Meet Joliet Christ Jr.
For people who have been around the International Sim Football League a good amount of time or even people who know stuff about the history of the league, you likely know who Joliet L. Christ is and was. For those that don't, he is a hall of fame quarterback that played his entire career in a San Jose Sabercat uniform from seasons 11 through 17. Christ was one of the first true dual-threat quarterbacks and served as the bridge between the old mobile guys like Mat Akselsen and more new guys like Franklin Armstrong and more of the style of players at the position you see today. Christ was at the helm of the Sabercats' first ever playoff wins and Ultimus win and lead the team to two Ultimus games, winning one of them in Season 14 against the Philadelphia Liberty against long time rival and draft class mate Adriana Falconi. Joliet Christ retired earlier than many had expected but wanted to retire at the top of his game and also wanted to spend family time and moved back to South Dakota in Vermillion where he spent time as an assistant coach at his alma mater at the University of South Dakota. During his time there, his only son, Joliet Christ Jr. attended most of the practices and games and got interested in football at a very young age and started playing football as a youth and never gave it up. His father taught him everything he knew about the game and also about what it takes to be a professional football player and the Senior Christ knew he was passing the baton off to his potentially greatest achievement, his son.
Joliet Christ Jr. was the pride of Vermillion, SD as he spent all his younger days in the small city in southeastern South Dakota where his father made a name for himself playing for the University of South Dakota. He already had tremendous expectations in the community and as a football player just due to his pedigree and that is not always an easy thing to thrust upon a child or a young man even in a small place like Vermillion. Vermillion was the home for the Christs, even with Joliet Sr. being from Brookings, the home of South Dakota State but never looked back as they knew Vermillion was the best place to be and it offered a lot of great things for the family to stay, especially with senior Christ getting a coaching opportunity. Joliet Christ Jr. grew up knowing the ins and outs of the game, it was in his blood and from day one of picking up the football, you knew he would be special. Christ Jr. was built differently and was always one of the biggest children on the playground and with a father standing 6'3 and mother standing 6'1, his genes definitely helped him at least in the height department. By the time Christ Jr. was in the 8th grade, he stood over 6 feet tall, measuring around 6'1 or 6'2 with shoes on as some would say. He played local youth football from the age of 7 through his 8th grade season but it was time to transition to high school football and he immediately earned a place on Vermillion High School's varsity football team and after training camp, was named the team's starting quarterback in just his freshman season, something that no Vermillion High School freshman had done before. Christ Jr. went on to set records for the school and led the team to victories in 3 state championships even against Christ Sr.'s former Brookings high school football team. Christ Jr. at the time he finished high school stood 6'6" and weighed around 230 pounds and with his big, accurate arm, he was listed as a 5-star recruit by every scouting platform out there. He received scholarship offers from schools like the University of South Dakota, North Dakota State University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Iowa, the University of Nebraska, and Iowa State University. Having the best visit in Ames, IA and former ISFL coach Andrew Warren leading the team, Christ Jr. decided to accept a scholarship offer to play for the Iowa State Cyclones. Christ got 3 games in his freshman season due to Iowa State's quarterback being injured for 2+ games and he was able to win each of his games that he played a majority of the game in. His next 3 seasons, Christ led Iowa State to 3 straight winning seasons and 3 straight bowl game victories including a Cotton Bowl victory in his senior season against the University of Michigan. After his senior season and bowl victory, Christ Jr. indicated his desire to play professional football in the ISFL and would enter the next DSFL draft and be declared for the Season 27 ISFL Draft as well which is standard in a professional ISFL player's career. The influx of the quarterback position should be one to watch for as Christ Jr. is a can't miss talent and some team that needs a quarterback in the DSFL next season or in a couple seasons should take a chance at the son of the former ISFL hall of famer.
Scouting:
While I still hope to hear from teams in the scouting process, I do think it will help to kind of write out longer answers here to help explain my thoughts on my draft status as well as earn a few extra bucks during the process. I hope to explain clearly enough that teams can feel comfortable taking me in the draft as well as hopefully feel comfortable reaching out to have a nice chat. I am personally not a fan of being sent all those draft questionnaires and stuff and as a scout myself at multiple times in multiple leagues, I much prefer the conversation style of scouting and such so that people can know myself better and I can get to know their team better and so on and so forth.
How active are you going to be?
