The career of Adam Schell in the ISFL passed an exciting milestone in week 2 of the league's 29th season. With a tackle of the always sneezing Ichinose in the second quarter of Berlin's matchup against the Sarasota Sailfish, Schell became the first Fire Salamander to record 400 tackles. A team that is still in its youth with only 4+ years in the league, Berlin's record book is full of beatable milestones, and while 400 tackles would not lead any other team, a part of what brought Schell to Berlin was the opportunity to write the record books and to do it early in his career. When asked about his feelings on the milestone, Schell responded, "I'm just getting warmed up. 400 tackles is a great milestone, but I want to hit 500 before the year ends." An ambitious goal for a great player, the biggest hurdle that might get in the way of that pursuit is Schell's teammates.
The group of defenders for Berlin is stronger than ever, particularly at the Linebacker position where new teammate Derred de Ville and budding start BamBam McMullet are thriving alongside Schell, who has taken on a larger role in pass coverage than previously in his career. And while getting 100 more tackles this year is a big challenge, it's certainly not worth counting him out of the pursuit just yet. "I have been training harder than ever this offseason and practicing harder than ever this season so far," Schell reported. "I feel like I am right on the cuff of breaking through to a whole new level of athleticism on the field, and when I break through that wall, the opposition had better look out, because I'll be coming after them with new speed, new strength, and better performance than I've ever put on tape before."
Claims like this are not brand new for Schell. Last season, he said he was working extra hard on his hands a week before coming down with an interception for the first time in a couple seasons. Before that, Schell referred to getting some extra agility training in before he began beating opposing juke moves and wrapping up runners who may have previously broken free. I wouldn't take a promise for greater athleticism from Schell lightly - and if he follows through with his latest promise, the opposition had better be ready for a force to be reckoned with. 100 more tackles might be the least of their concerns.
Looking at Schell's career as a whole, he is so far averaging 97.9 tackles per season, and he has often mentioned that he'd like to play as long as he can be competitive. If Schell was to end up playing 10 seasons, a long ISFL career, he's unlikely to keep up quite that same pace the entire time. But if Schell is even to end up with an average of 90 tackles per season, he would be setting the Berlin tackles record at 900 tackles, which would rank him at 20th all time in the current ISFL record books. Now surely between now and then, a few more will break the 900 tackle mark, but Schell is well on his way to a productive and exciting career as an ISFL linebacker, even if it has been a bit under the radar.
To give a bit of perspective to what Schell has so far accomplished in his career, I've compiled a list of the S24 prospects who are listed as currently rostered defensive players on the TPE tracker. If I've missed you, let me know in the comments and I will happily get you added to this list. This list includes each defender's career tackles to this point in their career - in most cases this is 4 seasons and 2 games, though for some it may be more or less depending on when they were called up:
Brach Thomaslacher - 457 tackles
Busch Light - 450 tackles
Adam Schell - 404 tackles
Melvin Murder-Moose - 403 tackles
Harrison Andrews - 401 tackles
Juan Domine - 397 tackles
Joel Drake - 339 tackles
Rashad Hilliard - 328 tackles
Maverick Bowie - 299 tackles
Rickie Vaughne - 293 tackles
Thomas Rose - 263 tackles
Asher Montain - 233 tackles
LeBong Simwell - 223 tackles
Dorothy Zbornak - 198 tackles
Alejandro Chainbreaker - 132 tackles
Jeremiah Zelos - 130 tackles
Azarius Ranger - 115 tackler
Oliver Sloan - 34 tackles
Chad 'The Rig' Simpson - 4 tackles
This list is by no means a ranking of these prospects, as there are many different positions and specialties in this group of players, but as they each approach the peak of their careers physically, it is interesting to see how their young careers have compared thus far in this one aspect of the game. To see Schell stacked right up among Juan Domine and Melvin Murder-Moose who have been in Defensive Player of the Year talks is to show just how much of an impact he has on the game already. If Schell's promised emergence as an even better athlete occurs, one ought to believe he will not go unnoticed much longer.
