Hail Thy Orange and Blue: Park High TCY/FOF Redux

[Izulde]

Hail77to thee, Park High!
Hail thy orange and blue
Thy light shall guide us,
Thy beacon bright and true.
Hail to thee, Park High,
This our pledge shall be!
Park High forever,
Hail, Hail, Hail to thee!

So with the crash of my laptop's other hard drive I lost the other Park High combo dynasty. I got the urge for something more fast-paced the other night than my Bengals historical dynasty (though I'll still update that). And then, when I found out the Dolphins scored again, I randomly started singing my alma mater's song.

I've taken it as a sign to start this dynasty anew.

Last Dynasty
Athletic: 41
Academic: 27

This Dynasty
Athletic: 87
Academic: 66

A much better draw this time, which should yield better recruits.

Year 1 - 2004
P Brett McLellan
And of course, we get the 14th best punter in the state, with a 10 rating.

Year 2 - 2005
P Ernie Mahoney
Another 10 rated punter, 11th in the state. Unreal.

Year 3 - 2006
RB Mario Ross
Of course it's a RB, because it's Park. Mario is our first viable D-I prospect. Rated 37 by a Pretty Good scout, he's a hard nosed runner who specializes in getting tough third down yardage. Just don't ask him to return punts. 3.26 GPA and 1160 SAT are respectable. Wants to major in Industrial Engineering and is looking for a good school with some prestige. My bet is that he goes Sol-8.

Week 3
The Cincinnati Bearcats make contact.

Week 6
Big week for Mario. Louisiana Tech offers him a scholarship and Mississippi State invites him to walk on. Hope he picks a school, because we found out last time what happens when recruits sit on their duff. LA Tech has a horrible Industrial Engineering program (9), whereas Mississippi State is pretty good (50). Internet speculation says he'll walk on rather than take the free ride. Plus, there's a Park High alum there.

Week 8
Mario officially visits Louisiana Tech and they try telling him the program's not so bad there.

Week 10
Central Michigan invites Mario to walk on and Navy makes contact. Louisiana Tech's pressing awful hard, though, and the free money might sway him. By the way, Mario finished his high school career with 956 yards rushing and 5 TDs.

Week 11
Louisiana Tech pulls it offer, but New Mexico is quick to step in with a scholarship offer and Mario's just as quick to visit. It's an okay program (33) and is the most prestigious school to offer. I bet he's a Lobo.

Week 14
Central Michigan drops him, but Tulsa's in there with a scholarship offer and Mario's visiting. Interesting how many southern schools are going after him. Now my money's on the Golden Hurricane, which has a better program (48).

Week 15
WE HAVE A DECISION AND OUR FIRST EVER PARK HIGH D-I PLAYER! RB Mario Ross will be attending....




The University of New Mexico!

Mario just really loved New Mexico when he visited the state and the campus. He recognized Tulsa had the better program, but he just didn't like Oklahoma at all, so he'll be suiting up for the Lobos.

End Season
New Mexico's a program on the rise. After going 3-8 in 2004, the Lobos went 8-4 in 2005 and were crushed 49-16 in the Ice Storm Bowl in Fayetteville, AR by Notre Dame. This year, they were 9-3, co-winners of the Mountain West with Utah, and stunned Wisconsin 14-13 in the Sun Bowl, vaulting them all the way to just outside the Top 25 at #30. No doubt their recent success was part of the attraction for Mario.

[Izulde]

Year 4 - 2007
RB Mario Ross - University of New Mexico Lobos (Fr)
I forgot to mention last time that Mario was ranked the 54th best player in Wisconsin and the state's 6th best RB. In any case, here's the situation in Albuquerque. The Lobos' emergence as a Mountain West power is tied directly to junior RB Russell Mahoney, who was the National Offensive Freshman of the Year in 2005 and the Mountain West MVP and Offensive Player of the Year as a sophomore. Mahoney's got big-time NFL dreams... if he doesn't flunk out first. But even without Mahoney, Ross is last and least on the Lobos' depth chart at 15/27 and while he's being red-shirted, his chances of ever getting to play look dim. Four RBs are ahead of him and all have very good to great upside.

OLB Luke Serra
9th ranked LB in the state and rated 17 by an Excellent scout. Yeah, nothing for Luke.

End Season
New Mexico went 9-2 again, but lost the Mountain West title to BCS crasher Utah. The Lobos returned to the Sun Bowl, where Ohio State hammered them 41-10. At least that was marginally better than the Utes, outclassed 59-3 in the Sugar Bowl by Oklahoma. RB Mario Ross retained his redshirt and Millicent, his girlfriend. He also posted an impressive 3.58 GPA his freshman year. RB Russell Mahoney repeated as MWC MVP and Offensive Player of the Year and was also a 1st Team All-American RB. Wow, what a player! I can't wait to see his NFL career.

Year 5 - 2008
RB Mario Ross - University of New Mexico Lobos (RS Fr)
RB Russell Mahoney returned for his senior year, but that doesn't matter, because Mario didn't improve much in his redshirt season, moving to just 17/27. He's still buried on the Lobos' depth chart and is apparently already thinking about grad school.

C Jeffrey Sheppard
11 rating? Snore.

DE Matthew Anastasiades
22 rating by a Fair scout. 8th rated DE in the state. Not likely, as he's a little worse than scouted.

ILB Mark Turner
21 rating makes it slim to none.

End Season
New Mexico placed second in the Mountain West with an 8-4 mark behind 11-1 Air Force and trekked it to Fayetteville for the Ice Storm Bowl, where they won a 24-21 thriller over LSU. RB Mario Ross played a little special teams and recorded a tackle there, so at least he saw the field. He's up to a 3.69 GPA after acing every class except, ironically, his major. RB Russell Mahoney had a down year for awards, earning only Mountain West 1st Team RB, but that's okay.

