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+---- Thread: *Sam Garrad - Aberdeen Grown (/showthread.php?tid=10609)
*Sam Garrad - Aberdeen Grown - SammyG - 10-08-2018
Red Parton - Saskatoon Star Phoenix Columnist
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Introduction
At this moment in time you probably haven't heard of Sam Garrad, and that's because in the grand scheme of things he will likely be a player that will under your radar for his entire career. Garrad isn't the type of guy that you draft to be an active voice in your locker room, or your defensive captain. No, Garrad is a defensive tackle out of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (more specifically Holy Cross High School) who has played a minor role in his teams' success his entire career, but due to the nature of his position has received an astronomical amount of recognition for it. You may be wondering, 'what keys does a player such as Garrad hold that make him so unquestionably average?'. In order to figure out the answer to that question, we have to trace Garrad all the way back to his roots and when he first began his life in the rural midwest.
Early Life
Sam Garrad was born August 28th 2000 Loreen Garrad (Bezzel) and Hank Garrad in Aberdeen, Saskatchewan. He was the first of three sons, all of which are in their late teenage years. Garrad started his schooling at Aberdeen Elementary, where he took part in the town's flag football program before joining the Aberdeen Flames when he turned twelve for his first year peewee season. Garrad was a late join to the football scene, but it was immeaditely obvious that he would be different from the other kids because he was without question, the one guy that would never make a mistake but that also would never do anything important. This trend continued as Garrad grew up and eventually enrolled at Nicholas Clay Elementary in Saskatoon (a ten minute drive from Aberdeen and the biggest city in Saskatchewan). There he joined the Arbor Creek / Erindale Falcons for the Kinsmen Football League season and began stomping over teams all across the city.
Freshman Season
Garrad entered high school with the Holy Cross Crusaders in his freshman season, and with his size already being massive he was immeadiately handed a starting role on the roster of the senior varsity team. With this in mind, you have to remember that Garrad was quite simply only chosen for his size, and that the team's decision to place him on the roster as a starter had literally nothing to do with skill. During his freshman season, Garrad was enteretained by some very strong defensive team mates, most notablly sophomore and all-star safety Ryan Cobalt, who had most recently begun his feud with Melfort Wings running back Antonio Summer. Cobalt took Garrad under his wing and began to hone him into the absolutely average player that he is today.
Sophomore Season
That season the team was fairly bad and failed to capitalize on their dominant senior squad, so they moved into Garrad's sophomore season where he was joined by fellow S11 NSFL Draft prospects Eric Legstrong and Luke Boechler (who previously had signed with the San Antonio Marshals on a similar contract to that of Garrad). The three, along with Ryan Cobalt made up one of the most stacked teams in the league, with a strong senior quarterback playing the role of mentor to Boechler and with Cobalt helping out Garrad and Legstrong it seemed like the team was destined for greatness. In their sophomore year the team went all the way to the provincial finals before losing to the LaBoldus Bulls out of Regina. It was a crushing defeat for the Crusaders, who were sure that this was their year that they would finally blow up and get their name back onto the trophy for the first time in almost a decade, but alas it was not and they had only to think of next season.
Junior Season
The Crusaders reteurned with a vengeance for Garrad's junior year and third season on roster with the school's varsity team, and this time it was the year of the juniors as Luke Boechler stepped into the starting quarterback role, Ryan Cobalt became the premier safety in the entire province, and Legstrong finaly broke into his role as a dominant kicker while going on a perfect season. In terms of Garrad though, the blocks continued to fall just normally. They weren't right and they weren't wrong, they were just average. Garrad continued to work out intensely in a dream to one day get down in size enough to play linebacker for the team, but the genetics just weren't helping me and he accepted his fate to forever play as a defensive tackle. The Holy Cross Crusaders finished off the season in a wonderful fashion, taking out the the LaBoldus Bulls and ending their long reign of dominance over the SFL.
Senior Season
It all came down to this moment, the senior year of the biggest collective of players the league had ever seen. The Crusaders repeated as provincial champions and the city went wild. People had been talking for years about Ryan Cobalt and Antonio Summer, but the conversation surrounding Luke Boechler was the one that most people deemed the most important. Names were already being called as to where Boechler would go on his NLI signing day, but in the end the young player chose Ohio State as his destination before declaring for the draft late in the season. Legstrong announced he would be signing with the University of Alberta in the CIS route but instead followed in Boechler's reign where as Garrad saw himself getting no offers from colleges. With no real ability at school, it was unlikely that Garrad would get accepted on his own. It all seemed to halt there, until a message from his former mentor Ryan Cobalt brought him tumbling back into the football world.
DSFL Declaration
Cobalt had reached out to let Garrad know that NSFL was accepting late applications for their development program, the DSFL and that one of the teams in the league was looking for a defensive tackle who could play an all around run stuffing style. Garrad jumped at the opportunity, and before he knew it was on a plane to meet with the general manager of the Tijuana Luchadores who graciously accepted him onto their roster. Unknown to Garrad though, he would not be partaking in their post season opener against the San Antonio Marshals, much to his dismay. In the end though, Garrad was given a handsome sum of five milion dollars for even showing up, and the trade off prepared him for a life of luxury and ease. That was before Cobalt reminded him (a detail he had previously left out) that draftee free agents were required by their contracts to play at least one season in the DSFL following their free agency signing period. That meant it was draft time for a young boy from Aberdeen.
Outro
It's funny how fast things can be flipped, and how sudenly your world can change. In a matter of years, Sam Garrad went from being the quiet and average boy who played on a strong team behind even stronger players to being thrust into a role as one of the leading defensive prospects in the upcoming DSFL draft. And why is that you might ask? No one really knows. It's a complete mystery as to the prowess of Garrrad, but scouts across the nation are pegging him as the next NSFL superstar at defensive tackle. Only time can be the prophet of what is to come in this young stars career, but one thing can be for certain. Greatness is certainly ahead.
*Sam Garrad - Aberdeen Grown - mckee29 - 10-08-2018
I pray I see you in a Portland jersey next season