3) The Philadelphia Liberty have a long and storied history. As I’ve only been around since S15 or so, I am going to take four players from then to present to make up my Mount Rushmore of players. I’m going to take off-the-field contributions in addition to on-field, as I think the sim league in general is really more about the users than the players, but I’ll factor in both.
The first player on the Mount Rushmore of Philly has to be Sam Torenson. As an early first round pick in both the ISFL and DSFL drafts, Sam was destined for greatness early on. He was taken by the Butchers in the first round of the S16 ISFL draft. He played there for a few years, racking up exceptional stats as the primary offensive option on a win now team. After a few seasons, he left the team in what was a wild trade that will go down in history as one of the worst for the Butchers. Essentially it was a swap of a heavily-regressed Marquise Brown (another GOAT), for Torenson who was about to enter his prime. The deal was done, and the rest is history. While not always the most efficient rusher, due to what amounted to some underwhelming Philly offenses, Sam was the consummate workhorse back. Often racking up a large amounts of carries to go along with plenty of yards and TDs. Torenson has gone on to take just about every Philly rushing record you could think of, and truly belongs with a prominent place on the Philly Mount Rushmore.
The next player will be a bit self-serving if I'm honest. It's none other than Nacho Varga! Nacho was selected in the 8th round of the DSFL draft by the now defunct Palm Beach Solar Bears. Nacho played there for one season, and the Solar Bears barely won any games at all. Nacho had an okay season before being drafted by the Philadelphia Liberty in the bottom of the 3rd round. Varga had missed an update near the end of the season and was listed at less TPE than he actually, allowing him to slide in the draft. Nacho would go on to play a few seasons behind the corpses of the likes of legends Jordan von Matt among others. Nacho was lucky enough to have Brock Phoenix and Adriana Falconi as his QBs. He finished as the career leader in Philly for receiving TDs, getting to 60. Nacho certainly belongs right next to Torenson on the Philly Mount Rushmore.
Next up in the Mount is Richard D’Attoria. The DB was taken in the first round of an absolutely loaded S15 draft class. He came in as a max earner and continued that long into his career. He absolutely lived up to the hype. Richard spent several seasons and his entire career in Philly. Racking up loads of tackles, interceptions, pass deflections, tackles and sacks. He had one of the greatest seasons of all time, garnering him a Defensive Player of the Year award if I remember correctly. Eventually the league would limit where DBs can play due in part to this legendary season by Ricky. Richard was also a huge asset to the war room for almost his entire career in Philly, with his invaluable scouting of DSFL prospects and knowledge of the sim and player builds to help the team out and keep people active. Richard D’Attoria’s career will absolutely go down as one of the best Philly players there was, and he'll for sure be a shoe in for the Mount Rushmore as well as the famed Philly Cheese Greats along with Torenson, Nacho, and our final member on the Mount.
The final member is primarily for the user, and less about the player, Zach Hall. I had the privilege of taking Hallmonitor as my pick as a GM. We knew he would make a great person we could hang the reins to, and we were right as he outperformed any expectations we had. Zach Hall started as a TE in the DSFL, before switching to DL before the draft due to a dearth of talent at that position. Hall never stuffed the stat sheet, but he certainly stuffed our hearts. He at one point in his career made a bet with Scorp, resulting in him changing his name to Ilove Gimmy, after the DSFL S15 legend. Hall led the team through several rough seasons of ups and downs and that lands on him on Mount for being a great player on the D Line and an all around great dude.
So that does it for the Philly Mount Rushmore. There are a lot of other players worthy of being with them, especially if you go to pre S15, with players like Falconi, Marquise Brown and others, but maybe I'll get to that in a different Ultimus Week.
The first player on the Mount Rushmore of Philly has to be Sam Torenson. As an early first round pick in both the ISFL and DSFL drafts, Sam was destined for greatness early on. He was taken by the Butchers in the first round of the S16 ISFL draft. He played there for a few years, racking up exceptional stats as the primary offensive option on a win now team. After a few seasons, he left the team in what was a wild trade that will go down in history as one of the worst for the Butchers. Essentially it was a swap of a heavily-regressed Marquise Brown (another GOAT), for Torenson who was about to enter his prime. The deal was done, and the rest is history. While not always the most efficient rusher, due to what amounted to some underwhelming Philly offenses, Sam was the consummate workhorse back. Often racking up a large amounts of carries to go along with plenty of yards and TDs. Torenson has gone on to take just about every Philly rushing record you could think of, and truly belongs with a prominent place on the Philly Mount Rushmore.
The next player will be a bit self-serving if I'm honest. It's none other than Nacho Varga! Nacho was selected in the 8th round of the DSFL draft by the now defunct Palm Beach Solar Bears. Nacho played there for one season, and the Solar Bears barely won any games at all. Nacho had an okay season before being drafted by the Philadelphia Liberty in the bottom of the 3rd round. Varga had missed an update near the end of the season and was listed at less TPE than he actually, allowing him to slide in the draft. Nacho would go on to play a few seasons behind the corpses of the likes of legends Jordan von Matt among others. Nacho was lucky enough to have Brock Phoenix and Adriana Falconi as his QBs. He finished as the career leader in Philly for receiving TDs, getting to 60. Nacho certainly belongs right next to Torenson on the Philly Mount Rushmore.
Next up in the Mount is Richard D’Attoria. The DB was taken in the first round of an absolutely loaded S15 draft class. He came in as a max earner and continued that long into his career. He absolutely lived up to the hype. Richard spent several seasons and his entire career in Philly. Racking up loads of tackles, interceptions, pass deflections, tackles and sacks. He had one of the greatest seasons of all time, garnering him a Defensive Player of the Year award if I remember correctly. Eventually the league would limit where DBs can play due in part to this legendary season by Ricky. Richard was also a huge asset to the war room for almost his entire career in Philly, with his invaluable scouting of DSFL prospects and knowledge of the sim and player builds to help the team out and keep people active. Richard D’Attoria’s career will absolutely go down as one of the best Philly players there was, and he'll for sure be a shoe in for the Mount Rushmore as well as the famed Philly Cheese Greats along with Torenson, Nacho, and our final member on the Mount.
The final member is primarily for the user, and less about the player, Zach Hall. I had the privilege of taking Hallmonitor as my pick as a GM. We knew he would make a great person we could hang the reins to, and we were right as he outperformed any expectations we had. Zach Hall started as a TE in the DSFL, before switching to DL before the draft due to a dearth of talent at that position. Hall never stuffed the stat sheet, but he certainly stuffed our hearts. He at one point in his career made a bet with Scorp, resulting in him changing his name to Ilove Gimmy, after the DSFL S15 legend. Hall led the team through several rough seasons of ups and downs and that lands on him on Mount for being a great player on the D Line and an all around great dude.
So that does it for the Philly Mount Rushmore. There are a lot of other players worthy of being with them, especially if you go to pre S15, with players like Falconi, Marquise Brown and others, but maybe I'll get to that in a different Ultimus Week.