Russell Mahoney NFL Draft
Elusive, with good speed to the outside. Excellent receiver who looks like a dual threat. Ran a 4.54 40 and showed good agility and workout at the position specific drills. Not a smart player at all, which will downgrade his draft status. Overall, though, a solid prospect and a potential future starter, one who had a sensational college career.

Rating: 5.2 (5.5 Adjusted)
Projection: 2nd-3rd round

Drafted 1st round, 26th overall by the Cincinnati Bengals Heh, how's that for irony. He'll start for the Bengals and he's already an Idolized player. Nice. I won't track his career most likely, but it's cool to see.

Year 6 - 2009
RB Mario Ross - University of New Mexico Lobos (RS So)
Mario put in some work over the summer and is up to 22/28, but even after Mahoney's graduation, he's still on the very end of the Lobo bench and likely to only be a special teamer.

FB Geoff Rayburn
#49 FB in the country, #31 player in the state, #1 FB in Wisonsin and who does he idolize? That's right - UW-Parkside. Ugh! 42 rating by a Good scout and a blocking specialist who doesn't like running on 3rd down. 3.31 GPA 1093 SAT. Intended Mechanical Engineering major. Isn't revealing what he's looking for in a school.

C Lee Weber
Pass-blocking specialist rated 36 by a Terrific scout. Ranked 76th among centers, 40th player in the state and our 3rd best center. Has a very good shot at getting picked up somewhere and just assume until I say otherwise that all our recruits have solid academic credentials. Linguistics major who values equally Team Prestige and Academics.

C Matthew Sanderson
Actually played LG, but projects as a collegiate center. Like Weber, a pass blocker. 93rd ranked center nationally, 48th ranked state player and 4th best center, just behind Weber. Scouted 35 by the same scout. Values Academics and Team Prestige equally. Wants to be a Nuclear Engineer.

Week 2
Matthew Sanderson gets a surprise contact from Navy.

Week 3
Arkansas State comes calling with a scholarship offer for Lee Weber

Week 4
UW-Marathon County (the extension that isn't a real school) and UW-Green Bay (no football team IRL) offer a scholarship to Geoff Rayburn, who was wondering what was going on. Lee Weber also gets an offer from the UW-GB Phoenix and visits, leading to speculation he's headed there.

Week 5
Geoff Rayburn gets a walk-on offer from Nevada and Matthew Sanderson gets a scholarship offer from Lousiana-Lafayette.

Week 6
Geoff Rayburn celebrates Park's first ever All-State player of this universe with a scholarship offer from Bowling Green. Lee Weber's contacted by Mississippi State and Matthew Sanderson gets a scholarship invite for Navy, leading to his immediate journeying to Annapolis and starting rumors he's going to the Naval Academy.

Week 7
Oregon State invites Geoff Rayburn to walk on, but he's too busy visiting UW-Green Bay. He's heartbroken that UW-Parkside hasn't offered yet, but according to local gossip, Lee Wyman's talking him into both of them being Phoenix together.

Week 8
Geoff Rayburn is now visiting UW-Marathon County and Bowling Green. Lee Weber finally decides to check out Arkansas State for the fun of it and Matthew Sanderson is kicking himself for not taking Navy's offer. It's gone now, so he's visiting Louisiana-Lafayette and has a walk-on offer from Arkansas State, who are nervous about losing Wyman to Green Bay.

Week 9
Lakeland College, which -does- have a football team IRL, gives a scholarship letter to Matthew Sanderson and he's visiting. He's far more likely to go there than Louisiana-Lafayette.

But the big new is C Lee Weber has decided on a school! He'll be attending....



The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay!

Worst kept secret ever, really. Now it's just a matter if Lee can talk Geoff into joining him.

Week 10
A shocker occurs when Geoff Rayburn drops UW-GB from consideration, narrowing his finalists to Bowling Green and UW-Marathon County. Louisiana Tech comes rushing in with an offer and Geoff visits.

Week 11
Louisiana-Lafayette got tired of waiting and pulls their offer, so Mattthew Sanderson has only Lakeland left.

[b]But we have a decision from [b]FB Geoff Rayburn, who will be suiting up for....



The Michigan State Spartans!

...Yeah, I'm as shocked as you are. I think it was the green and white that convinced Geoff to switch to the late-comer Spartans. If you'd have told me our first Big Ten player would've gone for Sparty, I'd have said you were nuts.

Week 13
It's been a crazy recruiting season and it just got crazier as Matthew Sanderson gets a scholarship from UConn. He immediately takes the visit and is a strong bet to be a Husky.

Conference Championships Week
[b]Finally, C Mathew Sanderson has committed! And it's to...



The University of Connecticut Huskies!

It's not as good as the Naval Academy's obviously, but UConn's Nuclear Engineering program is pretty damned good in its own right in this universe.

End Season
New Mexico took a definite step back without Russell Maloney, falling to 6-5. They still made it to the Smurf Bowl in Boise, where they were clobbered 38-14 by UCLA.

UW-Green Bay is a horrible 15-51 in this universe. No bowl games and their best record was 5-6 in 2004. They finished an ignoble 0-11 this past season and I doubt they'll get much better any time soon.

Michigan State has been one of the Big Ten's worst teams, posting a 20-46 overall record. They did have two 5-6 seasons in 2004 and 2007, but went 1-10 this year. Wow, these are some sucky schools our three recruits are going to.

UConn, like New Mexico when Mario Ross committed, is on the rise. Although they have a 31-37 overall record, they've gone 6-5 last year and this year, making the Yankee Bowl (NYC) this season and winning 28-16 over Northern Illinois. Last year they made the Golden Gate Bowl in San Fran, where Houston humiliated them 31-3.

