#SWARM - The Reboot

[young22]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

Yessir! Just was on vacation for the last week and a half so didn't get a chance to get the Pre-bowl game update in, which should go up tonight and then I can FINALLY get close to getting into the offseason!

Ok ok no doubt bro! Looking forward to seeing what this offseason brings.

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[young22]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

August 20th, 2015

Freshman De'Aaron Walker will start opener

Winners and losers from training camp -- Injury bug bites the Swarm hard

Walker beats out Marble

Walker goes deep to Sean Louis (#5, in blue)

De'Aaron Walker will start in the Swarm's week 2 season opener at FIU, coach Dion Barkley confirmed yesterday. The 6'1, 218 pound freshman beat out Ricardo Marble for the job. Marble and Walker alternated between reps with the starters and the backups, and ultimately Walker flashed the upside that drew the Swarm to him in the first place. From broken sacks that turned into 30 yard scrambles, to beautiful 50 yard bombs, Walker showed that he has the talent to be a star for this team. But, with every great play, there was a play that made you ask how in the heck this guy got to be a Division 1 quarterback.

Marble as of right now is smarter and more accurate than Walker, but his arm is weak and he doesn't favor the vertical spread offense that Dion Barkley and OC Roger Bean want to run. They're both great athletes at the position, with Marble being lighter and quicker, but Walker bringing a bit of power.

Barkley made it clear that this decision wasn't final.

De'Aaron is gonna start at FIU. But if he don't show up, or he starts acting a fool, he's outta there. Ricardo is a legitimately good QB who will be right there over his shoulder the whole year. We may go back and forth between guys, who knows.

So where does this leave Jacourey McKinley? Well, the freshman showed he isn't ready for D1 football. He has a slight 5'11, 174 pound frame, and his arm isn't anything special. He has a tendency of shying away from a hit and doesn't stay in the pocket enough. He will have his shot in a year or 2 if the QB situation is still shaky.

Winners and Losers from camp

Well, like every year, some guys show out in camp and get moved up on the depth chart. Likewise, others struggle and get their jobs taken.

Winner: QB De'Aaron Walker. Won the QB battle over a guy 3 years older, and has the respect of his team. Huge for a young player's confidence.

Loser: WR Thomas Green. I'd be shocked if Green is still on the team this time next year. He's suspended for the first 6 games of the year, ran with the third stringers in camp, and looked disgruntled about it. His effort was poor, and he was largely shut down the few times he played with the starters.

Winner: CB/WR Sean Louis. This guy is a stud. NFL player if he keeps it together. He got snaps at corner, wideout, return man and even tailback. His reported 40 time of 4.26 looks pretty accurate to us. He could be huge on defense. However, he has been frosty to most of the team, and things got chippy between him and Green the few times they matched up.

Loser: DT Santonio Valentine. Valentine messed up in school last year and missed the whole year. He ballooned form 313 to 328, and the senior looks like he's lost a step. Then he sprained his ankle, and will miss at least our first 2 games.

Winner: WR Daniel Thompson. This guy put in WORK. Came in last year at 234. Had a decent freshman year with about 250 yards in limited action. He slimmed down to 226 this offseason and looks way quicker, more agile, and has better body control and hands. He'll start, and could relegate Thomas Green to a backup on Green's return from suspension.

Loser: SS Ray Bentley. He was in a battle for the starting SS spot with Khari Anderson. Bentley went down injured. A dislocated shoulder will see him miss 4-5 weeks.

Bentley wasn't so great either: Here he gets burned by being overly conservative to avoid getting burnt, ends up giving up a catch anyway.

Loser: Louis Dowdell. The emergence of Tristan Cox will see Dowdell become a depth player for his final season.

Winner: Tristan Cox. He went from a no name freshman last year, to the Swarm's best pass catcher and blocker out of the backfield. He has a nice blend of power and speed, and will line up out wide at times. He could eb an offensive X-factor.

Winner: ROLB Manuel Kirk. You thought Thompson got a lot better. Nah. Kirk became a workout warrior, upping his weight by 12 pounds to stand at 6'1, 227 entering his sophomore year. He got faster too, and clocked in a blazing 4.46 in a 40 yard dash competition. This guy has the athleticism to cover wideouts, and the size to be a decent run stopper. He won himself a starting job. He'll start at a less familiar LOLB, as senior Arnold Godfrey is still here at ROLB. He and Godfrey will partner in the nickel, which is essentially a base with how much MAC teams are in 3 and 4 wide sets.

