03-09-2020, 04:50 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-24-2020, 11:11 AM by infinitempg.)
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Does Micycle McCormick Belong in the Hall of Fame?
A look at why (and why not)
Micycle McCormick, former Colorado Yeti kicker/punter turned quarterback, is a lock to make it into the Colorado Yeti Hall of Fame. He served as a cornerstone of the franchise through a rollercoaster of seasons ranging from 0-32 to being 3 points short of an Ultimus championship. He is a two time Punter of the Year recipient, one time Kicker of the Year recipient, and eight time Pro Bowl selection (3 as a kicker and 5 as a quarterback). Yet, despite all these accolades, it is more likely than not that McCormick will not be elected to the NSFL Hall of Fame. Is this reasonable? We will delve in to that mystery next.
First, a little bit of background. McCormick graduated out of Rutgers and was drafted out of the Chicago Coyotes to play for the Colorado Yeti in S6 as a placekicker. Fresh into a rebuild, the S6 Yeti were possibly the worst team to ever play simulation football, proceeding to go 0-14. Micycle was no exception to this, as his rookie season was one of the worst kicking and punting performances in league history. But afterwards, the switch flipped and Micycle stunned the league with the first ever perfect 100% Field Goal and 100% Extra Point season, a streak he carried for a record 22 games. Micycle excelled as a punter as well, putting up 2 of the best punting efficiency seasons of all time in S8 and S10.
A drastic foot injury after an S10 playoff defeat changed the narrative for McCormick, as he was forced to switch to his other high school position of quarterback. While he performed above average compared to his competition, McCormick's quarterbacking years were less than elite. Despite throwing for over 5000 yards in S14, McCormick decided that regression was taking its toll and retired after an extremely poor S15 season.
Having switched positions exactly halfway through his 10 season career, McCormick lacks almost any bulk statistics to compare to the best. But his efficiency as a kicker/punter as well as a quarterback are still laudable. Let's dive into the statistics!
Micycle the Quarterback
Records and Accolades:
5x Pro Bowler (S11, S12, S13, S14, S15)
T-7th Completions - season (391)
9th Completions - season (387)
10th Passing Yards - season (5,007)
10th Completion Pct - career (58.5%)
I would be lying if I said McCormick was a great passer. The truth is, he was at best above average for most of his career there. If we look at his accuracy statistics, we see that while there are some seasons where he trends above 75% of historical stats, McCormick typically falls middle to end of the pack.
While he does have one of the league's ten 5,000 yard seasons (which might never happen again with 13 game seasons), Micycle's passing production has also slacked. You can probably excuse some of it from playing with subpar WRs, and some of it to rule changes from the "Wild West" of the early seasons, but it's hard to put it aside.
Micycle's strengths as a quarterback actually arise from his trusty legs. In a league between the era of Pierno and Akselsen and the era of Christ and Armstrong, Micycle took the mantle of running QB in S12 and S13.
This multi-dimensional approach to the position allowed Micycle to put up the best TANY/A (Total Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt) numbers of his era. Was it a good era of QB play? Definitely not. But he was elite for his time.
With stats like this it's easy to pin him in the Hall of Very Good, especially since we consider his peak is about 2 seasons. But if we take a look at his original position, the conclusions might be different...
Micycle the Specialist
Records and Accolades:
1x Kicker of the Year (S8)
2x Punter of the Year (S9, S10)
3x Pro Bowler (S8, S9, S10) (aside - how was he not a pro bowler in S7?!)
Most FG Made - game (7)
5th Punt Yards - season (5400)
2nd Punt Average - season (50.3)
5th Punt Average - season (49.3)
T-1st FG Pct - season (100%)
1 Perfect Kicking Season (22 game streak)
3rd FG Pct - career (93.0%)
3rd Punt Average - career (47.6%)
6th Longest Punt (77)
I will be blunt here. I think Micycle is in the discussion for greatest kicker of all time, and definitively the best non-multi punter of all time. Let's look at the tape.
Kicking
Outside of his (horrendous) rookie season, Micycle has been one of the most accurate kickers in league history. There have only been 15 perfect field goal seasons in the history of the league, and Micycle has 2 of them (only Dean Jackson has more with 3).
Excluding Fulture (who I argue is the GOAT kicker anyways), Micycle was also the most consistently accurate kicker with 4 out of 5 seasons in the top 25% performances:
Even legendary kickers Dean Jackson and Turk Turkleton struggled for large swaths of their careers, and they are sure-fire hall of famers.
Micycle also holds the record for longest streak of games without a miss, a record that might never be broken:
While it certainly isn't the longest streak of kicks without a miss (and let's just appreciate that this is how Iyah Blewitt ended his career), 22 straight games is incredible consistency.