[Izulde]

Year 7 - 2010
RB Mario Ross - University of New Mexico Lobos (RS Jr)
Mario had 6 special teams tackles last season, as I forgot to mention. His GPA dropped to a 3.52, thanks to a C in Journalism. At 21/28, he's still lowest man on the Lobos' totem pole, but he's still very happy with life at UNM (71) and still dating Millicent.

C Lee Weber - University of Wisconsin Green-Bay Phoenix (Fr)
Lee comes in very raw at 6/41. He'll red-shirt, which is probably the best thing for him. The good news is, the starting C is a senior, so Lee will at least be a top backup next year, if not the outright starter over his 11/19 competition.

FB Geoff Rayburn - Michigan State Spartans (Fr)
For all the hoopla, Geoff's a disappointing 22/28. Worse yet, the guy starting is a redshirt freshman. On the plus side, there's only 2 FBs on the entire Spartans roster, so Geoff is the top backup by default.

C Matthew Sanderson - University of Connecticut Huskies (Fr)
Matt's 7/41, so similiar to Lee. He'll redshirt, and there's a 31/33 redshirt freshman starting ahead of him, which isn't great news for our Panther's PT prospects. On the bright side, the other center on roster is a senior, so Matt should be the backup next year and maybe start at some point.

DE J.J. Blair
Run-stopping DE with a poor attitude. 33rd best player in the state, 4th best DE. Rated 30 by a Poor Scout, so he could get some looks. A Journalism hopeful who wants to get as far away from Racine as possible (not that I blame him. I wanted to do the same thing), hopefully with a prestigious team.

Week 2
J.J. gets scholarship offers from UW-Green Bay and Nevada. Yeah, like he's going to join Lee in Green Bay.

Week 6
Akron and Buffalo make contact, but J.J.'s off to visit Reno, Nevada and local gossip says he's off to join the Wolfpack.

Week 7
Akron's offering him a scholarship now, but Nevada's still got the inside track.

Week 8
No reason not to use visits, so J.J. heads up to Green Bay and checks out Akron as well.

Week 9
UWGB pulls its offer after J.J. makes it clear he has no intention of staying in-state.

Week 11
J.J. waited too long and Nevada withdraws the scholarship, while Buffalo also breaks off contact. Akron's his only hope now.

Week 12
And just like that, no more scholarship offers. Baylor invites J.J. to walk on, however, and I think he might take it.

Week 13
Louisiana Tech and Western Michigan extend walk-on offers, but the big news is that UNLV has sent J.J. a scholarship! Maybe he's headed to Nevada after all. He immediately goes to Sin City and you have to think he'll take that offer.

Week 14
Now South Florida's calling in a walk-on offer.

Conference Championships
UNLV drops him, but Navy invites J.J. to walk on and Mississippi and Oregon rush in with last-minute scholarship offers and he takes late-stage visits to those campuses. The new money's on the Oregon Ducks.

Minor Bowl Week
[b]And finally, we have a decision! DE J.J. Blair will be attending...



The University of Mississippi!

SEC wins out over Pac-10, it seems.

End Season
New Mexico goes 9-2 and co-shares the Mountain West conference with Air Force, but the Lobos get sent to the Ice Storm Bowl, where they beat Notre Dame 34-27 in a rematch of the 2005 game. Interestingly enough, Notre Dame has played in the Ice Storm Bowl 5 of the last 6 years (2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010) and this loss to the Lobos is the first time the Fighting Irish have lost this bowl game. 5-1 record in the Ice Storm Bowl is nothing to sneeze at, though. In fact, we might have to rename this to the Leprechaun Bowl. Exciting news for RB Mario Ross, who had 10 carries for 37 yards in 16 total plays. He also pulled a hamstring, but he's the first Park player to get authentic PT! It looks like the Lobos went with a RB by committee approach this year. On top of that, Mario's up to a 3.6 GPA.

UW-Green Bay was a respectable for them 3-8. C Lee Weber stayed redshirted and had a 3.88 GPA.

Michigan State also went 3-8, but FB Geoff Rayburn didn't play and had a comparatively modest 2.88 GPA, including a C- in his major class. Double oops.

UConn was 7-4 and just barely beat Fresno State 31-28 for their second straight Yankee Bowl win. C Matthew Sanderson kept his redshirt, but his girlfriend broke up with him, he had a 1.74 GPA, and he's absolutely miserable in Storrs (12 Happiness).

Ole Miss has been pretty good this universe, going 49-33 overall. They've appeared in four bowl games, winning 3 in a row from 2005-2007 before being upset 30-27 by Penn State in this year's Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

Year 8 - 2011
RB Mario Ross - University of New Mexico Lobos (RS Sr)
It's Mario's last year as an undergrad and he's 23/28, which still rates him about fourth on the Lobos' depth chart. That said, he got to carry the ball some last year, so who knows what he'll do in his final season?

C Lee Weber - University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix (RS Fr)
Somebody somewhere is wrong in our scouting department, because Lee goes from 6/41 to 21/21 with our change in scouts. By current rating, he should be the starting center, but there's an 18/40 RS Sophomore who played in 6 games last year and may have the inside edge. At the very least, Lee's the top backup.

FB Geoff Rayburn - Michigan State Spartans (RS Fr)
Apparently Geoff was automatically redshirted when he didn't play in any games last year. He's now 17/41, which is an overall improvement, but there's last year's #1 FB still ahead of him. Worse, it doesn't appear the Spartans use their FB much at all, so Geoff's PT potential is slim at best.