Swarm suffer rash of injuries

Freshman G Adam Van tore his ACL on the second day of camp, during a conditioning drill. He'll miss the year, though he was due to redshirt anyway. The massive 6'6, 343-pounder already faced a tough road to get in good enough shape to contend for a starting spot, and this won't help.

Junior WR Mario Lane will miss the year as well with a broken leg. Lane was in line to finally receive solid playing time.

SS Ray Bentley dislocated his shoulder and will miss 3-4 weeks. Khari Anderson will start in his place.

Starting RE Jamal Mangum fractured his wrist, and is expected to miss about a month of the season. In his place, sophomore DE Raishaun Swan will start.

DT Santonio Valentine will miss 3-4 weeks with a high ankle sprain.

In addition to these players, WR Thomas Green will serve a 6 game suspension after he nearly came to blows with his head coach after last year's season finale.

That's 4 starters, including the Swarm's most dynamic player that plays strictly offense.

[beast10]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

some tough injuries. they were going hard in camp lol. i’m looking forward to what kind of season walker can put together


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[young22]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

Roster

De'Aaron Walker edged out Ricardo Marble for the job. Marble will likely move to WR next year anyway, he doesn't have the arm to be more than a college game manager. Jacourey McKinley has promise, but needs to gain 20 pounds before we can really consider playing him.

I'm not sure why Daniel Cummings is still here, to be honest.



Tristan Cox emerged as a great all-round back, and will start the year as the #2 to Trent Brantley. That doesn't mean a whole lot, as he'll get plenty of touches. Dionte Norton will get some carries too, and he'll try to build on his good 2014 campaign. Louis Dowdell gets pushed down the depth chart, he can't create his own yardage and is injury-prone.



Fullback is essentially non existent in this offense. Nate Branch will be called on for maybe 10-15 offensive snaps a game.



Thomas Green is our best deep threat, but he's one more incident away from being off the team. He's suspended for 6 games, and I doubt he ever suits up again. Daniel Thompson really worked hard in the offseason and could challenge Calvin Foster for the #1 receiver role. Stanley Wayne should be solid as a senior, and Tony Brown will be a big, physical deep threat. Adam Reid had just 4 catches last year, but 3 went for scores. He will see more targets in 2015.



Blake Bentley came in better than we expected. Got stronger from his HS season, little more athletic, improved his hands. He's a pretty good tight end, just needs to put on some weight. Fellow freshman Steve Weiss backs him up.







The line is shaky. Tackle Guy Olsen will slide over to RG, as James Henderson isn't quite ready. Sophomore RT Joe Edwards is our best lineman, but he's the only one of our starters who isn't somewhat undersized.





Clayton Thorson helps us tremendously. Jamal Mangum should bounce back from his 1-sack 2014 as soon as he's back from a fractured wrist. Raishaun Swan and Reggie Blanco can do damage in spurts.

Our D-Tackle situation is bad. Jerrell Cutler is a good player, but Santonio Valentine stagnated after missing 2014 with academic issues. He got hurt in camp too, and will miss a couple games. If we fail to recruit DTs this year, we may have to base out of a nickel 3-3-5 in 2016. We had to take 2 walk ons in Kevin Gutierrez and Will Miller.





Manuel Kirk broke out, and the sophomore will start on the left side. Jeremiah Murphy will be our MLB, but he won't be on the field in any nickel, dime, or quarter looks. With all the spread no-huddle we'll see in MAC games, he probably not play much at all. I'm concerned about this group once Arnold Godfrey is gone. We won't have a Kirk break out every year.





Sean Louis gives us the impact guy we need at corner. He's shutdown. Darnell Woods improved tremendously after an awful freshman campaign, and is a solid number 2. Hard-hitting Abdul Coles will be the slot corner, and the dime spot is Terrance Owens' for now. The converted safety is big, physical, and athletic with decent coverage and press ability.

Free safety should be locked down for the next 3 years with Isaac Robinson there. He's a very cerebral safety who's surprisingly athletic. His speed was an issue in 1 on 1 situations at corner, but he can roam the field more and not worry about those 1 on 1s at safety. Khari Anderson will start at SS with Ray Bentley out injured.



