Garfield Despacito Jr
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 Despacito Jr. playing for UBC in 2034 | |||||||||
| No. 33 – Myrtle Beach Buccaneers | |||||||||
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| Position: | Wide Receiver | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | February 9, 2016 (aged 47) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | ||||||||
| Height: | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 185 lb (84 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| College: | University of British Columbia | ||||||||
| DSFL Draft: | 2016 / Round: 10 / Pick: 79 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Roster status: | Active | ||||||||
| Career DSFL statistics | |||||||||
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Garfield Despacito Jr (born February 9, 2016) is an American football wide receiver for the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers of the Developmental Simulation Football League (DSFL).
Contents
Early years
Despacito Jr. is born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he has grown up playing football from a young age. He is the son of former offensive lineman Garfield Despacito, who played a few seasons with the Norfolk Seawolves before retiring the same season Despacito Jr. declared draft eligibility. Showing great promise at a young age as a receiver in high school football, Despacito Jr. received a scholarship from the University of British Columbia to join their team as a Wide Receiver. Despite his father being a large physical player who operated in the trenches, Despacito Jr. did not follow in his father's footsteps, and has made his name as a lanky wide receiver who uses his speed and agility to outmaneuver opposition defensive players.His height and freakishly athletic build had gained tons of attention from scouts all throughout North America as everybody wanted to get this young man on their team. It got to the point at which even soccer teams were making offers to Garfield, as London-based Tottenham Hotspur reportedly made an offer for him to join their Youth Squad.
College career
Despacito Jr. immediately slotted into the lineup for the University of British Columbia, rotating into their lineup not long after joining due to impressing the coaching staff there with his speed. One member of the coaching staff was quoted as saying "Garfield really blows me away with how quick on his feet he is; he really forces defensive players to be sharp and alert and it makes him a huge danger. He can really make it at the highest level if he plays to that strength". Despite this strength, Despacito Jr. had issues with catching the ball, struggling to receive passes on many occasions hroughout the season. He was later on in his UBC career alleged to have attitude issues in training and found himself on the outside looking in during the season. In the middle of the season, he left UBC and declared himself available for pickup on waivers as a temporary free agent ahead of the S21 DSFL Entry Draft.
College career statistics
Use this page to get the stats table template.
Professional career
DSFL career
After leaving university to declare eligibility for the DSFL, Despacito Jr. was claimed almost immediately by the Kansas City Coyotes. He did not have much involvement for the Coyotes that season, mostly just being involved in training sessions along with some late minutes in games. In his limited appearance in Kansas' playoff game against the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers, Despacito Jr. took two penalties and was considered largely unimpressive. As someone considered a borderline prospect for the DSFL who would be drafted late, Despacito Jr. was ironically taken in the 10th round, 79th overall by the Buccaneers, and is currently playing in Myrtle Beach. 6 games into the season, Despacito Jr. had 3 catches for 17 yards, and an impressive 2 touchdowns. The staff at Myrtle Beach expressed pleasant surprise at Despacito Jr.'s impact despite being a late pick, with one coach saying "Garfield has been making great strides so far and improving on his weaknesses while also being a great guy off the field. He really seems to be a steal for us as a 10th rounder". Despacito Jr. finished his actual rookie campaign for the Buccaneers with 13 receptions for 147 yards playing in an auxiliary role for a strong Myrtle Beach offense. He didn't play any games as an out-and-out starter for any of the games in the regular season or playoffs, but was content playing a backup role, understanding that Heath Evans, Alyx Sabor and Leeroy Jenkins were better options at the time: "I understand that [Evans, Sabor and Jenkins] are playing ahead of me and I respect it; I'm just going to keep at it and keep working hard so I can try to earn more time this season, and hopefully earn a starting spot for next one".
In Season 22, Despacito Jr. grew into a much more important role in Myrtle Beach, being employed this time as the main wide receiver for the team after the departures of Heath Evans and Alyx Sabor. A huge rise in responsibility for the youngster after being drafted to the NSFL that same offseason, he definitely delivered what Buccaneers management were hoping to see out of him. In the very first game of Myrtle Beach's season, Despacito Jr. made a touchdown catch in a 34-0 win over the Portland Pythons. In their second game, he had another great performance, making two touchdown catches in the first half against the Dallas Birddogs in a 26-6 win. Although he slowed down after that and had a bit of a barren stretch in the season, Despacito Jr. still had what was a great season on a Myrtle Beach team that surprisingly underperformed on the season, finishing with a 7-7 record and missing the playoffs. Despacito Jr. finished the season firstly tying for the league lead in receiving touchdowns with seven, massively improving on his S21 tally of just two. He was 9th in total receiving yards with 630 yards, an improvement of almost 500 yards on his previous numbers, and his total receptions almost quadrupled in number, showing how much more important he was to the team's offense on the season. Despacito Jr. revealed after the season that despite some numbers putting him near the league elite for juniors, that he would likely be staying down in Myrtle Beach in S23, stating that he felt he still had some development to do before feeling NSFL ready.
NSFL career
Considered a mid-range prospect in a deep class full of talent in the wide receiver position, Despacito Jr. had very good talks with the Orange County Otters during routine scouting sessions, and in a bit of a cryptic pre-draft message, appeared to indicate that the Otters were the team he most wanted to play for. Sure enough, Despacito Jr. was drafted 70th overall to Orange County, in the 6th round. He described the draft outcome as a "dream come true", also adding that it was great to get drafted to the same team as off-field friend and tight end Jeffrey Phillips, who was the Otters' first round pick in the same draft.
Controversies
Despacito Jr. was involved in a scandal that saw newly-hired Myrtle Beach Co-General Manager jeffie43 fired over a charge of alleged tampering of Despacito Jr. Despacito Jr. was vocal against the decision, stating that he initiated all contact and that jeffie43 did not encourage him to do anything, but after the appeal of the initial punishment was rejected, the case was laid to rest.
Professional career statistics
| Receiving | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | GP | Rec | Yds | Avg | Long | TD |
| 2035 (S20) | Coyotes | 4 | 3 | 46 | 15.3 | 19 | 0 |
| 2036 (S21) | Buccaneers | 14 | 13 | 147 | 11.3 | 22 | 2 |
| 2037 (S22) | Buccaneers | 14 | 48 | 630 | 13.1 | 34 | 7 |
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