C Matthew Sanderson - University of Connecticut Huskies (RS Fr)
Matthew put in some work over the summer and is up to 18/41, which'll be good enough to make him the top backup this year. But he'll have to stay on his toes, because there's a 10/69 freshman the Huskies brought in who they're redshirting. He'll have to really show what he can do if he wants to stay relevant.

DE J.J. Blair - University of Mississippi Rebels (Fr)
J.J. comes in raw, but with some tantalizing upside at 3/57. He'll redshirt, obviously. The good news is, other than a 49/49 RS Junior, there aren't any really great DEs on Ole Miss's roster, except for a couple RS Sophomores who have impressive upsides. So it may turn out that J.J. will see more time than anticipated in his collegiate career.

RB Ben Diaz
Power runner, who's rated the 45th best player in Wisconsin and the top RB in the state. Rated 30 by an Excellent scout and wants to major in Marketing. You have to think he'll get recruited, even if only by a Sol 8 school. #1 priority over and above everything else is Team Prestige. Academics is a distant second.

DT Scott MacKenzie
5 rating, even by a Lousy Scout? Yeah, okay.

Week 10
Poor Ben. He's been waiting weeks to hear from somebody and finally Baylor reaches out... but only with a contact. He did have a disappointing senior year on the field, rushing for just 722 yards and 7 TDs, but still.

Week 13
Things are getting a little warmer. Louisiana Tech makes contact and Arkansas State invites him to walk on.

Week 14
Louisiana Tech extends Ben a walk-on offer. Tough call to say which one he'd go to, if either one.

Conference Championships
Now Baylor steps in with a walk-on offer. Can't anybody offer the top RB in the state of WI a scholarship here?!

Minor Bowl Week
RB Ben Diaz, after months of frustration and disappointment, has decided. He will be attending...



Vanderbilt as a walk-on!

Hard to pass up the allure of playing for an SEC school. It also helps that Vandy has one of the top Marketing programs in the country (92 rating).

End Season
New Mexico finally won that elusive Mountain West crown at 9-2 and made it to the Rose Bowl, where the Lobos were promptly slaughtered 52-23 by Louisiana State. RB Mario Ross didn't carry the ball in his senior year (I forgot to mention he also had a forced fumble on special teams last year), but he did rack up 6 special teams tackles, tying his career high in his sophomore year.



As you can see, Mario suffered from a touch of senioritis, but it didn't stop him from getting accepted to graduate school at the University of Nevada-Reno, ranked 32nd in the country in Industrial Engineering. He loves the West and plans to marry Millicent once he's completed his master's program, whereupon the presumed happy couple will live somewhere in one of the desert states. He's been very happy to be a Lobo (75 Happiness). Curiously enough, he minored in Music of all things.

UW-Green Bay slid to 2-9, and C Lee Weber lost the fight for the starting job. He did appear in all 11 games, though, and was 1/3 in key run blocks while surrendering 3 sacks. Lee also maintained his 3.88 GPA. All told, he was on the field for approximately 130 plays, give or take.

Michigan State continued to keep pace with the Phoenix, as the Spartans also finished 2-9. FB Geoff Rayburn again didn't play at all and he's getting very Angry about it. His grades also slipped to a 2.73 GPA and I wouldn't be surprised to see him quit the team at some point.

UConn tumbled to a shocking 4-7 mark, the inverse of a year ago. C Matthew Sanderson appeared in all 11 games, 73 plays total, and had 2/4 key run blocks with 1 sack surrendered. He improved his GPA to 1.84 and feels a little better about things, but is still very unhappy (19).

The Ole Miss Rebels were 6-5, good enough to earn them a Liberty Bowl bid in Philadelphia, where they beat Clemson 20-10. Mississippi also won the 2005 Liberty Bowl 41-0 over Marshall, which kicked off their three year run of bowl wins. DE J.J. Blair had an excellent redshirt year with a 3.46 GPA and is stoked about Oxford (81).

Vanderbilt, you may be surprised to learn, is 50-41 in this universe. But it's been a very uneven showing. In 2007, they went 7-4, but were snubbed a bowl bid, which inspired them to go 12-0 and win the SEC Championship in 2008. Despite their undefeated record, however, they were denied a shot at the national title and had to settle for a 25-0 shutout of Air Force in the Sugar Bowl. The Commodores couldn't maintain their fire in 2009, but still managed to go 8-3 before winning the Citrus Bowl 23-10 over Northwestern. Outside of that 2007-2009 stretch, though, Vandy has been a mediocre to bad team, including a 4-7 mark this year.

[Izulde]

Year 9 - 2012
C Lee Weber - University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix (RS So)
Lee's up to 23/23, but that's not the most exciting news. The center who started ahead of him last year is on academic suspension, which means Lee should be the starter, unless the coaching staff goes with the rawer, but higher upside redshirt freshman behind him. It'll be an interesting battle in any case.

FB Geoff Rayburn - Michigan State Spartans (RS So)
Geoff's still on the team, but at 21/41, he continues to be stuck as the #2 guy. Only injury will actually get him on the field it looks like.

C Matthew Sanderson - University of Connecticut Huskies (RS So)
Matthew takes an odd swerve to 7/57. Unfortunately, he's not likely to see much playing time, as he currently projects #3 C on the Huskies' depth chart. It's a shame because I thought he played pretty well last year.

DE J.J. Blair - University of Mississippi Rebels (RS Fr)
J.J. did nothing with his first year and is 7/56, fourth or fifth DE on the roster. He might see some minimal PT, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

RB Ben Diaz - Vanderbilt Commodores (Fr)
10/10 and an obvious redshirt. Chances of ever seeing the field in his collegiate career = virtually nil. It's getting a little frustrating having all these borderline guys.