Grant Marquardt had a horrible year in 2014, culminating in costing us a shot at a bowl. He'll hope to bounce back. Leslie Motley was an excellent punter last year and should be again this year.

Sean Louis and Dionte Norton are our return men.

Note: My kickers will always have 53 accuracy because I use a kicking method designed by Tuscaloosa over in the NCAA forum.

Schemes

Offense: Aside from a goal line set, there isn't one play from under center in our playbook. With De'Aaron Walker's arm, we can take shots deep more effectively. I like to run a spread out, vertical passing oriented offense. Lot of dives and stretches out of 3 and 4 wide sets, shot plays when they collapse on the run. Walker could light it up if he can throw a good deep ball.

Defense: We're still running a 4-3. We essentially base out of nickel with what teams are throwing at us. Man coverage is shaky, and our safeties aren't great, so a lot of Cover 3 will be ran this year. Plus I just like Cover 3, we ran it a ton last year and it let Abrams be super disruptive.

Schedule will be posted soon, along with our future non conference games.

[young22]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

Create-A-Coach 2015 Preview

Thank you to thesportsguru11 and SilverBullet19 for becoming the first 2 CACs in this dynasty! You guys let me know if I got your coach's look right. If anyone else wants to create a coach, form is on either page 16 or 17.

Season 1 of the careers of Bryson Post and Paul Lees begins this year. Both young OC's will be starting at struggling MAC schools with some pieces there, but a lot of work to do. Good luck to both... except when they play Westlake of course

[young22]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

some tough injuries. they were going hard in camp lol. i’m looking forward to what kind of season walker can put together


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Bro I ain't had this many camp injuries in all the times I've generated them. Idk what the hell we were doing in there lol. I'm convinced Walker will be either a stud or a colossal bust, and this season will set the tone for his career.

Thanks for checking in bro.

[SilverBullet19]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

I'm excited to see Walker at QB, hopefully he can keep his nerves in check and perform well as a freshman. Sean Louis provides a SERIOUS deep threat, the dude has BURNERS lol. I'm sure Walker will love going his way, but Wayne and Thompson have good speed too.

The injury bug is bad. I think Lane could be able to return late in the year, a broken leg should take what, 2 months or so? 6 weeks in a cast, couple weeks of rehab at least, maybe 4. Maybe he will be available for the last couple games.


Get ready to go DOWN bro, Paul Lees is the man, we will run the MAC! lol

[moose141]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

Love the recap, sounds like Walker could really make or break the season for you! Not a ton of weapons offensively, but hopefully the running backs can take some of the load off of the QB. Defense looks solid if unspectacular, and you have a couple of big playmakers in the secondary who should make a big impact!

What formula do you use to simulate your injuries? I may try to incorporate something similar into my dynasty.

[young22]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

I'm excited to see Walker at QB, hopefully he can keep his nerves in check and perform well as a freshman. Sean Louis provides a SERIOUS deep threat, the dude has BURNERS lol. I'm sure Walker will love going his way, but Wayne and Thompson have good speed too.

The injury bug is bad. I think Lane could be able to return late in the year, a broken leg should take what, 2 months or so? 6 weeks in a cast, couple weeks of rehab at least, maybe 4. Maybe he will be available for the last couple games.


Get ready to go DOWN bro, Paul Lees is the man, we will run the MAC! lol

I'm so excited to start the year. Hopefully I'm able to kick it off tonight, still need to do the schedule. Walker is gonna be a guy where you have to take the bad with the really good I think. I'm hyped to play with Louis too, dudes speed is nuts. Only thing is I can't go crazy putting him out wide cause he plays corner and his stamina is only low 90s.

Injuries are definitely kicking our butt, you're right about Lane coming back, maybe around week 14 or so. We need that receiver depth, I run no huddle pretty much whenever the clock is running.

I think you'll find that Dion Barkley will be running the MAC. Don't worry though, you guys can lose to us in the title game any day. [emoji23] But both our programs are at least 2 years off that, I think.

Love the recap, sounds like Walker could really make or break the season for you! Not a ton of weapons offensively, but hopefully the running backs can take some of the load off of the QB. Defense looks solid if unspectacular, and you have a couple of big playmakers in the secondary who should make a big impact!

What formula do you use to simulate your injuries? I may try to incorporate something similar into my dynasty.

