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.
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