DRAWKLAND NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM (GRID CORPS)
World Bowl XXX Champions
World Bowl XXXV Champions
Name: Grid Corps
Colors: Black with Crimson trim
Denonyms: Drawkian or Drawkish, personal preference
FIFTEENTH World Bowl, Rank #7
Manager: Sam Willis
Head Coach: Quentin Averfel
Coordinators:
[O] Alex Gerhardt
[D] Mathis Southers
[ST] George Lindholm
The former champions of the World Bowl (XXX and XXXV), and current pathetic lame runners-up (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XLI), the Grid Corps are back at it again and ready to rough up everyone on their way to the playoffs, maybe. Then they'll take a really hilariously pathetic L.
ROSTER / DEPTH CHART
Here's the roster containing the names, numbers, and notes for each player. Players are listed in depth chart order.
After last World Bowl, a vast majority of the roster elected to retire from World Bowl play, as they'd been around for like a billion years. Most of the players here are young, being standout rookies or even some players still in college. Expect some growing pains. The holdovers from the previous squads (Beck, Hoy, Cross) are the captains as well as the ones expected to lead the team in pretty much every way.
As far as player rotation goes, generally the starters will go the entire match unless cases of injury or fatigue, obviously. Now-veteran QB Dustin Beck will play the whole game unless he's injured. There are currently no plans to have a two-QB system like there was before. At halfback, Jack Hoy will go for most of the game, but expect the next fellas on the depth chart to receive more snaps than they would've in previous WBs. Starting linemen will generally play the whole game. Defensively, the secondary will shuffle after the half on occasion. Some of the front 7 will shuffle as well, but generally Cross will always be in. Punters generally trade off punts. Watts always kicks field goals and Stig always does kickoffs.