Our backs are pretty good. Got lucky with Cox being a breakout player and none of them regressing or anything like that. Walker will absolutely make or break it. Marble is just very unspectacular as a QB, he's steady but won't wow anyone. Walker seems like a wildcard so far. Defensively we're actually not as bad as I thought. Moving Robinson to safety and having Darnell Woods break out was huge, and our front 7 progressed nicely. I got very lucky with the manual progression this year, 3-4 guys that are now 10+ points better than they were last year.

For injuries, I roll a number between 1 and 6 to determine the amount of injuries. Then I roll between 1 and 9.

Injury Length
1 = 1 Week
2 = 2-3 Weeks
3 = 4-5 Weeks
4 = 6+ Weeks (Max of Season Ending)
5 = 1 Week
6 = 2-3 Week
7 = 4-5 Week
8 = Season Ending
9 = 1 Week

Part of a suspension/injury system I found on here. I had 2 guys miss last year due to academic suspension, then Green's suspension I made up. Easy system, takes like 2 minutes to do. If you want more injuries you can also lower injury ratings, which is what I do. Does knock points off your players overalls though.

Thanks to both of y'all for following along. Season should be kicking off tonight if my computer doesn't act up, expect a game recap tomorrow.

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[young22]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

2015 Westlake State Swarm Football Schedule

Again, we play all our games in a block, then have weeks 14-15 off. I think this is down to me having 14 teams in the MAC, gonna start conference play from week 1 next season.

So new scheduling rules I'll adhere to as best I can is to play a Big 10 school every year, preferably a ranked one. I'll schedule my non conference games 2-3 years in advance to somewhat mirror real life.

Gonna kick off the year now, Westlake State at FIU and the debut of De'Aaron Walker!

[SilverBullet19]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

Tough to start conference play right away. On another note...man that sucks that week 6 is gonna be a loss for you lol, it'll be interesting to see how Lees does at CMU

I like your plan to schedule Big 10. I've been on somewhat of a tour through the PAC-12 myself, I'm thinking USC will get on the schedule. I have found that sometimes, you can't fit a team in on back-to-back seasons. Oregon, for example, I got in 2021, but couldn't again till 2023. Either way, I still make sure to get a home-and-home series.

[young22]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

Tough to start conference play right away. On another note...man that sucks that week 6 is gonna be a loss for you lol, it'll be interesting to see how Lees does at CMU

I like your plan to schedule Big 10. I've been on somewhat of a tour through the PAC-12 myself, I'm thinking USC will get on the schedule. I have found that sometimes, you can't fit a team in on back-to-back seasons. Oregon, for example, I got in 2021, but couldn't again till 2023. Either way, I still make sure to get a home-and-home series.

Yeah I'm gonna look at the mid major teams in C-USA and MWC, see who we can get home and homes with. No home and homes with Big 10 teams yet though, I'll treat it as one of those games we get paid to show up and lose. (But, we got paid to "show up and lose" to Kansas State too so you never know...)

Lees did get a win in his second career game after losing to Oklahoma State in week 1. It was only a 7 point win against FCS East though so I don't wanna hear the trash talk till you beat an FBS squad[emoji12] . Your QB is struggling, I might burn the RS on your stud freshman if you're cool with that.

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[SilverBullet19]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

Yeah I'm gonna look at the mid major teams in C-USA and MWC, see who we can get home and homes with. No home and homes with Big 10 teams yet though, I'll treat it as one of those games we get paid to show up and lose. (But, we got paid to "show up and lose" to Kansas State too so you never know...)

Lees did get a win in his second career game after losing to Oklahoma State in week 1. It was only a 7 point win against FCS East though so I don't wanna hear the trash talk till you beat an FBS squad[emoji12] . Your QB is struggling, I might burn the RS on your stud freshman if you're cool with that.

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oh man, struggling against FCS lol. Yeah if it makes sense to burn his redshirt, go ahead. Take creative liberties lol. Makes sense to not get home and home yet with the big boys

[young22]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

oh man, struggling against FCS lol. Yeah if it makes sense to burn his redshirt, go ahead. Take creative liberties lol. Makes sense to not get home and home yet with the big boys

I think the game between our 2 teams will be a pretty good one, judging by how Westlake's first game went. Gonna have the recap up later before I play Michigan.

