Finally found that stud recruit

[silkysmooth]

I recruited a guy named Stephen Sanders in my second season. He was I believe a 3 star athlete from somewhere in Texas. He stood 6'3, weighed 230 pounds, and I thought for sure would make one of those athletic tight ends. Turns out after the first season he was a sucky tight end because his blocking skills were not very good. I had a ton of depth at HB so I made him a WR. He playing sparingly his first season to keep the promise of no redshirt. He had decent speed but his ball carrying skills were amazing. He literally ran over smaller players like they were speed bumps.

I redshirted him in my third season because I had quite a few veteran players back expected to contribute at WR.

Going into my fourth season I saw this guy buried on the depth chart again, probably 6th or 7th as a 74 overall WR. I saw his body size and began to look at other places he could play. His tackling skills were lacking so offense was off the table. His blocking skills were bad so FB/TE was not an option. He wasn't a QB so it was pointless to put him there. I saw his 80+ skills in carrying and trucking and realized I was going about this all wrong. Here I had a complete beast, perhaps Eddie George 2.0 on my team, and I was burying him at WR because I hadn't taken a few seconds to see this guy was a natural born bruiser.

So I moved him to HB, where he was third on the depth chart at 76 overall. I had a true sophomore coming back who had some carries last season and a couple third year sophomores who had carries in previous seasons. I figured Sanders could get some carries as I love splitting carries among 2-3 guys in the backfield.

It took about one quarter of the first game to realize that Stephen Sanders was not going to be denied carries. Even though I was blasting lowly New Mexico St., I could see this guy was special. My other HBs made some great runs, but Sanders moved piles. He was a complete pain to bring down, even in the second game against in-state doormat Ball St. Sanders was injured early and still ran for 100 yards and 3 TDs.

Then came what I thought would be the biggest test. Playing on the road against #6 Nebraska, in front of a packed house of hostile Cornhuskers. Sanders simply ran for 225 yards, including a 97 yard TD where he broke out of a sure tackle inside the 10 yard line and continued to outrun the entire Nebraska defense to the end zone.

This three star athlete that wasted away for two seasons at WR, that I basically didn't even give a second look to otherwise, is now leading the nation in rushing at 148.6 YPG after three games, to go along with 5 rushing TDs. I've even begun to call him Superman Sanders because guys sometimes just bounce off of him when they try to make a play. He's easily my best offensive player despite having real life guys like O.J. Ross and Gary Bush still playing at WR. He started the Nebraska game and will probably start every game he wants to for the rest of his career. I have a 5 star HB from Illinois that I'm recruiting but I'm not sure where he would fit into my backfield with Sanders being so beastly.

My offense is a lot of running the ball to control the clock, and this guy seems like he could take 25-30 carries a game sometimes.

[the veteran]

Sounds like a good find, you should post his ratings.

[packabacka19]

That's a pretty cool story. I've yet to have anything like that happen in my Duke dynasty.

[silkysmooth]

Next time I fire up the game I'll jot down his ratings. I do recall his speed being 91 and his AGI/ACC being somewhere in the upper 80s. His carry rating really got my attention and forced the switch. Tired of seeing 4 star backs with 62 carry. Normally I hate taller backs but this guy is just the goods. Nebraska had a B+ defense too.

Also, for the first few games he was #82 before I finally remembered to edit his number to one more suitable for a HB. He's now #24. Thought it was funny to see a guy numbered 82 lining up and taking handoffs in the I formation.

[Pielet]

3* athlete from West Beverly High School..... Son of Samantha Sanders.

[jbrew2411]

You really have to look at more then overall in this game. I have found a few gems. If you base a players position on overall you will miss out on some really great players in this game. I found a 2* safety that had great speed ratings but had bad position skill ratings. I noticed he had amazing THP and THA in the high 70's. He had good ratings in the running department. I moved him to QB. In 4 years he became a stud. I had recruited him to return kicks but ended up making him the best QB in Notre Dame history.

[sleepyeagle]

I just got a 3* QB in my NC State dynasty who turned out to be the best recruit I've ever had at this school. He has 85 spd, 87 acc, 82 trk, 79 car, 84 thp and 72 tha, so he's not only mobile, he's dangerous.

He finishes most games with over 150 yrds on the ground AND in the air. He can run through cornerbacks and even some linebackers/safeties. He never puts the ball on the ground, and he's very resistant to injury.

I don't have any fast receivers, so about 1 out of every 5 or so pass plays I end up keeping the ball and running for a good 20 yrd gain.

This guy has been the player of the game in EVERY game he's played in except 1, and that's because I didn't realize his true potential as a runner.

I've always been very cautious about running with the QB because of injuries or fumbles, but this guy makes my offense so dynamic.

The best part, he's STILL A FRESHMAN! In a couple years, he's gonna make Tebow and Newton look bad.

[MrRudy]

Quote: Originally Posted by sleepyeagle

I've always been very cautious about running with the QB because of injuries or fumbles, but this guy makes my offense so dynamic.

Funny you say that, I had a mobile quarterback at UVA that was on track to break all of the passing records as I started him his freshman year. He was a front runner for the Heisman Trophy his junior year and he fractured a vertebrae and was lost for the season after three weeks. The next season, after 4 games, broken arm and is lost for 11 weeks.
Thankfully, I have recruited strong at the position and haven't had too much of a dropoff.