Just to put one more point on the table - McCormick is ranked in the history books at #3 all time Field Goal percentage with a 93% conversion rate. Who are the two players above him? Wayne Gooney (95.7%) and Emilio Ramero (94.4%). Both of these players only played one season! Gooney was 22/23 and Ramero was 17/18 - good seasons, but seeing as this is their only sample size it's kind of unfair to put them over Micycle's 106/114. Fulture (234/252) and Alex D. (157/169) are both right behind Micycle at 92.9%.
Punting
Of the five best punting seasons in the history of the league, Micycle McCormick has two of them. Micycle is also only one of three players to average over 50 yards per punt in a season (being famously screwed out of the record by a 4 surrender punt game in the last week of the season.
His punt averages were absolutely elite in the last 3 seasons of his kicking career, and this adds up to him being third all time in punting average. Once again, we need to look at the two players above him - Venus Powers and Christiano Ronaldo. Powers looks like she will be a great punter in this league, but her average of 47.8 yards per punt all time comes from only one season. Ronaldo on the other hand, had 4 seasons worth of punting with an average of 47.8 yards per punt as well, but he was caught in a juicing/multi scandal and banned from the league. This leaves Micycle at 47.6 yards per punt over 5 whole seasons.
In terms of having a cannon for a leg, Micycle has also consistently put up long punts that place him in the top 25% of league history:
The only knock on Micycle is his rate of placing punts inside the 20:
However, I argue that this isn't actually a metric of punter skill (at least in the sim) - they're uncorrelated to kicking attributes but rather a direct measure of how many punts a punter takes. If we base it off the starting location of the punt, we see a fairly clear trend. A worse offense means less chances to get the ball all the way to inside the 20, and boy was the Yeti offense bad.
Conclusions
Look, I think it's fine to not vote him in for not having any bulk statistics, or for having an above average career as a quarterback. However, looking at the career he had as a kicker and punter, I personally think he has to be a lock. He played the minimum 5 seasons required to be a Hall of Famer at each position, with at least 1 season with subpar TPE on both ends as well. I don't know how you can explain keeping out the greatest punter of all time, arguably the most accurate kicker of all time, and one of the best QBs of his era. But that's just my opinion. It's up to the voters to make this decision this upcoming week, as HOF ballots are due Sunday night and there are many players on the ballot who deserve to get in. But I've cast my ballot, and Micycle makes it.
TL;DR: Put him in, you cowards.
Does Micycle McCormick Belong in the Hall of Fame?
A look at why (and why not)
Micycle McCormick, former Colorado Yeti kicker/punter turned quarterback, is a lock to make it into the Colorado Yeti Hall of Fame. He served as a cornerstone of the franchise through a rollercoaster of seasons ranging from 0-32 to being 3 points short of an Ultimus championship. He is a two time Punter of the Year recipient, one time Kicker of the Year recipient, and eight time Pro Bowl selection (3 as a kicker and 5 as a quarterback). Yet, despite all these accolades, it is more likely than not that McCormick will not be elected to the NSFL Hall of Fame. Is this reasonable? We will delve in to that mystery next.
First, a little bit of background. McCormick graduated out of Rutgers and was drafted out of the Chicago Coyotes to play for the Colorado Yeti in S6 as a placekicker. Fresh into a rebuild, the S6 Yeti were possibly the worst team to ever play simulation football, proceeding to go 0-14. Micycle was no exception to this, as his rookie season was one of the worst kicking and punting performances in league history. But afterwards, the switch flipped and Micycle stunned the league with the first ever perfect 100% Field Goal and 100% Extra Point season, a streak he carried for a record 22 games. Micycle excelled as a punter as well, putting up 2 of the best punting efficiency seasons of all time in S8 and S10.
A drastic foot injury after an S10 playoff defeat changed the narrative for McCormick, as he was forced to switch to his other high school position of quarterback. While he performed above average compared to his competition, McCormick's quarterbacking years were less than elite. Despite throwing for over 5000 yards in S14, McCormick decided that regression was taking its toll and retired after an extremely poor S15 season.
Having switched positions exactly halfway through his 10 season career, McCormick lacks almost any bulk statistics to compare to the best. But his efficiency as a kicker/punter as well as a quarterback are still laudable. Let's dive into the statistics!
Micycle the Quarterback
Records and Accolades:
5x Pro Bowler (S11, S12, S13, S14, S15)
T-7th Completions - season (391)
9th Completions - season (387)
10th Passing Yards - season (5,007)
10th Completion Pct - career (58.5%)
I would be lying if I said McCormick was a great passer. The truth is, he was at best above average for most of his career there. If we look at his accuracy statistics, we see that while there are some seasons where he trends above 75% of historical stats, McCormick typically falls middle to end of the pack.