OFFENSE
# NAME NOTES
QB
4 Dustin Beck Established veteran player. Dual threat QB. Great power, fast and elusive. Accuracy to be desired.
5 Tino Sutton Elite pocket passer. Has trouble escaping the pocket, but without pressure he's infallible.
1 Nick Parks Sadeg State QB, NSCF champion. Dual threat, but not as talented as his predecessor Beck.
HB
49 Jack Hoy Veteran talent. Small, fast, elusive. Can be unstoppable. Decent hands. Open field wonder.
20 Matt Adams Often hailed as "the next Hoy" thanks to his skillset. Has experience as a QB in college.
23 Avery Barrett Power back, mainly used on 3rd down or on the goalline. Fumbles very infrequently.
FB
42 Jeffrey Mitchell One of Drawkland's few actually utilized fullbacks. Speedy, reliable, and can lay defenders out.
22 Proko* Primarily a Strong Safety. Used in trick plays or stacked backfield formations. Good hands/carrying.
WR
84 Preston Sawyer Very fast, soft hands, shifty, overall great target. Biggest "weakness" would be route running.
16 Jackie Morris Top tier route runner. Great timing and hands, great at sideline catches, but average speed.
11 Abram Navis Recent Sadeg State graduate. Small frame, but very speedy and shifty. Loves a flashy catch.
84 Donovan Hugo Excellent in the slot, but can take snaps anywhere. The fastest on the lineup.
85 Ramsay Gallo Excels in the underneath routes and in high traffic. Converted from TE. Good at run blocking.
TE
87 Quinn Conrad Very good hands. Great on corner and out routes. Decent blocking. Good in the open field.
88 Riley Hoyt Decent receiving skills but primarily a blocking TE.
44 Johnathan Kimbrough Cavsar TE. Young but incredibly talented. Amazing hands, decent speed at TE, gets open often.
LT
75 Dermot Byrne Pass blocking officiando. Excellent communication and execution.
73 Major Hathaway Best in the run game and on the goalline. Extremely disciplined, lowest penalty rate in league.
LG
66 Walter Bernard Neutralizes the best pass rushers, but leaves a bit to be desired in the run game.
60 George Fulton Excels at stopping the blitz. Seems to create a wall around his general area.
C
57 Tucker Cuocco One of the highest football IQs ever seen. Excellent communicator, born leader. Perfect snaps.
50 Lenny Black Starting long snapper. Will rarely play at center unless Cuocco's injured.
RG
64 Paul Emerson Handles double pressure very well. Good team player, opens running lanes with ease.
69 Ozzy Davis Previous experience at defensive line. Good at predicting the defensive moves. High tier blocker.
RT
75 Joyner Winfield Best rookie run blocker in Drawkland. Great speed for a lineman, gives downfield help if possible.
74 Daren Ellsworth Ideally a run blocker, but pass blocks well. Good at opening lanes for pocket escapes.
DEFENSE
# NAME NOTES
LE
97 Evan Wimbley Power pass rusher. Large for a Drawkian, carries an imposing presence and outmuscles linemen.
90 Jordan Sander Finesse type rusher. Doesn't have stamina to play every snap, but often gets his way when he's in.
DT
92 McClain Hartwell Nose tackle in 3-4 formations, anchors the line in 4-3. Good stamina and great moves.
95 Nolan Parrish Often gets the nod in 4-3. Large presence and frame, uses muscle rather than finesse.
99 Madison Moulon One of the best tackles in the business, pure strength. Lacks penalty discipline, however.
RE
77 Leo Cross Old veteran, but still monstrous. Relentless, tireless, strong. Impossible to contain for long.
79 Mike Mikari Cavsar senior, but nearly guaranteed to be a successful pro. Great strength, great moves.
LOLB
54 Travis Holt Sometimes found on the line in 4-3. Good at blitzing and pass rush, but excels in the run game.
52 Liam Stilo Good coverage skills. Best lining up against tight ends for coverage or pass rush.
MLB
95 Amaro Hackett Excels against the run, the pass, and rushing. Selfless and always plays until the whistle.
91 Harvey Donovan Corps Veteran. Talented across the board (coverage, blitzing, run defense), just lacks stamina.
55 Kosta Gray Run defense specialist. Coverage and rushing are decent, but his job is to take down the runner.
ROLB
41 Stan Jefferson Best cover linebacker in the game right now. Speedy, can even match with some wideouts.
40 Felix Delgado Not super flashy player, but makes all the right moves. Sucks up blocks, selfless.
CB
25 Zeke Kyro Cruz Matches against any wideout. Fights for ball. Plays all over the field but prefers 1-on-1 play.
33 Daniel Ericson Best tackler among the Corps corners. Few interceptions, many pass breakups.
30 Walker Torre Great nickel corner. Speediest of the bunch. Solid blitzer, and good at limiting RAC.
36 Paul Gore Recent Sadeg State graduate. First CB pick in the draft. Has the full skillset, just young.
39 Matty Mason Best corner blitzer around. Don't discount his coverage skills, though, he's lethal.
SS
24 Richard Brown Gets after the ballcarrier with relentless efficiency. Hard hitter, feared by all.
22 Prokopios Vortigern Roijakkers The defensive "swiss army knife." College player in his first year at Cold Hill.
FS
21 Ivan Arkwright Ballhawk supreme. Lurks like a tiger hunting its prey. Prefers zone coverage above all.
27 Phoenix Keye Coverall guy. Excels in man or zone or even an occasional blitz. Never burnt deep.
SPECIAL TEAMS
# NAME NOTES
K
3 David Merit Extremely accurate, ice in his veins, and he's only a second-year player. Generational placekicker.
1 Dale Hampton Biggest leg in Drawkland, and you know that's big. Used for kickoffs, accuracy needs improvement.
P
8 Jared Flan Best finesse punter in years. Good boot, but almost always lands the ball right where he wants it.
1 Dale Hampton ^
LS
50 Lenny Black ^
H
8 Jared Flan ^
KR/PR
0 Ozzy Otten Cavsar's dedicated return man. Zippy, great vision, excellent agility, and 100 yard sprint stamina.
49 Jack Hoy ^ Now the backup or second return man.
STRATEGY
The name of the game for the Grid Corps is aggression and power.
The offense of the Grid Corps is balanced, splitting up responsibilities for yardage between running and passing plays. None is really favored over the other, since everybody on the team is good, but in crunch time situations, they're likely to pass more than run (although running is still used to keep the defense honest). The base formation is the shotgun, although the I, pistol, and sometimes singleback are still common. Most shotgun plays are run from a single RB set, although having a FB or another RB in the backfield isn't out of the ordinary. The most common personnel is RB-TE-WR-WR-WR, but the Corps is willing to mix any amount of personnel thanks to the depth and skill at their disposal.
