After making it to two consecutive WIAA 4A title games with Bellevue High School, Tatsu Nakamura had amassed a formidable reputation and a very respectable 4 star grade from MaxPreps going into his senior year. He spent a great deal of his summer and his weekends during the season traveling to what seemed like every single Division 1 college in the country. As a premiere athlete, boasting a 4.2 second 40 yard dash time and elite field vision, Nakamura found himself discussing a variety of different roles with the coaching staffs during his visits, with some even discussing trying him at receiver of defensive back. While he definitely wanted to find a program where he could lead in the backfield, it wasn't the idea of position swapping that put Nakamura off of almost every program he went to go visit. He found himself struggling even during the short trips feeling so far a way from home. When it came to his final visit before signing day, at his hometown University of Washington, there was something that immediately felt so much better about being in the city that he'd grown to call home, especially since he knew he'd be much closer to his second home in Japan than he'd be playing for an SEC school.
After committing to UW and eventually coming on campus early for spring training, Nakamura had a great time being able to still visit his parents on the weekends and having the know-how of the city to even show some of the seniors some new and amazing places to eat or spend time during the offseason. He wasn't yet able to find a lead role in the backfield during his freshman year, but the coaching staff still found ways to get him the ball as a returner, a role for which he was even recognized on the All-Pac-12 team at the end of the year.
Although Joseph Petrongolo's (so far) really amazing career actually started much earlier than college, playing as a tight end on Atlantic City's local peewee team in a multitude of high-pressure rivalry games, college is a little more important than that. During his junior year at Atlantic City High School, Petrongolo received more than twenty scholarships to division one and division two schools across the country, including Clemson, Alabama, LSU, Penn State, and Citadel. He also received a small academic scholarship to MIT, but for financial reasons he was unable to attend. In the closing weeks of that year, Joseph decided to commit to Vanderbilt University, his father's alma mater and one of the schools that offered him a full ride. Starting as a true freshman, Petrongolo stood out immediately and broke records that had stood for more than a decade. After the passing of his father in a car accident, Joe went through a serious regression and struggled to return to the high level of play he had as a freshman. In both his junior and his senior years, Petrongolo helped lead the Commodores to SEC championship games, however they lost both years to Alabama. Little did anyone know, his senior season would be the last time anyone saw him play tight end in an actual game, as after he was drafted to the Portland Pythons in the DSFL, he began his career as a running back.
Terry Yaki had been bred to play football in Japan by his father, and X-League legend, Hayato Arima. He quickly rose to prominence in high school across all of Japan. He was soon scouted by several schools in America and got offers from quite a number of them. Ultimately Yaki chose take the only FBS offer he received with South Florida, which coincidently was where his mother’s family was from. Yaki had played several positions in High school due to his speed and the limited number of players at his school in Osaka. The position he ended up get scouted for was his stand out performances as a running back. During the training camp before his redshirt year he quickly marveled the coaching staff and stole the starting position at running back. Though even with his skill his true potential could not be realized in Head Coach Charlie Strong’s offense. Still though he had managed to accrue near 2000 rushing yards and 16 TDs. But the frustration was mounting Yaki and the rest of the team knew they could do better but their potential would continue to be stifled as long as strong remained Head Coach of the Bulls. As if to answer their prayers the next season he was let go and former Clemson OC Jeff Scott was brought on. This renewed offense quickly took off with Terry Yaki at the helm. In only his sophomore year the young man from Japan got almost 2200 yards and 21 TDs on what would be his Doak Walker Award winning year. After winning the Orange Bowl that same year Yaki made the difficult choice of leaving college early in order to realize his true potential in the DSFL.
As a kid, Snyder has always wanted to go to one of the Oregon college football teams. He didn't care if he had to go to Oregon State instead of Oregon he just wanted to be the best he can in college. So thats why in his time playing in Grant High School he would always try to ball out and get as many receptions and yards as he can. Although his parents saying that its basically impossible, he wanted to get a Division 1 scholarship to Oregon or Oregon State. In his final game in high school Snyder would get what he thought he couldn't do and get over 200 yards receiving. Thats when college scouts knew he was serious about this. Oregon State would be the college that would try to recruit him first but knowing that Oregon State was basically loaded with great receivers, they were not offering a full ride scholarship and knowing that Snyder was going to be a backup receiver for a while, he decided to not waste his talent there. After thinking getting recruited by Oregon was kind of impossible at that point a letter came up in the mail by the University Of Oregon. They loved my talent so much that they decided to offer me a actual full ride scholarship for my first year. So needless to say, Snyder screamed out of excitement.
