The DSFL experience was extremely unique for me. I had an impressive season in college and after some unique ups and downs I managed to land an opportunity with the developmental league and I believe it was the best thing for my career for better or worse. I have been recording my thoughts since I was a member of the Owls (#FlyOwlsFly) and I decided that now I'd share it with the media:
THE UCHIHA JOURNEY
-DSFL Draft
I didn't realize at the time but I was going to be a part of a huge wave of talent to grace DSFL, regardless of that, I was absolutely certain the unique style of play I brought to the field would speak volumes to the GMs. I was wrong. I stayed humble, stayed to myself, I spoke with NSFL vets to help take my career in the best direction but reality hit hard when the draft took place. It was a draft of personalities I swear, it felt like the people who did the most to get everyone's attention got the opportunities to get drafted earlier in the rounds. On top of that though there were sixty players deemed more valuable than me; and ten of them played the same position as me. Of course this lead to a chip on my shoulder and me dedicating myself to be acknowledged. See, at this point, I thought your DSFL draft spot meant how much you were going to contribute for the team and how much on field action you were going to see. Thankfully I was also wrong there. Norfolk called my name, gave me a shot, and I never complained once; I was ready.
- Training and Development
Out the gate I planned on focusing on myself differently than everyone else. No, I'm not running with the parachute all day, no, I'm not walking around with ankle weights and doing calf raises. It's not all about speed. I saw that that seemed to be what LITERALLY EVERYONE IN EVERY POSITION THOUGHT. Well, except Quarterback, and my plan was to be the defense's version of a QB. This played a huge moment in my young career because it was here I made the choice to do what I truly thought what's best for me and our defense regardless of what anyone thought. From there I took it and ran with it.
- Week 1
Coyotes-13 Seawolves-35
We made our mark and showed the rest of the DSFL that we weren't here to play around. One thing that every teammate of mines will agree with is our locker room was always positive and full of energy. We all had each others' backs and knew before the game started everyone wasn't expecting much from us so we had to make it a point to make a statement. Facing a pair of extremely talented QBs (one that I'll speak on later) with high expectations we picked them apart. My teammates always seemed to place me in the best position to succeed on the the field and this was the same as usual. My boy Lucas had the whole defense rally behind his 10 tackles and 2 interceptions. I managed to rack up 8 tackles and 1 interception myself. This is the way we wanted to start our season. Our GM said he would try to maximize our potential on the field and he was doing just that. The future was obviously bright in Norfolk and the league took notice Week 1.
- Weeks 2-5 aka The Hot Streak
I won't bore you by going over each and every game because during this section of my career everything was clicking for me and my teammates. We were on fire, yeah we lost one but we knew what we did wrong. We got the #FearTheFleet trending and over these weeks I managed to get 27 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble and 1 interception. Anywhere on the field we needed a play I made sure I tried my best to make an impact and go hard on every possession. Things were just as good as you can't want things to go for us, I mean, we were literally one game away from locking up a playoff berth in just week 5. All we needed was one more win for us and one more loss for another team.
- The Trade
Alrighty. I try to avoid the bullshit around the league and what the "experts" think because I honestly think that ninety percent of what these critics and outlets have to say isn't for the good of anyone but the miserable people that want to stay negative. I swear I don't want anything to do with it but you truly couldn't avoid the whispers and reports.... 'Coyotes Quarterback Ryan Leaf caught up in major locker room controversy'. I seen his behavior across the field when we faced off and I swear to fucking god if I would have had to hear him yell to the defense "you never know, i can break for another 87 yard TD!" I don't know what I would've done. He came in the locker room just looking for a new home and I couldn't dislike the guy for that for that. His personality is.... one that.... is unique to itself but that doesn't mean anything as long as you can back it up on the field. Speaking of that, my major concern was the actual chemistry Leaf Jr could throw off with us having to play a potential two quarterback system. Luckily Ryan Jr. pulled the ultimate teammate move and chose to change positions for the greater good of the team. His athletic build allowed him to jump into a brand new position as a defensive linemen and I respect him for that. Regardless of his personality he'll make an impact because he has a tenacity to keep pushing forward and I can understand him on that level. Besides, we were on a hot streak and as long as he wasn't taking our QB's starting spot I was good.