FB Cory Schulz
9th best FB in the state? Yeah, okay. Annoying thing is that Case has two Top 1000 prospects, one of whom is 307 overall nationally.

End Season
UW-Green Bay goes 2-9 again. C Lee Weber didn't win the starting spot, but appeared in 83 plays in 8 games, going 2/5 in key run blocks and allowing nary a sack. Hopefully that'll translate into more PT next year. Although he absolutely loves Green Bay (92) and has a stunning 3.9 GPA, he's disgruntled about his playing time and it's hard to blame him.

Michigan State keeps on sucking at 1-10 and FB Geoff Rayburn keeps sitting on the sideline. GPA's up to 2.75, but I keep expecting him to quit the team. The Spartans staff is treating him like crap.

UConn is 4-7 for the second straight year. So much for the rise of the Huskies. As expected, C Matthew Sanderson doesn't play. His grades are improving and he's pulling a 2.12 GPA now and he's up to 21 Happiness, but he's angry over being passed over for PT.

Ole Miss parlays another 6-5 record into a bowl appearance and win, this time taking the Cactus Bowl (Tucson) 42-31 over the University of Washington Huskies. DE J.J. Blair did not see the field and is Angry about it, putting the spoils to the 3.5 GPA. Lot of unhappy Park alumni, it seems.

Fellow SEC school Vanderbilt was 5-6 and RB Ben Diaz turned in a respectable 3.06 GPA. He's a die-hard Commodores fan, as his 98 Happiness, the highest we've seen so far, attests.

Year 10 - 2013
C Lee Weber - University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix (RS Jr)
At 28/28, Lee continues his steady improvement, but he's again going to be the #2 center on the team, as he's been completely surpassed by his younger rival. So close, yet so far from starting.

FB Geoff Rayburn - Michigan State Spartans (RS Jr)
The good news? The starting FB is graduating this year. The bad news? Geoff and another FB are both 27 Current, and Geoff's 40 Potential is less than the other's 45. He just can't catch a break. Still, you have to admire his sticking it out.

C Matthew Sanderson - University of Connecticut Huskies (RS Jr)
Matthew worked hard over the summer and is up to 14/59. He's in a real dogfight for the other centers of the roster as the backup to the starter, a senior. Winning the #2 spot would be huge for Matthew's chances to be the starter his senior year.

DE J.J. Blair - University of Mississippi Rebels (RS So)
J.J.'s 8/56 and he could be anywhere from #4 to #7 DE on the Rebels' roster, that's how tight it is behind the top 3. Both the starters are seniors, so there's prime opportunity for J.J. next year if he can just step it up.

RB Ben Diaz - Vanderbilt Commodores (RS Fr)
8/9? Yeah, Ben's here for the education. Although with no scholarship, his student loans are going to be hell.

Not a single prospect from Park this year.

End Season
UW-Green Bay was 2-10 this year and added to that gloom, C Lee Weber appeared in just 23 plays and 7 games, 1/2 in key run blocks with a sack allowed. His PT's decreased every season, which is troubling. He dropped to a 3.84 GPA and his unhappiness over playing time is taking some of the shine off his college experience.

Michigan State just gets worse and worse, going 0-11 this year. The Spartans have now lost 16 games in a row and are tied at 7th worst prestige in the country at 57 with Wyoming, Nevada and Arkansas State. Somebody revoke their Big Ten privileges! Even Indiana has 59 prestige. Maybe it's karma for again keeping FB Geoff Rayburn off the field. Geoff's holding steady with a 2.77 GPA, but it doesn't appear as though he cares much about Mechanical Engineering anymore. Instead, he's investigating new career fields he's become interested in.

UConn gets back on track and goes 7-4 before getting absolutely humiliated 62-7 by Louisville in the Golden Gate Bowl. But hey, at least the Huskies are back bowling. C Matthew Sanderson isn't back playing, though. Getting a girlfriend again for the first time in three years has done wonders for his mood (53), but he's still very upset over his invisibility. He's also changed majors to Sociology and pushed his GPA to 2.21.

Ole Miss's run of 6-5 seasons finally ends in a disappointing 5-6 campaign. On the plus side, DE J.J. Blair saw the field for 28 plays in 9 games, recording 3 tackles, an assist, a sack and 1 tackle for loss. Good omen for next year, hopefully.

Vanderbilt snapped to a surprising 8-3 record and then shockingly shut out Penn State 31-0 in the Citrus Bowl. Even more stunning, RB Ben Diaz made the special teams unit in every game and recorded 3 tackles. He bolstered his GPA to 3.27 and while he's not nearly as ecstatic as last year to be at Vandy, he's still doing just fine.

[Izulde]

Year 11 - 2014
C Lee Weber - University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix (RS Sr)
At 33/33 in his senior year, Lee could start, but the staff will probably go with the walk-on red-shirt junior they've started the last two years and not given a scholarship to. Or he could even find himself third on the depth chart behind an up and coming redshirt freshman. It's going to be an interesting position battle in Green Bay this season, though I don't hold out much hope.

FB Geoff Rayburn - Michigan State Spartans (RS Sr)
29/41 won't cut it for Geoff, not when a redshirt freshman is there at 43/59. Of all the disappointing careers we've had, this one's probably the worst.

C Matthew Sanderson - University of Connecticut Huskies (RS Sr)
The last of our batch of three seniors, Matthew dropped to 11/59 and will probably again be blocked from the field, as he figures to be third on the Husky depth chart. Talk about another aggravating college life.

DE J.J. Blair - University of Mississippi Rebels (RS Jr)
Heh. 8/56 means that J.J. who had a real opportunity this season, is probably the #3 or #4 DE. On the other hand, who knows? There's 46/59 senior who has a spot locked down, but the other starter is uncertain.

