Tell Us About Your Playing Days

Really old thread I'm bumping up here...but with so many new members I thought it'd be cool to learn some more about everyone's football past

I had a gift early on and it was evident playing with the boys on the sandlot. I never lived in a place with a POP Warner league and I never went to a Middle School that had a team. Sad to say I did not get to play organized football until the 8th grade.

Now I know that some people will say that 8th grade is Middle School, but I beg to differ. 8th grade in the state of Oklahoma is Junior High school (7th, 8th, and 9th grade). The one year that I lived there I went to Tomlinson Junior High School and I played DE on the JV squad. Considering that my body type was of a WR many of you might think that this is odd, well, so did I. Since I had never played organized football I did not fully get the terminology. When we were in offensive practice I thought it was defensive and vice versa. So when they asked for backs I went and practiced with the running backs when I meant to practice with the DB's. When they asked for ends I went to practice with the DE's instead of the Split Ends AKA WR's. Needless to say I was clueless especially when I was asked to line up in a 3 point stance.

My D Line coach put me on the right side in drills and fell in love with my speed off of the edge. He did not let me leave the defensive line after that so I was stuck there the entire time I played there. I racked up 9 sacks in 4 games in a division that primarily ran the ball out of the I formation. I would get murdered against the run though. Don't get me wrong I was a sure tackler, but I would always get knocked back a few feet before I made the stop.

In the middle of the season my step dad got out of the Army and we moved back to MD where once again I went to a middle school with no football team. The following summer we moved again to Virginia. The rest of the story is meant for another day. I will leave you with this. In highschool I played WR/DB and not on the D-line. Playing in Oklahoma at least made me a bit smarter.


Edit: The above post was in the beginning. The following link was near the end.

http://www.thewarpath.net/parking-lot/20715-if-you-could-have-one-back.html#post375314


The good stuff and the great times were in the middle, yet to be posted.

I played Maplewood Football for years as a kid here in the DC area, and then played in high school as well. My junior year on varsity I was a DE, but I've got pretty good hands. I got moved to TE my senior year, and I played on teams as well. We went 10-0 which was pretty awesome. TE in our offense didn't catch a ton of passes, mainly a blocker, but I still hauled in 25 grabs or so. Haven't played since, but I have some great memories.

I won't lie. :D

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2142/2254270212_f11f9c99cd.jpg

Oh wow... Like this thread.

I had a pretty sweet opportunity given to me when I was in high school. I went to St. John's @ Prospect Hall in Frederick (now known as St. John's Catholic Prep....gross) and we actually did not have a football program at all. My freshman and sophomore years were spent, gasp, on the golf team. I did not mind golf, just always felt football was in my blood.

At any rate, We all filled out these surveys on who would play football and suddenly by my junior year we had a team. Once two-a-days started I had no idea what position I would play. They bounced me around 7 different positions and finally settled on linebacker and tight end. Our first season we went 9-1 and got a lot of publicity. It was so much fun winning pretty meaningless games, and getting more press time than the local teams that have been doing it for years and years. I can still remember getting interviewed by the local sports news team and saying something dumb like "I love the smell of football" while all my friends were laughing behind the camera. Good times.

My senior year was just as good, if not better. We didn't win as many games, but the games finally had meaning. We were in a league, and the games mattered. We finished 7-3 I believe, and broke 13 Maryland state passing/receiving records (look them up... I'm sure some of them still hold).

The last game I played out of my mind. I was so pumped up for the crowd, and it was senior night, my last night under those lights... I don't know. Everything just clicked. That game I caught 10 passes for 190 yards and 3 touchdowns and led the team in tackles. It was silly. I ended up playing one year of football at Catholic University, and then transferred out to never play again. Although... I think I'll probably try our for the Skins this season....

I never played organized for dubious medical reasons. I think my parents were just scared to let me play. I was a little small but I think I would have been a half decent rec league player. I resent my a parent's little for not letting me play. Plus I came from a baseball town so I played that into high school.

Now as far as pickup I have played a ton since about 4th grade. I have no idea why I wasn't allowed to play organized ball where we had pads and rules but it was fine for me to play backyard football where we basically just tried to kill each other.

My best moments mostly came from freshmen year in college. We had a bunch of organized teams based on our dorm halls in the dorm area where I lived. Our floor started the idea and we took on any comers. Most of the teams had decent talent. we went 14-15 deep and every team had at least 5-6 guys who had played varsity in high scool. I played mostly slot and a little half back on offense. On defense I played nickleback, which meant I played every down since teams always ran 3 wides. My best moment came on a corner blitz that I called covering the outside WR on the weak side. I hand signaled(behind my back) our free safety to press the WR and on the snap I took off for the QB totally free. I absolulety destroyed the poor guy who was somewhat bigger than me. I hit him as he went to throw, he never saw it coming and the ball popped up in the air where our RA playing DE caught it returned it for a TD. It was the kind of hit I KNOW the guy remembers. It was one of the stories we talked about in college a lot. Most of our good stories were about freshmen year football, flag football or being drunk.

Played ever sense I could play all the way through my freshmen year in HS. My freshmen year I played end but it was 99.9% as a blocker and only had one pass come my way and thats the funny part. Finally with a few minutes left in a game the coach called my number to go out for a pass and catch the other team off guard. Well it worked and I took off up the field and was running as fast as I could (thats not very fast) when I see the ball flying my way. I reach out and pull in the pass and I get nailed. All I remember is the guys laughing getting me up a congratulating me on the TD. I then asked who the heck hit me and the guy looked over and said "Dumb a$$, you ran into the goal post".

Was that before they moved the goal posts back?

Was that before they moved the goal posts back?
No I'm not that old but it was about 3 feet out of the end zone and was unpadded. I was just so pumped to finally have a pass come my way I did not see it. I guess that why a missed the naked bear doing the moon walk yesterday.

I started the first year I was eligible, first grade, no clue what I was doing, getting creamed all of the time. From second through 4th grade I was offensive and defensive lineman of the year each year. Fifth and sixth grade we had moved and I didn't really get to play. Came back and played 7th grade, mostly on line again but linebacker as well, unfortunately after being gone 2 years I was a lil rusty at the beginning and didn't get a chance to start, though looking back I definitely should've at least after the first game or two.

Had a really messed up home and couldn't play in HS at all, after showing up to practice everyday of 8th grade with a broken ankle, determined to learn the new offense. Oh well.

I did get to wrestle in HS though and was all-state