While he does have one of the league's ten 5,000 yard seasons (which might never happen again with 13 game seasons), Micycle's passing production has also slacked. You can probably excuse some of it from playing with subpar WRs, and some of it to rule changes from the "Wild West" of the early seasons, but it's hard to put it aside.
Micycle's strengths as a quarterback actually arise from his trusty legs. In a league between the era of Pierno and Akselsen and the era of Christ and Armstrong, Micycle took the mantle of running QB in S12 and S13.
This multi-dimensional approach to the position allowed Micycle to put up the best TANY/A (Total Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt) numbers of his era. Was it a good era of QB play? Definitely not. But he was elite for his time.
With stats like this it's easy to pin him in the Hall of Very Good, especially since we consider his peak is about 2 seasons. But if we take a look at his original position, the conclusions might be different...
Micycle the Specialist
Records and Accolades:
1x Kicker of the Year (S8)
2x Punter of the Year (S9, S10)
3x Pro Bowler (S8, S9, S10) (aside - how was he not a pro bowler in S7?!)
Most FG Made - game (7)
5th Punt Yards - season (5400)
2nd Punt Average - season (50.3)
5th Punt Average - season (49.3)
T-1st FG Pct - season (100%)
1 Perfect Kicking Season (22 game streak)
3rd FG Pct - career (93.0%)
3rd Punt Average - career (47.6%)
6th Longest Punt (77)
I will be blunt here. I think Micycle is in the discussion for greatest kicker of all time, and definitively the best non-multi punter of all time. Let's look at the tape.
Kicking
Outside of his (horrendous) rookie season, Micycle has been one of the most accurate kickers in league history. There have only been 15 perfect field goal seasons in the history of the league, and Micycle has 2 of them (only Dean Jackson has more with 3).
Excluding Fulture (who I argue is the GOAT kicker anyways), Micycle was also the most consistently accurate kicker with 4 out of 5 seasons in the top 25% performances:
Even legendary kickers Dean Jackson and Turk Turkleton struggled for large swaths of their careers, and they are sure-fire hall of famers.
Micycle also holds the record for longest streak of games without a miss, a record that might never be broken:
While it certainly isn't the longest streak of kicks without a miss (and let's just appreciate that this is how Iyah Blewitt ended his career), 22 straight games is incredible consistency.
Just to put one more point on the table - McCormick is ranked in the history books at #3 all time Field Goal percentage with a 93% conversion rate. Who are the two players above him? Wayne Gooney (95.7%) and Emilio Ramero (94.4%). Both of these players only played one season! Gooney was 22/23 and Ramero was 17/18 - good seasons, but seeing as this is their only sample size it's kind of unfair to put them over Micycle's 106/114. Fulture (234/252) and Alex D. (157/169) are both right behind Micycle at 92.9%.
Punting
Of the five best punting seasons in the history of the league, Micycle McCormick has two of them. Micycle is also only one of three players to average over 50 yards per punt in a season (being famously screwed out of the record by a 4 surrender punt game in the last week of the season.
His punt averages were absolutely elite in the last 3 seasons of his kicking career, and this adds up to him being third all time in punting average. Once again, we need to look at the two players above him - Venus Powers and Christiano Ronaldo. Powers looks like she will be a great punter in this league, but her average of 47.8 yards per punt all time comes from only one season. Ronaldo on the other hand, had 4 seasons worth of punting with an average of 47.8 yards per punt as well, but he was caught in a juicing/multi scandal and banned from the league. This leaves Micycle at 47.6 yards per punt over 5 whole seasons.
In terms of having a cannon for a leg, Micycle has also consistently put up long punts that place him in the top 25% of league history:
The only knock on Micycle is his rate of placing punts inside the 20:
However, I argue that this isn't actually a metric of punter skill (at least in the sim) - they're uncorrelated to kicking attributes but rather a direct measure of how many punts a punter takes. If we base it off the starting location of the punt, we see a fairly clear trend. A worse offense means less chances to get the ball all the way to inside the 20, and boy was the Yeti offense bad.
Conclusions
Look, I think it's fine to not vote him in for not having any bulk statistics, or for having an above average career as a quarterback. However, looking at the career he had as a kicker and punter, I personally think he has to be a lock. He played the minimum 5 seasons required to be a Hall of Famer at each position, with at least 1 season with subpar TPE on both ends as well. I don't know how you can explain keeping out the greatest punter of all time, arguably the most accurate kicker of all time, and one of the best QBs of his era. But that's just my opinion. It's up to the voters to make this decision this upcoming week, as HOF ballots are due Sunday night and there are many players on the ballot who deserve to get in. But I've cast my ballot, and Micycle makes it.
TL;DR: Put him in, you cowards.