RB Ben Diaz - Vanderbilt Commodores (RS So)
Wow! What a huge jump by Ben, up to 25/25 from his previous 9/9! Unfortunately, the Commodores carry 7 running backs on their roster. I'd say Ben's probably about #5 of those 7, but should still play on special teams, or so I'm hoping.

K Tommie George
14 rating, 13th best K in state. Pass.

End Season
UW-Green Bay stayed stuck in the 2-9 rut. C Lee Weber was the top backup, appearing in 8 games and 82 plays, 1/7 in Key Run Blocks with a sack allowed. He's happy with that and will graduate loving his time at UW-Green Bay (88).



Lee graduates with a double major in Business and Linguistics and his 3.86 GPA gets him into Wisconsin-Madison's MBA program, ranked 13th in the country. He plans to do his thesis on creating better products to aid children in acquiring language proficiency in reading and writing. He and his girlfriend Aileen will be married this summer.

Michigan State had their second straight 0-11 season and have now lost 27 games in a row. FB Geoff Rayburn graduates from this sad sack program without ever once having set on the field during a game. Terrible, considering his ranking when he came out.



Unlike the prior two Park High alumni, Geoff will not go to graduate school. Instead, he'll graduate with a BS in Math after having changed majors and move back to Wisconsin, where he'll get his teaching certification somewhere and become a math teacher at either the middle school or high school level.

OOC Note: Yes, I'm taking liberties with some of these double majors and changed majors, but I feel it's an accurate reflection of college life. I also use the generated selection of courses and their grades to determine this. Plus, I just think it's more fun that way, don't you?

UConn rushed to a 9-2 record, continuing their rebound as they won the Big East title. Unfortunately, the pleasures of Hawaii distracted the Huskies, who went on to get pummeled 31-7 by LSU in the Luau Bowl. C Matthew Sanderson, as expected, didn't play, meaning he saw the field just one year in his college career.



Matthew graduates with his degree in Nuclear Engineering and a minor in Computer Science. His girlfriend broke up with him two weeks before graduation, adding to Matthew's star-crossed life. First, he lost out to Lee Weber for the starting spot at Park. Then his college football experience is a bust. Now he can't keep a girlfriend and he shows no talent for his major. He did, however, do well in his minor, earning his only A in a comp sci class. He plans to obtain various computer certifications and will probably be a low grade tech flunky the rest of his life.

Ole Miss again went 5-6 and just missed a bowl bid. They really are the epitome of a .500 BCS conference team in this universe, 73-55 overall record and 5-1 bowl record notwithstanding. DE J.J. Blair didn't win a starting spot, but he got a major increase in PT, appearing in 69 plays in 8 games, recording 5 tackles, a sack and 2 tackles for loss. He's holding steady with a 3.34 GPA and, to my surprise, has only a 46 Happiness. I think he's bored with his girlfriend Emmy and is disappointed he wasn't a starter. Even Matthew ended up okay with going to UConn in the end (56).

Vanderbilt had a much better season, going 8-3 and winning the SEC North before upsetting then 25 ranked LSU 24-21 in the SEC Championship game to win the conference. The Tigers then took out their frustrations on UConn as noted above, while Vandy crushed Texas A&M 34-10 in the Sugar Bowl in another huge upset. RB Ben Diaz had a pretty significant role in that, again playing on special teams. He recorded 7 tackles and, most importantly, forced the fumble that led to the game-winning field goal in the SEC Championship game. It'll probably be the highlight of his career and in fact, one of the most exciting moments we've seen yet for a Park alumnus.

Year 12 -2015
DE J.J. Blair - University of Mississippi Rebels (RS Sr)
J.J. found renewed focus and energy over the summer, leaping up to 23/52. Even better, one of the guys ahead of him got suspended due to grades, so we should finally have our first starter. At the absolute least, he'll be the guaranteed #3 DE for his final year of college play.

RB Ben Diaz - Vanderbilt Commodores (RS Jr)
Ben continues his steady rise, up to 29/29. He's still fourth on the Commodores' depth chart and so probably won't carry the ball, but he's found his niche on special teams, even if he doesn't ever get a scholarship.

QB Jorge Cash
18 rating, 11th best QB in state has D-2 or D-3 writ all over him.

T Trevor Seidel
68th best player in the state, 9th best tackle. Run-blocker rated 32 by a Good Scout. Borderline to be picked up by someone and he's keeping his factors in considering schools private. Intended Sociology major.

WR Mo Stanton
Similar situation to Seidel. 61st player in Wisconsin, 9th best WR. Drop-prone, but knows how to fight for the ball in double and triple coverage, odd as it sounds. 30 Rating by Decent Scout. 2.84 GPA is the first Park prospect to be below 3.0, although he did pull off a 1222 SAT score. Interested in Social Work and would prefer to stay close to home with a good academic program.

WR Shawn Bauer
GLORY, GLORY HALLELUJAH! Shawn is the single best player -ever- to appear in one of these combo dynasties. 43rd best player in the entire United States, #2 nationally ranked WR and #1 in WI, period. Through 4 games, he already has 999 yards receiving. Color me ECSTATIC about this probable Trig major who should play on Sundays. #1 priority is Team Prestige over and above everything else. Playing close to home is his secondary concern. Can you say tailor-made for Badgers?

Week 2
WR Mo Stanton is contacted by UTEP and WR Shawn Bauer gets a scholarship offer from Arkansas State. Yeah, good luck with that.

Week 3
Oregon State contacts WR Mo Stanton, while WR Shawn Bauer gets scholarship offers from Illinois, Ohio State and Virginia. The early money's on the Fighting Illini, but it's very, very close. Could well be a Buckeye.

