12.
@Reedy0rNot
Big Joe Reed was a very late season 34 waiver pickup by the London Royals. He was on the roster for two games, but only able to start the last game of the season. The Royals D Line had been struggling all season to stop the rush and open holes for the pass rush. Reed popped up on the waiver wire – a strong, intelligent nose tackle ready to take command of the center of the D line. He came in with an instant impact with 2 tackles and 2 tackles for a loss making a name for himself right off the bat.
Season 35 Reed was able to start all 14 games, and kept up his pace of tackles- averaging exactly 2 per game all year long. He had big games in weeks 13 and 14, where he registered 4 tackles in the first game, and 2 tackles for loss and a sack in the last week of the season. It was his only sack of the year, but unlike DE’s, the stat line of a DT, especially a nose tackle, never tells the true story of a player’s value. Throughout the weeks of s35 Reed was constantly hitting the gym and the tape room- improving across the board in nearly every metric of an athlete’s strength, agility, and play recognition. In the locker room, players as well as coaches praised Reed for always reflecting on the success or failure of the latest game and then jumping right into conditioning for the week to follow.
Facing a potential ISFL draft going into s36 Reed would be served well to keep doing what he is doing. Any of his failures or miscues on the line can often be attributed to not having much help and feeling like he has to do all the heaving lifting himself. Another concern analysts may have of Reed is the feeling of the “long wait” between obvious impact place. Big stats are sexy and make headlines, but every good linebacker knows when their DT is consistent in holding the Oline open for them. Every good running back knows who not to try and push past on the D line. In that sense, Reed excels at making his teammates look good, which the player needs to recognize as his own successes as well in between sacks and big stops behind the line. Reed has the right team-oriented mindset and if he keeps training, practicing, and reviewing game tape he can easily become a terror on an ISFL D line for years to come.
426 words
#10
From high school through the first year of college ball, Milescu was actually a wide receiver. Hard to picture now, but looking back on things his first five years of organized football were spent on the offense. It came about fairly naturally. Like many kids playing street ball growing up, games were not so much about positions and formations, rather one kid at qb throwing at 5-8 receivers running back and forth across the field. It was feast or famine. Every pass was either a TD or and INT waiting to happen. When Milescu was a freshman in high school and trying out for the JV football team, running as fast as he could downfield to catch the ball was really all he knew. His speed was impressive to the coach, and he made the team.
In high school, Milescu was always a good receiver, but never… great. Although he had speed, he tended to have issues catching over the shoulder on deep routes. He was most successful as a slot receiver, catching quick slants and fighting for a few extra yards. Recognizing that he was slowly falling behind the pace and expectation of a wide receiver, Milescu often thought to himself “its just so much easier to catch the ball on slants, curls, anything where I can face the QB and react”.
Milescu did manage to wrangle up a football college scholarship, though not to any power house of a school. He first season was a lot like high school. He played WR3/4, and often in the slot for short outside curls or inside slants. During the offseason in a performance meeting with the coach, Milescu told him his thoughts- “I bet I could catch more passes if I could just stand deep downfield every play.” To his surprise, the coach laughed. “Ever thought about Safety?” As it would happen, the college coach had observed the same shortcoming as a WR that MIlescu felt about himself, but had also observed the player’s ability to change his route to save collapsing plays, zig and zag between defenders to extend plays, and be able to run the width of the field in impressive speed.
Sophomore year in college Milescu decided to give it a try and start at Safety. And the rest, is history.
383 words
@Reedy0rNot
Big Joe Reed was a very late season 34 waiver pickup by the London Royals. He was on the roster for two games, but only able to start the last game of the season. The Royals D Line had been struggling all season to stop the rush and open holes for the pass rush. Reed popped up on the waiver wire – a strong, intelligent nose tackle ready to take command of the center of the D line. He came in with an instant impact with 2 tackles and 2 tackles for a loss making a name for himself right off the bat.
Season 35 Reed was able to start all 14 games, and kept up his pace of tackles- averaging exactly 2 per game all year long. He had big games in weeks 13 and 14, where he registered 4 tackles in the first game, and 2 tackles for loss and a sack in the last week of the season. It was his only sack of the year, but unlike DE’s, the stat line of a DT, especially a nose tackle, never tells the true story of a player’s value. Throughout the weeks of s35 Reed was constantly hitting the gym and the tape room- improving across the board in nearly every metric of an athlete’s strength, agility, and play recognition. In the locker room, players as well as coaches praised Reed for always reflecting on the success or failure of the latest game and then jumping right into conditioning for the week to follow.
Facing a potential ISFL draft going into s36 Reed would be served well to keep doing what he is doing. Any of his failures or miscues on the line can often be attributed to not having much help and feeling like he has to do all the heaving lifting himself. Another concern analysts may have of Reed is the feeling of the “long wait” between obvious impact place. Big stats are sexy and make headlines, but every good linebacker knows when their DT is consistent in holding the Oline open for them. Every good running back knows who not to try and push past on the D line. In that sense, Reed excels at making his teammates look good, which the player needs to recognize as his own successes as well in between sacks and big stops behind the line. Reed has the right team-oriented mindset and if he keeps training, practicing, and reviewing game tape he can easily become a terror on an ISFL D line for years to come.
426 words
#10
From high school through the first year of college ball, Milescu was actually a wide receiver. Hard to picture now, but looking back on things his first five years of organized football were spent on the offense. It came about fairly naturally. Like many kids playing street ball growing up, games were not so much about positions and formations, rather one kid at qb throwing at 5-8 receivers running back and forth across the field. It was feast or famine. Every pass was either a TD or and INT waiting to happen. When Milescu was a freshman in high school and trying out for the JV football team, running as fast as he could downfield to catch the ball was really all he knew. His speed was impressive to the coach, and he made the team.
In high school, Milescu was always a good receiver, but never… great. Although he had speed, he tended to have issues catching over the shoulder on deep routes. He was most successful as a slot receiver, catching quick slants and fighting for a few extra yards. Recognizing that he was slowly falling behind the pace and expectation of a wide receiver, Milescu often thought to himself “its just so much easier to catch the ball on slants, curls, anything where I can face the QB and react”.
Milescu did manage to wrangle up a football college scholarship, though not to any power house of a school. He first season was a lot like high school. He played WR3/4, and often in the slot for short outside curls or inside slants. During the offseason in a performance meeting with the coach, Milescu told him his thoughts- “I bet I could catch more passes if I could just stand deep downfield every play.” To his surprise, the coach laughed. “Ever thought about Safety?” As it would happen, the college coach had observed the same shortcoming as a WR that MIlescu felt about himself, but had also observed the player’s ability to change his route to save collapsing plays, zig and zag between defenders to extend plays, and be able to run the width of the field in impressive speed.
Sophomore year in college Milescu decided to give it a try and start at Safety. And the rest, is history.
383 words