- The Rest of The Season
Three straight losses, one win, four straight losses, one last win. Yikes. We'll at least we locked up a playoff position right? Yeah but in the process we've complete managed to lose our identity as a group. In our seven losses we only managed to score an average of 17.5 points per game on offense while allowing 26.8 points per game on defense. It was ugly all around but I wrote it at the beginning of this article and I'll say it again, even throughout our ugly streak of games our locker room was still positive and full of energy. No one gave up on anyone else on the team and we still knew we we're a major threat to win it all. We left the season the same way we went into the season, a big statement win. I wish I had time to reflect but playoffs were coming up and we had to get focused.
-The Post Season and Awards Race/Show
Confidence on max and an ultimini appearance on the line, we came out the gate guns blazing and all pistons firing. Keeping the Pythons scoreless for the first two quarters and only allowing 3 points in the third left us with a 13-3 lead to protect with only one quarter left. We knew they couldn't stop us but we didn't realize there was an entirely different entity that had all the power to stop us. The zebras. Those bastard referees took our shot away from us with ridiculous calls at the worse time possible putting the pythons in positions to continue drives and put up points. They're a good team. They took advantage. The exact same way we would've if we switched shoes. We loss 16-13. I'm done with it. I'm proud of my boys out there.
At some point towards the end of the season a couple of my teammates brought my stats to my attention. I couldn't help but to put my ear to the ground and see what everyone else was saying about this Round 11 pick dominating on all areas of the defensive side of football field. Silence. Nothing. People were still talking about expectations from higher picks that weren't being filled and players that has been connected to NSFL early in the year. It's the same thing happening all over again, being over looked regardless of my level of play on the field so I decided to get a bit more vocal; and wouldn't you know it, ol' Logan's name started getting more respect. Sure it may have rubbed a couple people the wrong way but regardless the numbers were undeniable.
So the awards show is here and there's only one person (or so it seemed) that were putting up the same numbers as me across the board. I got a bone to pick so this maybe a bit lengthy but we'll get into my thought process. We start and I surprisingly get rewarded the Defensive Back of the Year award and let me say I am very very very very very grateful for. Having said that, I was certain that award was going to Vander Jones. I mean, he had two more Ints than me (which tied a record) and ten more pass deflections so the more impactful DB, by definition, was Jones in my eyes; but cool, I'm not tripping, two ints isn't that wide of a margin and what is the true value of a pass deflection really? I know now I certainly have only one other person competing with me for DPOY. Again, I was wrong. A trend is taking place in my career. Now I'm going to sound like a "hater" because those guys both had undeniable great seasons and I'm not mad. I just need someone to explain the logic. Lee and Jones shared DPOY. Lee was always my number 1 comp, but Jones genuinely confused me. Why? Because apparently I didn't receive one vote for DPOY even though I beat Jones for DB of the Year. So I'm the DB of the year with two less ints and less PDs but not even in the DPOY discussion with 40 more tackles, 9 more tackles for loss and 3 more sacks than the actual winner. I couldn't do anything but laugh, maybe I'm not smart enough to comprehend the logic of the committee.... oh and if I see someone else to tell me to use that as motivation we're going to have to step in the octagon bruh. I get it. Shout out to Vander and Lee though, they did we they were supposed to do and have nothing to do with who the committee selected and wish no negative energy their way. It really just threw me for a loop.
- Summary, Etc
I'll try to wrap things up quickly here. Thank you Norfolk for believing in me. I hope you can say I was well worth the chance you took on me. Thank you to all my teammates, with a special shoutout to my boys Jack Rambo, Giannis Kroustis, Lucas Knight, Apollo Reed and Brock Landers. I swear they always had my back on and off the field. I hope to have that connection in the next locker room I walk into. I'd also like to personally thank both the Seawolves' GMs for maximizing my potential on the field and showing me what to work on off the field. I know I was bugging yall to death when I first got there. Outside of that, yall know the rest, #FEARTHEFUCKINGFLEET.
