(S4) - Weekend PT #1 - Off Season Program

[Daybe]

Following a bad statistical year and a bad year as a team in S3, Brice Boggs knew he needed a change. Not a small change, like changing up his pregame routines or anything like that. He needed to make a decision to help the team in a big way. For the first portion of his offseason, Boggs wasn't present during practices. Often times, he would be seen in the GM office, discussing with GMs Robert Wells and John Gruden about something for their eyes only. After two weeks, whispers were heard. Was Boggs holding out? When would he be back? After 16 days, Boggs returned to practice. He did not line up at LB like he usually does, though. He was put in at CB by coach Jack Benino, and stayed there. Teammates watched in awe, even if that meant Benino, the former military drill sergeant and former Army head coach would go ballistic at them. Boggs was working on his footwork against emerging star wide receiver Damian West. After he was mobbed by reporters on his first day at practice, he decided not to take questions at all for one week until the reporters cooled down. Eventually, he was asked various questions in a press conference. "Why did you make this decision?" asked one reporter. "Well, I wanted to do what's best for my team, and I saw that our secondary was pretty weak, and I decided to make a decision that would let us win more games. We're already pretty strong at linebacker with Jonathon, Arby, and our rook, Haruki."

[RainDelay]

After losing star receiver Josh Garden in free agency to the Arizona Outlaws, the Wraiths know that they have to get production out of their new #1 guy, Bailey Cook. Cook is already a star of the league, appearing in the Pro Bowl of all three seasons, but work had to be done in order to keep working on his skills.

For one, he is coming back a lot faster. He pumped speed and agility all offseason, and is now ready to outrun cornerbacks across the league. Some teams will be hard to beat, but Cook knows that he can give himself an advantage against anyone. He especially looks forward to facing Kevin Cushing.

Before the season, he plans to catch some more passes. He already has a high hands attribute, but he knows that unloading more points into that category can't hurt.

Of course, he also went through the offseason training regimen which gives him a little bit of experience in most categories. Even things like run blocking and pass blocking were upgraded, so he knows how to use his body better when the QB doesn't call his number during a play.

With all the work he has done in the offseason, it will be no surprise that Bailey Cook is more than ready for the season to start!

[PDXBaller]

Eli Kamaka put in extra time in the gym to lose some weight and develop some more athleticism. Since his move to offensive line, Eli put on more weight and strength but sacrificed lots of speed and agility that he had before entering the league as a rookie. He wanted to be ready for the league’s official announcement regarding the offensive line and the potential to move to another position. He added more high intensity interval training and worked on getting his agility back by working on foot speed and tackling coordination. He went on a strict diet plan to lose weight quickly and added tons of cardio activities like jogging, rowing, and trail running to lean up his body.

Eli did get to go home back to Hawaii and spend some time with families and friends. He did some fishing and generally hung around the islands for most of his off season. This type of relaxation and rest is important to prepare for the next season since it helps him prepare his mind mentally and it’s nice to be able to enjoy the off season. All of this physical and mental preparation has kept Eli busy, but he’s ready for the season to start!

205 words

[JKortesi81]

There’s just so much that Carlito Crush had to do during the offseason. Besides the whirlwind that was being drafted to the Portland Pythons (after finally getting used to things with the Norfolk Seawolves for his short stint there), Carlito had to finish his classes at Ohio State. Once exams were done (he passed), Carlito packed all of his things and moved from Columbus to Portland. Carlito lived in a motel for 2 weeks before he signed his contract with the Pythons. Finally having some money in his pocket, (he was a good college football player, but wasn’t one of the ones that got secretly paid by the boosters) Crush found a nice loft apartment in downtown Portland. While he would spend a lot of his time in the gym doing what he does best and lifting weights, Carlito also took the time to get to know his new city. He would take walks by himself around Portland, learning where things were. He found a close by restaurant that served amazing oysters. He found a close by supermarket to get his groceries at. He truly relished being able to walk around a city where next to nobody knew who he was. For now. (203)

[manicmav36]

Owen Taylor had a very successful season 3. He finished with 49 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, 13 sacks, and qualified for his first Pro Bowl in only his second year. Despite making their second NSFC Championship game in two years, it was obvious that some changes needed to be made to replace running back Darlane Farlane, the one-time Offensive Rookie of the Year that had all but disappeared after his first season. Farlane was fully committed to the Baltimore Hawks in season 2, but due to his massive success his first year, he felt like he had achieved all he could in the NSFL and began to look for challenges else-where.

Although he was a very athletic defensive end, he started season 3 weighing in at 320 pounds of pure awesome. He started his season cutting weight during the season in an attempt to become faster and more agile, and by the end of the season, he was down to 285. Unfortunately, that’s still far too overweight for a running back and he spent the rest of the off-season cutting weight and trying to slim down. By then end of the off-season, he was able to cut his weight all the way down to 225 pounds. Although he lost a decent amount of strength, his speed increased exponentially. Look for Taylor to continue to increase his speed and agility as he continues to adjust to his new size and shape.