SUPER ACTIVE! The most active I have been since the early days and prime of Joliet Christ and I hope it shows with the recent articles I have been putting out and such and my desire to both earn money, complete my tasks and be the best that I can be. I know I was not super active with my last player DTF but even my not super active self was able to get, I believe 912 TPE by the end of his career before regression. Even with Christ, I don't think my totals were that much higher but I can't really remember but I expect to eclipse both that total and the length of career as the first Christ to try and at least get some time in on a team and hopefully lead some teams to victories in more Ultimus games even as a scraggly old man. I don't plan on falling off at all and don't plan on slacking in both the task, updating, or money department so you can know you will have the right guy at quarterback for your franchise. In the DSFL, I plan to get to the cap as fast as I possibly can to be a contributor from the get go. I bought the tier 6 equipment already in my rookie season and completed the Wiki task and the off-season task along with the other basic stuff like activity checks and trainings and have been writing articles, did a graphic and made a new Twitter for this player. I want to make it clear that I will be the best pick for any team. I will be active and around the locker room and hopefully be a leader as a quarterback should be but I don't step on toes so yeah, just reach out, I would love to talk about what your team needs and why I hope to be the guy that is on that list of needs!
So, money will be no issue?
CORRECT! That is exactly what I am saying. There were some times I took a little extra money with both Christ Sr. and DTF but with Christ Jr. I only plan on taking minimum contracts throughout my career and do whatever I can to help a team's budget. I plan on writing articles more frequently, doing some graphics which I usually get 1 or 1.5 million a piece, and doing things like Twitter and fantasy and whatever I got to do. I bought less trainings and equipment with DTF so I could keep a bank going a bit to afford full equipment in year one and go from there getting full equipment each year, affording all trainings for a year and all that good stuff. I know for the DSFL it won't matter super much that I can be a super money earner cause cap is easy-ish to hit and I am already over 100 TPE once Wiki is approved. I hope that I can at least be someone for a DSFL locker room that can encourage articles, graphics, or people to do twitter and at least help in that regard and lead by example. The money question I think is usually a more important ISFL question in my opinion because it means that teams don't have to pay me much and can get savings at the most important position. DSFL is important to know to have enough money to get to that cap but yeah, I will definitely be good at least for my DSFL career as this article should get me more than enough money for affording all the weekly trainings for the year!
Do you plan on switching positions?
NO! I started as a quarterback with DTF as well hoping to follow up Christ's career with a more long term mobile option at the position but unfortunately that did not end up happening and I was willing to switch to get a spot in the ISFL right away and while I hoped I would get drafted to a team that had an open quarterback spot, and somewhat, I did, I decided to be a team player to give the team that drafted me, the Sabercats, an additional weapon and at 2nd overall, it would have been kind of a jerk move to not switch when I said I was likely open to switching to RB or WR. I am 100% committed to Joliet Christ Jr. following in the footsteps of his dad and playing the same position and whether I am playing in the DSFL for 5 seasons or whatever, I plan to get to the ISFL as a QB and even if I give a team only a limited time with a top TPE quarterback, I can at least know I tried and made it. I hope the team that drafts me sees me as their starting quarterback but I am okay splitting time in the DSFL with either a more established QB or even another rookie QB to give them a chance to play and shine as well. I am honestly open to anything and just want to be a steady presence for a franchise at the DSFL level. At the ISFL level, I hope to be drafted at some point to a team that wants to play me as their next franchise QB after a few seasons developing but am okay if a team wants to draft me to use me as trade bait or even a potential expansion loss, that would be fine too. I just want to be a QB for a team at some point and will get there in whatever way in takes even if it means having to go to free agency after a rookie deal. I honestly want to be a one team guy but it all depends on who drafts me!
Do you have any career goals?
Probably not any more than I have not already talked about or mentioned in here. I want to eventually get to be a starting quarterback for a team and I want to win games. Those are my main goals and would love to hit those. I don't need another hall of fame player although it would be awesome getting a father and son into the hall at the QB position. I am more concerned with just being a steady QB option for an Ultimus winning team and I would love an Ultimus MVP if I were to grab any award. I do plan on playing this player different than Joliet Sr. as I don't really plan to be a super successful running option at any level. I want to come in and be a more traditional pocket passer and we will see how that goes but I think it can work at any level. I still plan to get speed and stuff to around 60 but don't want to have that be a big TPE dump and instead focus on other attributes and keeping elite throwing ability a few years into regression even. I have a plan to make this player last and hope to be given that chance and I think JCJ can be a player that lots of teams will want. My DSFL goals are much of the same but probably more-so just being a good locker room guy and good presence for other young guys as well as try and help them get acclimated to the league and pick up some wins along the way. Success can breed activity and so can overall locker room activity and discussion and I hope to add to both for a DSFL team.