Now it's time to make an impact on the next level.
-----------------------------------------------
1953 words. Ready to be graded.
THE UCHIHA JOURNEY
-DSFL Draft
I didn't realize at the time but I was going to be a part of a huge wave of talent to grace DSFL, regardless of that, I was absolutely certain the unique style of play I brought to the field would speak volumes to the GMs. I was wrong. I stayed humble, stayed to myself, I spoke with NSFL vets to help take my career in the best direction but reality hit hard when the draft took place. It was a draft of personalities I swear, it felt like the people who did the most to get everyone's attention got the opportunities to get drafted earlier in the rounds. On top of that though there were sixty players deemed more valuable than me; and ten of them played the same position as me. Of course this lead to a chip on my shoulder and me dedicating myself to be acknowledged. See, at this point, I thought your DSFL draft spot meant how much you were going to contribute for the team and how much on field action you were going to see. Thankfully I was also wrong there. Norfolk called my name, gave me a shot, and I never complained once; I was ready.
- Training and Development
Out the gate I planned on focusing on myself differently than everyone else. No, I'm not running with the parachute all day, no, I'm not walking around with ankle weights and doing calf raises. It's not all about speed. I saw that that seemed to be what LITERALLY EVERYONE IN EVERY POSITION THOUGHT. Well, except Quarterback, and my plan was to be the defense's version of a QB. This played a huge moment in my young career because it was here I made the choice to do what I truly thought what's best for me and our defense regardless of what anyone thought. From there I took it and ran with it.
- Week 1
Coyotes-13 Seawolves-35
We made our mark and showed the rest of the DSFL that we weren't here to play around. One thing that every teammate of mines will agree with is our locker room was always positive and full of energy. We all had each others' backs and knew before the game started everyone wasn't expecting much from us so we had to make it a point to make a statement. Facing a pair of extremely talented QBs (one that I'll speak on later) with high expectations we picked them apart. My teammates always seemed to place me in the best position to succeed on the the field and this was the same as usual. My boy Lucas had the whole defense rally behind his 10 tackles and 2 interceptions. I managed to rack up 8 tackles and 1 interception myself. This is the way we wanted to start our season. Our GM said he would try to maximize our potential on the field and he was doing just that. The future was obviously bright in Norfolk and the league took notice Week 1.
- Weeks 2-5 aka The Hot Streak
I won't bore you by going over each and every game because during this section of my career everything was clicking for me and my teammates. We were on fire, yeah we lost one but we knew what we did wrong. We got the #FearTheFleet trending and over these weeks I managed to get 27 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble and 1 interception. Anywhere on the field we needed a play I made sure I tried my best to make an impact and go hard on every possession. Things were just as good as you can't want things to go for us, I mean, we were literally one game away from locking up a playoff berth in just week 5. All we needed was one more win for us and one more loss for another team.
- The Trade
Alrighty. I try to avoid the bullshit around the league and what the "experts" think because I honestly think that ninety percent of what these critics and outlets have to say isn't for the good of anyone but the miserable people that want to stay negative. I swear I don't want anything to do with it but you truly couldn't avoid the whispers and reports.... 'Coyotes Quarterback Ryan Leaf caught up in major locker room controversy'. I seen his behavior across the field when we faced off and I swear to fucking god if I would have had to hear him yell to the defense "you never know, i can break for another 87 yard TD!" I don't know what I would've done. He came in the locker room just looking for a new home and I couldn't dislike the guy for that for that. His personality is.... one that.... is unique to itself but that doesn't mean anything as long as you can back it up on the field. Speaking of that, my major concern was the actual chemistry Leaf Jr could throw off with us having to play a potential two quarterback system. Luckily Ryan Jr. pulled the ultimate teammate move and chose to change positions for the greater good of the team. His athletic build allowed him to jump into a brand new position as a defensive linemen and I respect him for that. Regardless of his personality he'll make an impact because he has a tenacity to keep pushing forward and I can understand him on that level. Besides, we were on a hot streak and as long as he wasn't taking our QB's starting spot I was good.