Week 4
Arkansas State realizes their foolishness and hurries in a scholarship offer to WR Mo Stanton. T Trevor Seidel finally gets a contact, from San Jose State. WR Shawn Bauer's mailbox continues to fill. Scholarship offers from Sol-8 school Lawrence University, who is this universe's version of the Sol-8 shool that dominates the conference every year and has a ridiculous 83 prestige rating because of it. Stanford makes contact, but the big news is that Shawn's visiting the Illinois campus this week.

Week 5
Okay, I'm going to be really pissed if WR Shawn Bauer goes to Lawrence. It's the one thing I -hate- about TCY more than anything. He's visiting Appleton this week, along with Notre Dame. In addition to the Fighting Irish, Stanford, Iowa and UW-Eau Claire offer scholarships. Now the money's on Notre Dame, with Illinois and Lawrence co-second favorites.

Week 6
WR Mo Stanton has a walk-on offer from Rutgers, but the big news is...

[b]All-State WR Shawn Bauer, who finished with 83 catches for 1,980 yards and 12 TDs, smashing every school record ever probably for infinity, has decided! He will be playing for..........



The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugolds!

..WTF?!?! They have a 66 prestige rating! Everyone else was offering 80s prestige schools! HOW THE -FUCK- DOES A RECRUIT WHO VALUES TEAM PRESTIGE IN FREAKING RED CHOOSE A 66 PRESTIGE SCHOOL IN THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES?!

Ugh!! Now I'm going to see a shitty ass fake ass school name in FOF when he's in the draft pool. Jim, -please- let the Sol-8 names transfer over into TCY 2 or make a conversion update. I don't see why it randomly generates a different college name when a lot of the small college names are already in the game to begin with.

I swear to fucking Goddess, I'm so damned cursed in this universe.

Week 7
WR Mo Stanton gets a walk-on offer from Oregon State.

Week 8
The walk-on offer train continues for WR Mo Stanton, who has UNC drop one off. There's still Arkansas State's scholarship offer on the table, though.

Week 9
More walk-on offers from Mo Stanton. This time it's UTEP and UW-Marathon County offering him no strings attached, but he's visiting Arkansas State and will probably take the money. T Trevor Seidel gets contacted by Bowling Green.

Week 10
Cincinnati contacts Trevor Seidel. Will no one at least invite him to walk on?

Week 11
Trevor Seidel gets contacted by that devil-spawn school, Minnesota, but that's overshadowed by...

WR Mo Stanton making a decision. He'll be attending...



The Arkansas State Red Wolves! (with outdated helmet)

No surprise there. Free education = win.

Week 13
Trevor Seidel finally gets a walk-on offer from UTEP. Give somebody for Jeebs to root for in this dynasty.

Week 14
Bowling Green quickly invites Trevor Seidel to walk on. I'd put my money on the Falcons over the Miners.

Conference Championships
Now Trevor Seidel has walk-on offers from Minnesota and San Jose State as well. Gophers over Falcons in a close call.

Minor Bowl Tier
T Trevor Seidel has decided to commit to....


The San Jose State Spartans as a walk-on!

Mmm, California. Truth is, if UArk hadn't offered me a teaching assistantship, I might have gone to SJSU instead, since they accepted me too. But they didn't offer assistantships to first year students and I wasn't about to drown in financial aid debt.

End Season
Ole Miss has its worst showing since 2008, tumbling to 3-8. DE J.J. Blair appeared in 9 games and had 3 starts, totaling 5 tackles, 2 assists, 1 TFL, and 5 hurries. He was fine with that, athough he was only fine with his college experience overall.



Compared to where I thought he'd be coming out of high school, J.J. had a surprisingly successful college campaign. He'll go to work for a newspaper as a sports reporter and probably coach football in some capacity as well.

Vanderbilt didn't exactly match last year's success, although they did go 8-3 before getting blown out 41-6 by Illinois, the school a certain someone should've gone to, in the Citrus Bowl. RB Ben Diaz stayed on special teams, recording 2 tackles and forcing another fumble.

UW-Eau Claire is 72-63 overall in this universe and the Blugolds are 2-1 in bowl games, all three appearances in the Cotton Candy Bowl in Las Vegas, lowest of all the bowls. They won 26-13 over Idaho in 2004, 14-3 over Troy in 2008 and lost 38-14 to Troy in 2011.

Arkansas State is 27-105 and has never been to a bowl game. They just finished an 0-11 season. They're tied with San Jose State, the third Park High committed school, with a 51 prestige. The Spartans are 13-119 all-time and only 3 schools rate worse: Michigan State - 49 prestige; Memphis - 49 prestige and Bowling Green - 48 prestige. Former bottom-feeder Louisiana-Lafayette has gone 6-5 and 7-4 the last two years, shooting them up into the low 50s.

By the way, the MSU Spartans finally won a game. They even went 2-9 and finished ahead of Indiana in the Big Ten this year.

[nfg22]

Excited to see that receiver none the less. The Irish should have had him.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by nfg22

Excited to see that receiver none the less. The Irish should have had him.

True and true. I can even get excited about him possibly reversing the fortunes of an in-state school. It's just the changed name I'll see in FOF that's going to really bug me.

[kobe360x]

wow he picked Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugolds over all those other schools!

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by kobe360x

wow he picked Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugolds over all those other schools!

Yeah, it's a shock to me too. He could've at least gone to UW-L gosh darn it, not my mom's alma mater.

[Izulde]

Year 13 - 2016
RB Ben Diaz - Vanderbilt Commodores (RS Sr)
Ben's reached his ceiling at 29/29 and will again likely play special teams. He never did get a football scholarship, so he'll have some pretty major student loans to pay off when he's done.