Most running plays are either inside the tackles or just outside them. Stretch runs are rare unless the blocking is on point, or the opposing defense can't stop them. Zone running and power running are evenly split. Fullback-led runs are also very common, especially on third down and in the red zone. A very common play is a triple option out of the I formation: it could be a fullback handoff, a halfback pitch, or a quarterback keeper. The Wildcat formation always shows up a couple times a game, especially if the opposing defense is stumped. Passing plays have a lot of elements, not necessarily a vertical offense but not necessarily a conservative one either. Balls-out deep plays are rare, they're no stranger to going deep, but the OC prefers to run posts or double moves than straight fly routes. Deep routes are thrown relatively often to keep the defense honest thanks to the incredible QB and WR talent available. When the game is tight, the Corps is excellent at the hurry-up offense, having a deep playbook to constantly keep the defense off guard.
The defense is also aggressive. Blitzing is very, very common, as the defense is fearless. Even on non-blitz plays, the defensive linemen go all out, and if a player's zone is totally empty, they'll start rushing to the pocket (for better or worse). Man blitzes on first down are a regularity, but you likely won't see more than 3 non-linemen blitzing on a play (unless it's goalline, of course). When an opposing offense is stuck inside the five, the Corps will likely come out with everyone except the defensive backs blitzing. Scoring safeties are the pride of the Grid Corps, and thus they'll go for it as much as possible. They'll also pack the line on the other goalline inside the five, but if a team is 3rd/4th and Goal outside of the 7 or 8, they're likely to just pack the end zone with as many defensive backs as possible. When not in goalline formation, they'll usually opt for a 4-man rush. 4-3 and Nickel defenses are Corps staples, unless the situation calls for a change in strategy (obviously). The Corps runs both man and zone evenly, but prefers Cover 2 man. Usually they'll start with man coverage until the team they're playing shows proficiency in beating man, then they'll switch to zone with man and the trademark blitzes thrown in. Blitzes themselves are commonly done by the linebackers, corner and safety blitzes are highly unlikely as the Defensive Coordinator doesn't like bringing guys out of the secondary. Zone blitzes on crucial third downs have been known to happen. In all, they aren't afraid to take chances in big spots and bring pressure.
Special teams for the Grid Corps is hallmarked by fake plays. Whether it's a misleading kick return (moving all the blockers to the opposite side of the field from where the ball is going), lateral returns even when the game doesn't depend on it, passes or runs from special teams formations, or even simply pretending to fumble the ball to pull rushers out of their lanes, the Corps practices it all. In addition, the defensive special teams is highly aggressive. Rushing on punt returns, super fast kick blocks, or even line hurdling to block kicks. This is made much easier by the physiology of the Corps of course. David Merit will always do placekicks, Dale Hampton will always do kickoffs, and Jared Flan will always punt, unless injuries occur.
The Corps almost exclusively opts for two-points conversions for their first few touchdowns. In a blowout win, they'll likely shift to normal PATs after the half. Don't be surprised to see fake PATs to try and get the 2PC. The playbook is deep and the number of dynamic playmakers means that two point conversion plays are well-rehearsed, hence why they're pretty fearless going for it.
PHYSIOLOGY
I recommend you read this. It contains important information on how Drawkians are different from your average human. In a nutshell, they're over 7 feet tall on average, and have larger proportions to match. Now, they're also lankier and less stocky all-around, but that doesn't mean some like a D-tackle can't get thick and muscular, it's not just not the average build. Now, this may conflict with some of your RPing preferences or make it harder to RP about us, so you're totally free to just ignore that and pretend we're the same as humans. That's totally your call, and I don't mind it either way.
VENUE
For group stage home games, Drawkland will be playing in Metro Arena, the 150,000 seat indoor gridiron stadium in the heart of Metropolon, Drawkland's capital.
PERMISSIONS
My opponent, if they RP first, may do the following:
Choose my Scorers: Yes.
Choose Scoring Events: Yes.
Godmod Scoring Events: Hell yes.
RP Injuries to my Players: To an extent.
Godmod Injuries to my Players: Fine if it's funny or serves a story.
Godmod Other Events: Ditto ^
Style Modifier: +4.5
As far as these go, do anything except kill or brutally injure my major starters. Other than that, free reign. TG or Discord DM if you want to collab.
