There were high expectations for the Grey Ducks and Rick Skuff headed into this season, coming off of an Ultimini win and a good first season. While Skuff has largely delivered on the opportunities that he has had, the wheels have largely fallen off the Duck Truck.
Running second in a three man backfield, through week 10 Skuff has gotten 115 touches, which he has managed to convert in to 628 yards and 3 touchdowns. His 5.5 yards per carry lead the league among qualifying rushers, which is a huge mark of pride for Skuff.
"Yeah, the yards per carry thing isn't the sexiest stat, but it's definitely something I can hang my hat on. With all the talent in our back field I knew opportunities were going to be tough to come by, so making the most out of each one was a huge goal of mine this year. I know having Yoda and Lackson hammering the defenses away alongside me is helping a ton, but it's still me scrapping for those yards."
Skuff has looked like a different back than he was a year ago, when he came into the league with great raw strength but not too much else. He had this to say about his training this season.
"I got great direction from the Duck's staff on what to focus on. This year the goal was speed, speed and more speed. They said get fast and the yards will come, I did, and here they are. I think I've about reached my potential on speed now though, and I'm trying to round out my game a little bit now. Working on my hands and hitting the treadmill so I can stay on the field longer. I've had some talks with the Hawk's staff who have helped me shape my plan going forward and I feel like I'm in great hands."
For the Ducks, though, the season has been disappointing. Talk of an Ultimini Threepeat were on shaky grounds after alternating wins and losses for 6 weeks, but with 5 straight losses now Minnesota is looking at picking up the pieces instead of gearing up for a playoff run.
"Got to be honest, no idea what has happened this year with the team. It seems like we've got the pieces, like we've got the staff to come up with the game plans. The DSFL is brutal and pretty much everybody is good. A few breaks haven't gone our way and the other teams have been good enough to take advantage. We had 4 straight losses by single digits. That's deflating like you can't imagine."
With Baltimore owning his NSFL rights and being fairly set at RB rumors have swirled about a trade or potentially Skuff going in the expansion draft. He's survived the trade deadline, but the draft still looms.
"I'll be honest, I've got some mixed emotions about that possibility. I like the Baltimore locker room, a lot. Great guys, great team, I feel like I could settle in there for a while. But the opportunity to get on the field earlier, and to be part of building a legacy from the ground up is pretty exciting. There's always the risk that the locker room won't meld into what we have in Baltimore, but if it comes down to it I'd just need to do my best to make sure it does. All in all I'd like to stay a Hawk, but I'll make the best out of whatever situation I'm in."
On the subject of expansion in general, Skuff had these thoughts.
"It's probably going to be a reality for a while. I guess I should say it hopefully will be, since that means the league is alive and growing. I'm a stability loving guy, so the idea of getting jerked around from team to team a couple times doesn't appeal to me, but I guess that's just motivation to work hard and try to make protection lists. But I don't think it's going to stop here; you look at the number of players there are and to just get everybody on the field we're going to need more teams. It's a great problem to have, I just hope it doesn't directly impact me too many times."
With his team out of the playoffs Skuff is looking ahead.
"For next steps, I've first off got to keep training, keep hitting weights, the tread mill, the stickum jar, everything. For next season I hope to be with the Hawks in the NSFL, or at least somewhere in the NSFL. I feel like I've grown about as much as I can in the DSFL, but if I'm back with the Ducks I'll still be giving it my all. It's also possible the draft could open up some opportunities with the Hawks, so I've got my eyes glued to the results even if I'm not picked."
Finally we asked Skuff if he had patched things up with fellow Hawk but rival Seawolf Shepherd Marshall.
"Nope. He's still who he is. He sits there posting gifs on Twitter all day and that's why he has games like where he only got one tackle against us. And he didn't even tackle me, I just slipped on some turf near him. Hopefully one of the expansion teams takes him, although with my luck they'd probably take us both. I can coexist with him but it'll be good for my blood pressure if he's real, real far away."
Running second in a three man backfield, through week 10 Skuff has gotten 115 touches, which he has managed to convert in to 628 yards and 3 touchdowns. His 5.5 yards per carry lead the league among qualifying rushers, which is a huge mark of pride for Skuff.
"Yeah, the yards per carry thing isn't the sexiest stat, but it's definitely something I can hang my hat on. With all the talent in our back field I knew opportunities were going to be tough to come by, so making the most out of each one was a huge goal of mine this year. I know having Yoda and Lackson hammering the defenses away alongside me is helping a ton, but it's still me scrapping for those yards."
Skuff has looked like a different back than he was a year ago, when he came into the league with great raw strength but not too much else. He had this to say about his training this season.
"I got great direction from the Duck's staff on what to focus on. This year the goal was speed, speed and more speed. They said get fast and the yards will come, I did, and here they are. I think I've about reached my potential on speed now though, and I'm trying to round out my game a little bit now. Working on my hands and hitting the treadmill so I can stay on the field longer. I've had some talks with the Hawk's staff who have helped me shape my plan going forward and I feel like I'm in great hands."
For the Ducks, though, the season has been disappointing. Talk of an Ultimini Threepeat were on shaky grounds after alternating wins and losses for 6 weeks, but with 5 straight losses now Minnesota is looking at picking up the pieces instead of gearing up for a playoff run.
"Got to be honest, no idea what has happened this year with the team. It seems like we've got the pieces, like we've got the staff to come up with the game plans. The DSFL is brutal and pretty much everybody is good. A few breaks haven't gone our way and the other teams have been good enough to take advantage. We had 4 straight losses by single digits. That's deflating like you can't imagine."
With Baltimore owning his NSFL rights and being fairly set at RB rumors have swirled about a trade or potentially Skuff going in the expansion draft. He's survived the trade deadline, but the draft still looms.
"I'll be honest, I've got some mixed emotions about that possibility. I like the Baltimore locker room, a lot. Great guys, great team, I feel like I could settle in there for a while. But the opportunity to get on the field earlier, and to be part of building a legacy from the ground up is pretty exciting. There's always the risk that the locker room won't meld into what we have in Baltimore, but if it comes down to it I'd just need to do my best to make sure it does. All in all I'd like to stay a Hawk, but I'll make the best out of whatever situation I'm in."
On the subject of expansion in general, Skuff had these thoughts.
"It's probably going to be a reality for a while. I guess I should say it hopefully will be, since that means the league is alive and growing. I'm a stability loving guy, so the idea of getting jerked around from team to team a couple times doesn't appeal to me, but I guess that's just motivation to work hard and try to make protection lists. But I don't think it's going to stop here; you look at the number of players there are and to just get everybody on the field we're going to need more teams. It's a great problem to have, I just hope it doesn't directly impact me too many times."
With his team out of the playoffs Skuff is looking ahead.
"For next steps, I've first off got to keep training, keep hitting weights, the tread mill, the stickum jar, everything. For next season I hope to be with the Hawks in the NSFL, or at least somewhere in the NSFL. I feel like I've grown about as much as I can in the DSFL, but if I'm back with the Ducks I'll still be giving it my all. It's also possible the draft could open up some opportunities with the Hawks, so I've got my eyes glued to the results even if I'm not picked."
Finally we asked Skuff if he had patched things up with fellow Hawk but rival Seawolf Shepherd Marshall.
"Nope. He's still who he is. He sits there posting gifs on Twitter all day and that's why he has games like where he only got one tackle against us. And he didn't even tackle me, I just slipped on some turf near him. Hopefully one of the expansion teams takes him, although with my luck they'd probably take us both. I can coexist with him but it'll be good for my blood pressure if he's real, real far away."