[cosbornballboy]

Over the offseason, as previously mentioned in a various amount of articles and media, and with one of these pieces mentioning a possible future coaching job for him, Ricardo Sandoval has gone around helping coach and mentor the future generation, OL and DL from inner-city disadvantaged schools to keep them in football and off the streets. The offensive linemen seemed very automated and robotic, but I guess you have to teach robots somehow. Among these kids was Defensive End Robert Montgomery III, a kid from a disadvantaged Baltimore family who started a GoFundMe to pay for his pads to play football. Other kids may have done worse. Montgomery seeks to attend University of Maryland Eastern Shore and play football (anyone that gets this tell me). He wants to break through his situation and make a new life for himself. And he realizes it all starts here, his freshman year of high school. The scene is set, the mentorship is there, everything is just right for him to make his appearance in Season 11 of the NSFL. Be ready. But Sandoval did a little more than that. He also had a child. Lamar Sandoval-Duckworth, a bright young infant that came into the world healthy.

[Bayley]

Benson Bayley has had quite the offseason. There have been so many new faces in San Jose. Chris Orosz was the big add to the offseason much to the surprise of the team. He will definitely bolster the offense in an awesome way. Another thing is that Sharpei lost a ton of weight. No one really knows how, but he did. He went from a useless Oline to a guy that may be useful on defense in the linebacker spot. For Benson Bayley, it is all about getting faster and smarter. You have to prepare for whatever is thrown your way from opposing players. Benson Bayley has definitely been going on hikes up mountains as well as running in races. This has improved Benson Bayley's speed. He has really tried to limit his intake of Chick Fil A as well. You never want to run as you are eating a chicken sandwich. It has been a busy offseason as he and his girl have been touring around. They have went to all different parts of the globe including the Netherlands, England, and Paris. They even saw a Tottenham Hotspur game in England. It is back to business though, it's time to get San Jose to the playoffs.

Words: 207

[kcheng686]

With the arrival of Superstar wide receiver Josh Garden to the Arizona Outlaws and the departure of star corner back Phillipe Carter to the Las Vegas Legion, the Outlaws found themselves with too many wide receiver and only a single corner back in second year corner back Franklin Harris Jr. Thus, this led to the decision that slot receiver Samuel Zhang would move to #2 corner back to fill the gap left by Carter's departure. The 6'3 220lb Zhang has shown off his impressive speed and hands during his rookie season, and the Outlaws are hoping that Zhang can height and speed to lock down opposing #2 wide receivers.

Thus, Zhang has been working mostly on corner back drills, to help him get adjusted to playing as a corner back in the NSFL. This means that he has been working to learn to tackles correctly and wrap up, learn to track the ball, backpedal, and use his hips, and other things, like learning to read the quarterback. Luckily, Zhang did a lot of this kind of training in the season 3 rookie camp, so it has not been as much of a transition as it normally is. Can Zhang replace Carter? We will see in season 4

[Aenir]

Chris' Offseason program was quite simple... get used to the cold of Yellowknife...I mean... Get used to the warmth of San Jose! Its a tough thing, acclimating your body to extremes in temperature, as you have to be willing to push it to any extreme limit, be it in a freezer, or in a very hot sauna. One has to be willing to do anything like eat ice cream or drink hot tea! Its also a bit of a change just from a population standpoint, you can walk through Yellowknife and on a busy day see everyone in town, yet in San Jose, that is not even close to possible! Another point to get used to is the trees... Palm trees and their deadly deadly cargo of coconuts! Did you know™ that nearly 500 people per day are killed by falling coconuts? Its true, I read it online! that is an astounding number, especially as only 200 people are killed by wild moose in Yellowknife (per day) and less than 100 are victims of Polar Bear Maulings! whereas after the dangerous coconuts, San Jose also has the sneaky danger of being south of Oakland and their Crazy Raiders fans, numbers aren't quite available for those deaths, but I would assume that it is up quite high as well! (218)

[acki]

Most players have strenuous off-season programs, and Alex Hansen is normally one of them. This off-season however was completely different. Instead of hitting the gym, running, and all of those lovely things that people do to make sure they stay in shape, Hansen had a different approach. He instead stayed at home with his wife and kids and waited by the phone, feet up watching T.V. You see, this off-season was different for Alex Hansen, he was tagged by Yellowknife with the Restricted Free Agency tag. Not knowing what lie in store for Alex, he instead waited anxiously by the phone to figure out what was going to happen with his career. The phone call finally came that he was being shipped alongside Chris Orosz to San Jose so he got up and packed his bags. Alex’s off-season program was completely different then everybody else’s, because he still got his workouts in but instead of on the field he did it all in the house, packing and moving boxes. Finally settled down in San Jose, Alex then had to do even more of his off-season regime by unloading and unpacking all of his boxes into his new home in San Jose.

(201 words)