Coming out of high school in Michigan Kearse was considered a 5 star talent at DE when he committed to the University of Michigan. As that was his local school playing at Michigan was his dream and was very excited to get the opportunity to play there. During his high school career Jayson Kearse won 2 state titles with Detroit power house Cass Tech. His first season say him get rotational snaps as mostly a 3rd down rusher so maybe 9 to 10 snaps a game. After getting better in the offseason Kearse took over the main pass rushing role as the weakside DE, he racked up double digit sack totals and was named a 1st team All Big Ten team and the 2nd team All American team Jayson's Junior year at Michigan was also his last in college football, having beefed up and got better in disrupting the run game Kearse was moved to anchor position which is the strong side DE spot with job of taking double teams and shutting down the running game. In his final season Kearse had once again double digit sacks along with over 20 tackles for loss. He won the DL player of the year and made the ALL Big Ten and All American 1st teams. The rest is history, Kearse got picked in the 1st round by San Antonio then picked in the 1st round by Yellowknife.
Jayson Kearse - DE
S18 San Antonio Marshals
S19 - 21 Yellowknife Wraiths
S22 - S24 Honolulu Hahalula
S25 - S27 New York Silverbacks
Career Stats 132 Games | 329 Tackles | 76 Tackles For Loss| 43 Sacks | 5 FF | 4 FR | 1 Safety |
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Jay Spears - S
S30 - S31 Portland Pythons
S30 DSFL Safety of the Year/S30 DSFL Pro Bowler/S31 DSFL Pro Bowler
S32 - S41 Yellowknife Wraiths
S35 ISFL Pro Bowler
S39 Ultimus Winner
Career Stats 160 Games | 649 Tackles | 2 Tackles For Loss | 20 Sacks | 8 FF | 4 FR | 5 INT | 75 PDs | 1 Safety | 1 TD |
Goku never went college, he’s never gone to any sort of formal schooling. He hadn’t even played football until just before his DSFL draft. In his early years he focused only on martial arts training and defending the earth from the Red Ribbon Army and other evil doers, so there was no time to learn about things like a regular child would. He’s always lived quite isolated in the woods, and didn’t have much interaction with regular society growing up. Through his adventures he met a girl Chi-Chi who he went a date on with, but eventually forgot about. They reunite during the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament at about age 18 and Goku has to be reminded of who she is. He does remember that they promised to get married and he proposes after their match. Shortly after they have their first son, Gohan, and school is the least of either of their concerns. Goku ended up in the ISFL due to his raw skill from martial arts and due to being a Saiyan playing against (mostly) regular Earthlings. For his tryout the coach put him at defensive end since very little knowledge of the game is needed and he was content with it. All he needs to do is take down the other team’s guy with the ball.
A Lexington, KY native, Pete “Plop” Miller always wanted to suit up for the University of Kentucky. He went on a few official visits to other schools, but he was always going to end up at Kentucky.
Plop made an immediate impact as a true freshman, appearing in all 13 games (starting in the last 3). He was a dominant force in his sophomore season starting all 13 games, earning 2nd team All-SEC honors, and was the MVP of the Music City Bowl where he had 3 sacks, 2.5 TFL, and the game winning interception.
Unfortunately, he suffered a knee injury filming his audition for The Amazing Race, and he missed all of his Junior season. Despite not seeing the field, he developed his leadership skills and was an influential presence in the locker room. Coach Stoops mentioned him in his end of season speech, specifically citing his mentoring of the young defensive line.
Desperate to get back on the field, he recorded 5.5 sacks in the first two games of his senior season. He struggled during SEC play and finished the year with 9.5 sacks.
With a 5th year of eligibility remaining, Miller was faced with a difficult decision: stay in school or go to the DSFL/ISFL (formerly NSFL). Although unconfirmed, many believe Miller opted to go pro in order to cover his wife’s gambling debts.