T Trevor Seidel - San Jose State Spartans (Fr)
As bad as Trevor's 14/26 looks, there's only one scholarship tackle on the whole roster and if the Spartans weren't redshirting him, he'd be the top backup. I'd look for his red-shirt to possibly be pulled at some point. It's that ugly a situation for SJSU at the tackle spots. Makes you wonder where the hell all their scholarships are going.

WR Mo Stanton - Arkansas State Red Wolves (Fr)
Holy cow! There are 10 WRs on ASU's roster, 9 of which are scholarship guys. Mo's 16/44, and, as you might expect, is redshirted. There's a 49/62 RS freshman who will have a starting spot for like, forever, but beyond that, Mo's got a shot if he lives up to his potential. It's a nasty numbers game, though, and I wouldn't expect to see him get much PT until at least two years from now.

WR Shawn Bauer - UW-Eau Claire Blugolds (Fr)
30/62 seems awfully low. They're redshirting The Chosen One, which makes sense. If they redshirt him now, the Blugolds can make him a likely starter next year after one of the seniors retires.

FB Leroy Dillon
3? 3x the snore.

ILB Ethan Ohalete
A 15 scrub.

G Alan Vaughn
17 still isn't good enough.

End Season
Fantastic 9-2 season by Vanderbilt before they went on to smother Miami (FL) 48-16 in the Liberty Bowl. RB Ben Diaz had 4 ST tackles and all in all had a more productive time in college than I thought he would.



Ben graduates with a 2.98 GPA and got a job in the marketing department at FedEx shortly after graduation. He married Shirley just before his senior year, so it's an exciting life ahead for overachieving Ben.

San Jose State was 2-9 and thankfully T Trevor Seidel stayed redshirted. He had a 2.86 GPA, but got an A in his major class. Not all that happy about being so far from home, though.

You know you have a bad program when you have your best record in six years (2010) and that great new showing is 4-7. WR Mo Stanton has a 3.28 GPA at the moment.

UW-Eau Claire was 9-2, but were denied a bowl bid. WR Shawn Bauer was an academic lightweight at 2.12, but he loves the Eau Claire area (86) and his girlfriend, Phoebe.

Year 14: 2017

T Trevor Seidel - San Jose State Spartans (RS Fr)
Well, SJSU is down to 4 tackles now and Trevor's one of them. Again, only one scholarship guy. 17/26 will be good enough for Trev to be a starter and our first full-time starter in this dynasty. We'll see how long he lasts, though, because if he doesn't get a scholarship, I could see him leaving the team and the school.

WR Mo Stanton - Arkansas State Red Wolves (RS Fr)
16/44. Not a single whit of improvement. As a result, Mo's about the fifth WR on the team, if that. Hugely disappointing, but what can you do?

WR Shawn Bauer - UW-Eau Claire Blugolds (RS Fr)
BAM! Skyrocket up to 43/62 and we have a virtually guaranteed starting WR for the Blugolds in Shawn. Couple that with last year's All-Sol 8 1st Team QB, an underrated senior, and we could have a terrific year in store for Shawn and the Blugolds.

TE Roman Nelson
Normally I'd say 24 rating by Good scout -might- get him a look, but he's the 7th best TE in the state.

C Marlon Bouman
29 rating by Good scout, but he's the 54th best player in the State, 4th best center in Wisconsin. Should get an offer from somebody. Staying close to home is his #1 priority, with Team Prestige a secondary concern. Intended Juriprescedence major.

Week 11
-Finally- C Marlon Bouman gets contacted by a school, and it's Big Ten Purdue no less.

Week 12
Purdue quickly pulls its inquiry.

Conference Championships
C Marlon Bouman gets a walk-on offer from Florida State. Interesting, but I bet he doesn't take it. I'm hearing that he's applied for academic scholarships from Purdue.

Minor Bowls
We have a decision from C Marlon Bouman! He'll be attending....



The Florida State Seminoles as a walk-on!

In the end, the chance to play Division I football in college was too much a temptation to resist. That's perfectly understandable, even if FSU has a terrible program in his major (19).

End Season
San Jose State was one of 3 WAC teams to go 1-10, a dishonor shared by Louisiana Tech and UTEP. T Trevor Seidel did start all 11 games, though and was a ghastly 3/16 (18.7%) on Key Run Blocks and gave up 11 sacks, one a game on average. That's just ouchtastic.

Arkansas State finished 3-8, but [b]WR Mo Stanton[/b's contribution was limited to 4 games on special teams with no stats. His grades are starting to slip, too, though he's still at 2.98

UW-Parkside and Lawrence University both went 11-1 and the Sol-8 went 3-0. Lawrence upset Arkansas 28-25 in the Liberty Bowl, while Parkside squeaked by Troy in the Cotton Candy Bowl by the same field goal margin, 27-24. So that left 8-3 UW-Eau Claire to knock off Ohio 21-17 in the Heffalump Bowl in Anaheim, CA. WR Shawn Bauer had a shoulder injury that kept him out of 3 games, but he started the other 10, with 36 catches for 596 yards, 5 TDs and 3 drops. Senior QB Vince Villars repeated as the All-Sol 8 1st Team QB and it'll be interesting seeing if he makes it in the NFL.

QB Vince Villars - UW-Eau Claire Blugolds
Two-time All-Sol 8 1st Team QB. Didn't pass for a ton of yardage in the Blugolds' scheme and threw a lot of interceptions. Very good at sensing the rush and has the smarts to learn how to read the defense. Played a short-passing game at UW-EC, but arm is better suited to vertical schemes. A likely backup that could stick.
Projection: 3rd-5th round (4.7 - 5.4 Adjusted)

Undrafted, unsigned and 18/31 is kiss of death in TCY-inflated league