Do you have preferred teams or ones to avoid?
Honestly, no on both counts there which may be a shock to some people maybe on either side of the argument. I just want JCJ to be a great player for a franchise and get the chance to win a team some Ultimuses, Ultimi, Ultimus, one of those? I know there are some people that I have not uniformly gotten along with in years in this league or other leagues in general but I am willing to put anything behind me for the benefit of both myself, whoever those people may be, and the benefit to a franchise. I know that might not be saying much because others may say, under no circumstance do I want this guy in my locker room and that is okay, it will happen. I am willing to play for whatever franchise, with whatever teammates, to get a shot to win some games with a team and I won't cause any locker room headaches or whatever, I am just here to ball. Whether it be teams like Tijuana or Philadelphia or whatever other teams may have some bad blood with me, let's just work it out. I don't have to go to any team but I would like to be an option for any team. I am willing to put whatever past we have behind me if you are for the good of the franchise and the league as a whole because fighting and drama, well, it is stupid, and I realize this way more now than ever. I don't need to play for San Jose again, it has been a great time since season 10 and I will always have those friendships and great times but they likely don't need me. I would probably love to retire or play a game there if whatever timeline allows it to honor the senior Christ but if I am a guy with one franchise until the end, that is awesome as well!
Any other things to know?
Tough question but I probably wouldn't say anything relevant is left to know. I do however want to talk about some things that could help extend my ability to write and stuff while playing as this player and this character and that is some stats related stuff I have always enjoyed. I, at one point wanted to have an article series about wide receivers and detailed their advanced stats and their overall impacts to their team and league as a whole but overall it is not the easiest thing to do and it was more of a way to try and hype myself up to the position of wide receiver but it never took off. I do however love talking about advanced quarterbacking stats and want to have some sort of article series detailing some more advanced stats than what is currently available in the index to truly determine who the best current quarterbacks are or even who is the best all-time and take a deep dive into the past as well. Looking at things ranked on completion percentage and passer rating along with touchdowns, interceptions, and yards can definitely be used to determine great QB play but there is so much more than that. Things not measured in the index available to the masses like TD rate, INT rate, Yards per attempts, sack rate, and more can tell such a better story and could even flip a script on overall quarterbacking play. I would love to have some sort of overall almanac of these advanced stats for QBs in the DSFL, ISFL and the histories of those leagues done and determine who is and was the best quarterback(s) of all time.
I take the position pretty seriously as it is one of my favorite positions to deep dive into much like kicking and punting is as well and I was almost a kicker/punter as well but decided to make another push at a max earning career. Maybe next career we will finally get into the kicking game but for now we are 100% sold on being a quarterback. If the articles end up awesome enough, maybe it keeps going even when I am on other players, who knows!
Conclusion:
Please reach out during scouting any DSFL GMs, I would love to chat and love to make myself the best option to be your QB both helping your team grow and helping your team win. I hope this was at least a somewhat interesting read and people can get a gauge on the next best thing at the QB position, Joliet Christ Jr.!
Do you plan on switching positions?
NO! I started as a quarterback with DTF as well hoping to follow up Christ's career with a more long term mobile option at the position but unfortunately that did not end up happening and I was willing to switch to get a spot in the ISFL right away and while I hoped I would get drafted to a team that had an open quarterback spot, and somewhat, I did, I decided to be a team player to give the team that drafted me, the Sabercats, an additional weapon and at 2nd overall, it would have been kind of a jerk move to not switch when I said I was likely open to switching to RB or WR. I am 100% committed to Joliet Christ Jr. following in the footsteps of his dad and playing the same position and whether I am playing in the DSFL for 5 seasons or whatever, I plan to get to the ISFL as a QB and even if I give a team only a limited time with a top TPE quarterback, I can at least know I tried and made it. I hope the team that drafts me sees me as their starting quarterback but I am okay splitting time in the DSFL with either a more established QB or even another rookie QB to give them a chance to play and shine as well. I am honestly open to anything and just want to be a steady presence for a franchise at the DSFL level. At the ISFL level, I hope to be drafted at some point to a team that wants to play me as their next franchise QB after a few seasons developing but am okay if a team wants to draft me to use me as trade bait or even a potential expansion loss, that would be fine too. I just want to be a QB for a team at some point and will get there in whatever way in takes even if it means having to go to free agency after a rookie deal. I honestly want to be a one team guy but it all depends on who drafts me!
