first couple games, I did next to nothing. Desmond Scarlett, the CB1 of Arizona, got an int in the season opener, and I was determined to try and set that example for the rookies in a couple seasons. I wasn't able to do much, with only 4 PDs for my stats in the first half of the season. I took a break and visited an old friend of mine, a top cornerback who's retired, but his son plays as a cornerback. He taught me a lot and I really felt like I learned something. It seemed to work, because those next two games, I got a pick six in each. I was ecstatic, and I got 2 more ints in the final 5 games to finish the season as a pro bowler. That late season push really helped me and established me as a top corner in the league. I built upon that during my 2nd year, and now I'm continuing my great play this season. As the only defensive player in S22 to make the pro bowl in S22, I wear that as a badge of honor.

[Cody]

Goodman always excelled in football ever since his first flag football game at the age of 8. He had had plenty of practice with his brothers on the family farm, not only tossing the pig skin around but tossing actual pigs around to build up strength.  

Once Goodman started playing tackle football he was starting at Linebacker immediately and all throughout middle school and high school he was the starter. Even in college at Wisconsin, he didn’t spend too much time on the bench earning the starting role halfway through his freshman season after an injury to the Badger’s starting linebacker.

Things changed though after being drafted by Kansas City. Goodman had to split a lot of time with his fellow linebackers. He wasn’t viewed as the stud as he had been throughout his football career and for good reason. The jump up to the DSFL was a lot harder than Goodman was expecting. He couldn’t get to the opposing QB until Week 7 of the season. It was hard riding the bench for the first few games and only putting up a few tackles in each game, but it was also a learning experience. He’ll only use that experience to work harder and get better.

It may have been a rough start but look out Goodman is just getting started.

[sakrosankt]

There were some interesting stages I went through in my career, in all different levels I played in. Deciding to enter the DSFL draft and getting drafted to the Kansas City Coyotes, were I played my first professional season of football was the beginning. After one year, I entered the ISFL draft and got drafted to one of the two expansion teams, the Sarasota Sailfish. I was immediately called up and was – after just one season playing in the minors – in the big league all of a sudden. As a WR the situation wasn’t easy for me. We had some minor holes on the roster, but WR for sure was none of them. With Dexter Banks II and Rayne Gordon I had two of the very best players in front of me. I was glad I even got the chance to play WR3 on that team, but the lack of a franchise QB by that time was not really easy to overcome. We started into the season with Zack Vega, and did surprisingly well. I wasn’t really seen in games with big catches, but we did play pretty well. Later in the season we traded for Rose Jenkins, which was a big upgrade to Vega, but has already announced to retire at the end of the season due to already getting too old to play on a proper level. We made the playoffs in the end, but having two of the best wide receivers in front of you as a rookie is hard to overcome.

After the first year, things turned around pretty quick. Banks II changed to QB, which opened up WR2 on the depth chart for me. I also was way further in my development to play on the pro level, which could be seen in the stats.

[LimJahey]

SHL PT

[Lightnoir]

There have been many moments in my career that challenged me in one way or another. Ultimately I think it was my rookie season in the ISFL that was a true trial by fire. My first season in the DSFL was somewhat up and down, but ultimately I played quite well and earned myself a rookie starting spot on the Philly Liberty the following season. And that whole season was a big Welcome To The League time for me. It was tough trying to compete up when I had so little experience at the level, and there are so many talented receivers in the league that I was routinely getting burnt. On top of that, learning a professional playbook was a process I didn't expect to be as challenging as it was. In college our defense didn't audible very often and I was regularly asked to work in a Cover 2, which has it's complexities sure, but I had gotten used to it. In Philly they shifted me around a lot though, I had to learn to play as a Nickelback and as a Free Safety as well, which was a steeper learning curve than I had anticipated. On top of that, the defensive playbook had a lot more options and audibles than I expected, you know, "Blitz when X happens, rotate to zonal coverage if they line up Z in the slot" and so on. It was really difficult for me that first season, but I think I became a far better player because of it.

(257 words)