But that's not what he's chasing. League recognition is great, but at the end of his career, Schell said, "I want to look back at the impact I had on this game and know that the numbers I put up in Berlin will be hard to top. I want to hang around that leaderboard for a while and be someone that young guys look to and try to beat. If they do, all the best to them. But I'm gonna make it as hard as I can." We'll see just how hard he's able to make it, and if 500 tackles might be within his grasp by the end of Season 29 here in the ISFL.
The group of defenders for Berlin is stronger than ever, particularly at the Linebacker position where new teammate Derred de Ville and budding start BamBam McMullet are thriving alongside Schell, who has taken on a larger role in pass coverage than previously in his career. And while getting 100 more tackles this year is a big challenge, it's certainly not worth counting him out of the pursuit just yet. "I have been training harder than ever this offseason and practicing harder than ever this season so far," Schell reported. "I feel like I am right on the cuff of breaking through to a whole new level of athleticism on the field, and when I break through that wall, the opposition had better look out, because I'll be coming after them with new speed, new strength, and better performance than I've ever put on tape before."
Claims like this are not brand new for Schell. Last season, he said he was working extra hard on his hands a week before coming down with an interception for the first time in a couple seasons. Before that, Schell referred to getting some extra agility training in before he began beating opposing juke moves and wrapping up runners who may have previously broken free. I wouldn't take a promise for greater athleticism from Schell lightly - and if he follows through with his latest promise, the opposition had better be ready for a force to be reckoned with. 100 more tackles might be the least of their concerns.
Looking at Schell's career as a whole, he is so far averaging 97.9 tackles per season, and he has often mentioned that he'd like to play as long as he can be competitive. If Schell was to end up playing 10 seasons, a long ISFL career, he's unlikely to keep up quite that same pace the entire time. But if Schell is even to end up with an average of 90 tackles per season, he would be setting the Berlin tackles record at 900 tackles, which would rank him at 20th all time in the current ISFL record books. Now surely between now and then, a few more will break the 900 tackle mark, but Schell is well on his way to a productive and exciting career as an ISFL linebacker, even if it has been a bit under the radar.
To give a bit of perspective to what Schell has so far accomplished in his career, I've compiled a list of the S24 prospects who are listed as currently rostered defensive players on the TPE tracker. If I've missed you, let me know in the comments and I will happily get you added to this list. This list includes each defender's career tackles to this point in their career - in most cases this is 4 seasons and 2 games, though for some it may be more or less depending on when they were called up:
Brach Thomaslacher - 457 tackles
Busch Light - 450 tackles
Adam Schell - 404 tackles
Melvin Murder-Moose - 403 tackles
Harrison Andrews - 401 tackles
Juan Domine - 397 tackles
Joel Drake - 339 tackles
Rashad Hilliard - 328 tackles
Maverick Bowie - 299 tackles
Rickie Vaughne - 293 tackles
Thomas Rose - 263 tackles
Asher Montain - 233 tackles
LeBong Simwell - 223 tackles
Dorothy Zbornak - 198 tackles
Alejandro Chainbreaker - 132 tackles
Jeremiah Zelos - 130 tackles
Azarius Ranger - 115 tackler
Oliver Sloan - 34 tackles
Chad 'The Rig' Simpson - 4 tackles
This list is by no means a ranking of these prospects, as there are many different positions and specialties in this group of players, but as they each approach the peak of their careers physically, it is interesting to see how their young careers have compared thus far in this one aspect of the game. To see Schell stacked right up among Juan Domine and Melvin Murder-Moose who have been in Defensive Player of the Year talks is to show just how much of an impact he has on the game already. If Schell's promised emergence as an even better athlete occurs, one ought to believe he will not go unnoticed much longer.
But that's not what he's chasing. League recognition is great, but at the end of his career, Schell said, "I want to look back at the impact I had on this game and know that the numbers I put up in Berlin will be hard to top. I want to hang around that leaderboard for a while and be someone that young guys look to and try to beat. If they do, all the best to them. But I'm gonna make it as hard as I can." We'll see just how hard he's able to make it, and if 500 tackles might be within his grasp by the end of Season 29 here in the ISFL.