Do you have any career goals?
Probably not any more than I have not already talked about or mentioned in here. I want to eventually get to be a starting quarterback for a team and I want to win games. Those are my main goals and would love to hit those. I don't need another hall of fame player although it would be awesome getting a father and son into the hall at the QB position. I am more concerned with just being a steady QB option for an Ultimus winning team and I would love an Ultimus MVP if I were to grab any award. I do plan on playing this player different than Joliet Sr. as I don't really plan to be a super successful running option at any level. I want to come in and be a more traditional pocket passer and we will see how that goes but I think it can work at any level. I still plan to get speed and stuff to around 60 but don't want to have that be a big TPE dump and instead focus on other attributes and keeping elite throwing ability a few years into regression even. I have a plan to make this player last and hope to be given that chance and I think JCJ can be a player that lots of teams will want. My DSFL goals are much of the same but probably more-so just being a good locker room guy and good presence for other young guys as well as try and help them get acclimated to the league and pick up some wins along the way. Success can breed activity and so can overall locker room activity and discussion and I hope to add to both for a DSFL team.
Do you have preferred teams or ones to avoid?
Honestly, no on both counts there which may be a shock to some people maybe on either side of the argument. I just want JCJ to be a great player for a franchise and get the chance to win a team some Ultimuses, Ultimi, Ultimus, one of those? I know there are some people that I have not uniformly gotten along with in years in this league or other leagues in general but I am willing to put anything behind me for the benefit of both myself, whoever those people may be, and the benefit to a franchise. I know that might not be saying much because others may say, under no circumstance do I want this guy in my locker room and that is okay, it will happen. I am willing to play for whatever franchise, with whatever teammates, to get a shot to win some games with a team and I won't cause any locker room headaches or whatever, I am just here to ball. Whether it be teams like Tijuana or Philadelphia or whatever other teams may have some bad blood with me, let's just work it out. I don't have to go to any team but I would like to be an option for any team. I am willing to put whatever past we have behind me if you are for the good of the franchise and the league as a whole because fighting and drama, well, it is stupid, and I realize this way more now than ever. I don't need to play for San Jose again, it has been a great time since season 10 and I will always have those friendships and great times but they likely don't need me. I would probably love to retire or play a game there if whatever timeline allows it to honor the senior Christ but if I am a guy with one franchise until the end, that is awesome as well!
Any other things to know?
Tough question but I probably wouldn't say anything relevant is left to know. I do however want to talk about some things that could help extend my ability to write and stuff while playing as this player and this character and that is some stats related stuff I have always enjoyed. I, at one point wanted to have an article series about wide receivers and detailed their advanced stats and their overall impacts to their team and league as a whole but overall it is not the easiest thing to do and it was more of a way to try and hype myself up to the position of wide receiver but it never took off. I do however love talking about advanced quarterbacking stats and want to have some sort of article series detailing some more advanced stats than what is currently available in the index to truly determine who the best current quarterbacks are or even who is the best all-time and take a deep dive into the past as well. Looking at things ranked on completion percentage and passer rating along with touchdowns, interceptions, and yards can definitely be used to determine great QB play but there is so much more than that. Things not measured in the index available to the masses like TD rate, INT rate, Yards per attempts, sack rate, and more can tell such a better story and could even flip a script on overall quarterbacking play. I would love to have some sort of overall almanac of these advanced stats for QBs in the DSFL, ISFL and the histories of those leagues done and determine who is and was the best quarterback(s) of all time.
I take the position pretty seriously as it is one of my favorite positions to deep dive into much like kicking and punting is as well and I was almost a kicker/punter as well but decided to make another push at a max earning career. Maybe next career we will finally get into the kicking game but for now we are 100% sold on being a quarterback. If the articles end up awesome enough, maybe it keeps going even when I am on other players, who knows!
Conclusion:
Please reach out during scouting any DSFL GMs, I would love to chat and love to make myself the best option to be your QB both helping your team grow and helping your team win. I hope this was at least a somewhat interesting read and people can get a gauge on the next best thing at the QB position, Joliet Christ Jr.!
Code:
Should be eligible for 1.5 Draft Media - 3066 words
Former players:
QB Joliet Christ Jr. (HON/BER) (1x Ultimus Champ)
WR Deondre Thomas-Fox (SJS) (2x Ultimus Champ)
QB Joliet L. Christ (SJS) (Hall of Fame) (1x Ultimus Champ)