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[young22]

Re: #SWARM - The Reboot

Y3, G1 - at Florida International

September 6th, 2015

Walker's debut a mixed bag as Swarm fall 45-28 to FIU Golden Panthers

3 turnovers from Walker, but he flashes superstar dual-threat potential -- Maurice Alexander goes over 400 total yards for Panthers as TE Peterson sets school single-game receptions record -- Swarm run game looks dangerous

Miami, FL -- Highly touted freshman De'Aaron Walker made his debut against the FIU Golden Panthers this week. Like everyone predicted, he had his ups and downs. Walker threw for 283 yards, a TD, and ran for another 59 yards and 2 scores on just 9 attempts. But, he completed only 16 of his 33 passes, threw 2 picks, and fumbled.

This game had a very cagey start for a game that saw over 70 combined points. The first quarter ended 0-0, after several punts and 2 Walker turnovers. But the second of those turnovers, a fumble recovered by FIU at the Swarm 35, put the Panthers in great position to score, and they did, despite it taking them 12 plays and a 4th down conversion to do so.

Westlake State came right back with Walker running it himself for a 16 yard gain to open the drive. On the very next play, Trent Brantley took a counter play 49 yards to the house to tie up the game. Not to be outdone, Maurice Alexander led a 4 play drive that ended in him tossing a 40 yard score to wideout Tony Gaiter IV, who dusted Sean Louis when Louis bit on a double move. The Swarm would tie it up on their next drive. After stalling at the opposing 38, Walker found tight end Steve Weiss downfield for 34 yards and a first down. Walker would run in his first college TD 2 plays later, a 1 yard score.

After a quick punt, Westlake State had a shot to go up 7 before the half, but Walker would throw a pick on the edge of the redzone, with safety Richard Dames jumping the route.

Then the trouble started. FIU ate up almost half of the 3rd with a long drive that ended in a Shawndarius Phillips score from 14 yards. They got a stop when Westlake State went for it on 4th and short and failed from their own 49. Maurice Alexander would need just 6 plays before scrambling for a 23 yard score. After another stop, FIU would score again, with a good drive ending in another Phillips score, this time from 2 yards.

Then Dionte Norton did his best to get his team back in it, taking a screen pass 29 yards, then following it up with a 36 yard run on an option pitch on the very next play. De'Aaron Walker would run in a 7 yard score on after a couple plays that went nowhere, but it was still 42-21, Golden Panthers.

Alexander ran in another score after a great drive, where he found tight end Charlie Peterson 3 times for a total of 55 yards. Peterson set a new FIU record for catches in a game, with 13.

Then with the game out of reach, Walker led maybe the most impressive drive we'll see all year. He found Calvin Foster with a dart to the lanky receiver's back shoulder, then was flushed out of the pocket on the next play and just flicked a pass that traveled about 50 yards in the air to an open Daniel Thompson downfield. 2 plays for 83 yards and a score. Swarm head coach Dion Barkley had some high praise for the freshman after the game.

There's not more than 5-6 guys in the nation that can make that throw De'Aaron made to DT today. No way. Rolling, pressured, just flicks his wrist and the ball goes 50 yards. His arm is unreal.

FIU, who had nearly double the amount of possession the Swarm did, ate up the rest of the clock and kicked a field goal from 36 yards out with 40 seconds to go.

Sean Louis tried to alleviate concern over the Swarm defense giving up 45 points, and threw a not-so-subtle jab at some teammates in the process. Take a look at the full quote.

[Louis was asked about Tony Gaiter's 40 yard TD] Well s--t you beat me on a deep route, you ran a good a-- route for sure. I consider myself to be the fastest player in college to keep it a buck with y'all, so props to him for getting me like that. We gone get ours no doubt though, this is a talented defense. For the most part. There's guy here who wouldn't make the Nicholls team I was at. [Laughs]

There have been reports of Louis' toxic attitude being the reason he clashes with coaches so much, transferring out of LSU and FCS Nicholls State. We don't know who he's addressing in this quote, but hopefully he doesn't become a cancer in the locker room.

Westlake State continues the road trip, going to the Big House in Ann Arbor to play #16 Michigan, who are reeling from a 24-13 loss at the hand of then unranked Oregon State. They will no doubt bring their A game, not wanting a repeat of then #6 Kansas State's historic 2014 loss to the Swarm.