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+---- Thread: *Alternate Reality, vol 1 (/showthread.php?tid=6465)
*Alternate Reality, vol 1 - 37thchamber - 12-13-2017
In high school, Baltimore Hawks defensive back Antoine Delacour actually played wide receiver. He was persuaded to convert to defensive back by his coach at Acadiana in his sophomore year, becoming a two-way player for a year, before converting fully to defensive back in his junior year. Today we ask... what if he hadn't?
Using the simulation capabilities of the latest NSFL licensed football game, NSFL '19, and College Bowl Deluxe -- a related college football game by the same developer -- we created a college recruit version of Antoine Delacour and simulated his career to this point.
First, we had to estimate Delacour's stats based on his high school performances... no easy feat. At the start of his junior year, Delacour stood just five feet and nine inches, and weighed significantly less than he does today, at just 160 lbs. In a reasonable estimate, we bulked him up to 175 lbs and added an inch of growth to the senior we were going to use for this experiment.
As it turned out, our Alt-oine Delacour (from here on, referred to as Alt1) was rated a three-star recruit at wide receiver, attracting some interest from various colleges. We held out, though, hoping for a bigger program to come in, and as fate would have it, found his way onto LSU's program. Impressed by Alt1's speed, vertical jump, and instincts, we managed to wrangle a partial scholarship.
At LSU, Delacour the wide receiver was effectively a non-factor in his freshman year -- a stark contrast to his time there in our reality, where he established himself as a playmaker as a true freshman for the Tigers -- featuring in just two games, contributing five catches for a total of just thirty-one yards.
His role in the team was established, though. It would only grow in his sophomore year, as Delacour became a semi-regular option in the slot, managing 19 receptions for 270 yards on the season, behind senior Derrick Moreau on the depth chart. The Tigers would also pick up a national championship in this year.
In his junior year, Delacour broke out, amassing 546 yards from 27 receptions, placing him as the second favourite target of Myles Gage, the Tigers' quarterback. He would build on this in his senior year, finishing as the leading receiver on the national champions' roster, with 963 yards and 9 touchdowns from his 48 receptions. It was at this stage that his ability to gain yards after the catch was established, with Delacour often being picked out for shorter passes, before making use of his excellent speed and agility to turn those short passes into long gains.
Then came the big time. We ported our little pocket rocket college star, along with his two national championships and a Heisman nomination, into NSFL '19, and adjusted his height and weight to match the measurements of the real life Delacour at the NSFL draft combine...
For full realism, we chose to use the game's built-in representations of NFL teams -- as much as the NSFL might dispute it, the NFL is still the premier football league in the nation; it only makes sense to aim as high as possible. At this point, it might be worth noting that Delacour was drafted 66th overall by the Hawks in the inaugural NSFL draft, and was offered a place on the New Orleans Saints practice roster after appearing in two NSFL Pro Bowls. Marinate on that for a second.
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![[Image: m7uQ4iZ.png]](https://i.imgur.com/m7uQ4iZ.png)
"And with the first pick of the 2017 NFL Draft, the Miami Palms select..."[/div]
Little Alt1 went first overall, to NSFL 19's Miami Dolphins proxy, the Palms. Stunned? Yeah, we were too. On reflection, it was probably that blistering speed. We took his stats directly from his real-life counterpart in NSFL '19, you see. Didn't think to scale him back a little, to his stats as a rookie.
Anyway, Delacour's debut season was a doozy. Despite starting opposite Jarvis Landry as the number two receiver, and picking up an injury in week 15... he amassed 1,005 yards and 11 touchdowns from 41 receptions, including a 97 yard touchdown in a 41-31 shootout win against, oddly enough, Baltimore.
As if to underline his spectacular yards after catch potential, almost a quarter of his catches were for 40 or more yards, with more than half of his catches resulting in a first down. Notably, Delacour also had a staggering eighteen drops, however. Had he caught half of those, based on his yards per catch, it's reasonable to assume he would have picked up in excess of another 200 yards. Extrapolating that to sixteen games, rather than the fifteen he played due to the knee injury, that's over 1,300 yards. In his rookie season. As a number two receiver. Wow.
While he picked up less yards than the number two draft pick of his class, Richard Davis, Delacour's long yardage catches absolutely dominated Davis' tally of zero catches over 40 yards, while also picking up almost 50% more yards per catch.
In addition to his impressive debut season at wide receiver, Delacour also picked up over 600 kick return yards, averaging almost 23 yards per return.
Miami didn't make the playoffs in his first season, finishing third in the AFC East with a record of 8-8, narrowly missing out on a wildcard spot to Buffalo. But we suspect things will change in the future for Alt1. In our next chapter, we'll simulate the next five seasons of Alt1 Delacour's career, taking us through to the end of his rookie contract...
(924 words)
((OOC: So I actually started a new game using NFL player data in DDSPF16, and edited a player in the draft class to have Delacour's exact stats as they are now. Gonna sim his entire career and document it. The college bit was made up, though lol. Might do some other players in the same way if it turns out interesting enough. Volunteers welcome.))
GRADED
*Alternate Reality, vol 1 - manicmav36 - 12-13-2017
Awesome idea. Would love to see this for others!
*Alternate Reality, vol 1 - White Cornerback - 12-14-2017
Do me with my current stats in my original legendary position, the quarterback. @Ben can vouch for my ability.
*Alternate Reality, vol 1 - 37thchamber - 12-14-2017
(12-14-2017, 02:15 PM)Dermot Wrote:Do me with my current stats in my original legendary position, the quarterback. @Ben can vouch for my ability.lmao that should be interesting. I'll sort that later.