- The Rest of The Season
Three straight losses, one win, four straight losses, one last win. Yikes. We'll at least we locked up a playoff position right? Yeah but in the process we've complete managed to lose our identity as a group. In our seven losses we only managed to score an average of 17.5 points per game on offense while allowing 26.8 points per game on defense. It was ugly all around but I wrote it at the beginning of this article and I'll say it again, even throughout our ugly streak of games our locker room was still positive and full of energy. No one gave up on anyone else on the team and we still knew we we're a major threat to win it all. We left the season the same way we went into the season, a big statement win. I wish I had time to reflect but playoffs were coming up and we had to get focused.
-The Post Season and Awards Race/Show
Confidence on max and an ultimini appearance on the line, we came out the gate guns blazing and all pistons firing. Keeping the Pythons scoreless for the first two quarters and only allowing 3 points in the third left us with a 13-3 lead to protect with only one quarter left. We knew they couldn't stop us but we didn't realize there was an entirely different entity that had all the power to stop us. The zebras. Those bastard referees took our shot away from us with ridiculous calls at the worse time possible putting the pythons in positions to continue drives and put up points. They're a good team. They took advantage. The exact same way we would've if we switched shoes. We loss 16-13. I'm done with it. I'm proud of my boys out there.
At some point towards the end of the season a couple of my teammates brought my stats to my attention. I couldn't help but to put my ear to the ground and see what everyone else was saying about this Round 11 pick dominating on all areas of the defensive side of football field. Silence. Nothing. People were still talking about expectations from higher picks that weren't being filled and players that has been connected to NSFL early in the year. It's the same thing happening all over again, being over looked regardless of my level of play on the field so I decided to get a bit more vocal; and wouldn't you know it, ol' Logan's name started getting more respect. Sure it may have rubbed a couple people the wrong way but regardless the numbers were undeniable.
So the awards show is here and there's only one person (or so it seemed) that were putting up the same numbers as me across the board. I got a bone to pick so this maybe a bit lengthy but we'll get into my thought process. We start and I surprisingly get rewarded the Defensive Back of the Year award and let me say I am very very very very very grateful for. Having said that, I was certain that award was going to Vander Jones. I mean, he had two more Ints than me (which tied a record) and ten more pass deflections so the more impactful DB, by definition, was Jones in my eyes; but cool, I'm not tripping, two ints isn't that wide of a margin and what is the true value of a pass deflection really? I know now I certainly have only one other person competing with me for DPOY. Again, I was wrong. A trend is taking place in my career. Now I'm going to sound like a "hater" because those guys both had undeniable great seasons and I'm not mad. I just need someone to explain the logic. Lee and Jones shared DPOY. Lee was always my number 1 comp, but Jones genuinely confused me. Why? Because apparently I didn't receive one vote for DPOY even though I beat Jones for DB of the Year. So I'm the DB of the year with two less ints and less PDs but not even in the DPOY discussion with 40 more tackles, 9 more tackles for loss and 3 more sacks than the actual winner. I couldn't do anything but laugh, maybe I'm not smart enough to comprehend the logic of the committee.... oh and if I see someone else to tell me to use that as motivation we're going to have to step in the octagon bruh. I get it. Shout out to Vander and Lee though, they did we they were supposed to do and have nothing to do with who the committee selected and wish no negative energy their way. It really just threw me for a loop.
- Summary, Etc
I'll try to wrap things up quickly here. Thank you Norfolk for believing in me. I hope you can say I was well worth the chance you took on me. Thank you to all my teammates, with a special shoutout to my boys Jack Rambo, Giannis Kroustis, Lucas Knight, Apollo Reed and Brock Landers. I swear they always had my back on and off the field. I hope to have that connection in the next locker room I walk into. I'd also like to personally thank both the Seawolves' GMs for maximizing my potential on the field and showing me what to work on off the field. I know I was bugging yall to death when I first got there. Outside of that, yall know the rest, #FEARTHEFUCKINGFLEET.
Now it's time to make an impact on the next level.
-----------------------------------------------
1953 words. Ready to be graded.