King Bronko
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| No. 17 – Retired | |
|---|---|
| Position: | Quarterback |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | June 9, 1997 (aged 63) Mogadishu, Somalia |
| Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Weight: | 260 lb (118 kg) |
| Username: | ADwyer87 |
| Career information | |
| College: | Baylor University |
| Career history | |
| Roster status: | Retired |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
King Bronko (born June 9, 1997) was an american football quarterback who played professional football for the Arizona Outlaws from 2016 (S1) to 2023 (S8). He played Wide Receiver at Baylor University for two seasons before declaring for the NSFL and bypassing the 2016 ISFL Draft (S1) and signing with the Outlaws. He quickly switched positions to quarterback and became a talented player of the early NSFL.
Contents
Early Years
King Bronko was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, to a family about middle class. Their only son, King, was treated like royalty by his parents, reflecting the name. Bronko had almost everything he could ask for, but his true calling spoke to him when he saw a local Somali rugby team playing in his part of town. He became a stud rugby player, and as he started to fill out, even garnered attention from college football scouts. Baylor football coach Art Briles approached King Bronko about coming to America to his college and redshirting for a year to learn how to play the American style. He gladly accepted, and flew off to Waco, Texas in search of new opportunities.
College Career
College ball was an easy transition for Bronko. He had natural speed and great hands, he just had to learn the technicalities of the game. His speed made his coach consider him at running back, but his grasp of route running and hands impressed more than his ability to power through the line, and Briles decided to put him at wide receiver along with Josh Garden. Bronko and Garden became an elite wide receiver combo, and a nightmare for opposing secondaries. In his redshirt sophomore season, Bronko surpassed 1,000 receiving yards, a major accomplishment for the man's first organized professional season. In his second season he was a monster, getting almost 20 receiving TDs and emerging as a top option. Many people hoped Bronko would stay longer, but he wished to follow his friend Garden to the new upstart NSFL.
College Career Statistics
| Career statistics | Receiving | Rushing | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | Class | Games | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | Att | Yds | Avg | TD |
| 2013 | Baylor | Fr | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2014 | Baylor | Fr(RS) | 10 | 64 | 1119 | 17.5 | 11 | 11 | 53 | 4.8 | 1 |
| 2015 | Baylor | So(RS) | 12 | 74 | 1363 | 18.4 | 20 | 22 | 111 | 5.0 | 0 |
NSFL Career
The pros were not quite a seamless transition for Bronko. As part of a great receiver trio of Lincoln Jefferson, Stormblessed, and himself, Bronko failed to make a huge impact, and regularly found himself as the WR3. However, Bronko found his chance when the team management was fed up with starting quarterback Vincent Draxel skipping out on practices, and they began training Bronko to replace him next season. He was a natural, and seamlessly transitioned to the position. In his two starts at the end of blowout games, he went 11-for-13 for 105 yards and a touchdown. One of these blowout games, however, was Ultimus Bowl I.
After that Bronko quickly established himself as one of the top quarterbacks in the league and set himself apart with his elite gunslinging prowess. While he played second fiddle to Mike Boss of rival Orange County Otters in overall stats, he regularly kept up with him in terms of per attempt stats. The Outlaws rolled their way to three straight Ultimus victories to start off the NSFL.
2019 (S4) and 2020 (S5) were Bronko's crowning achievements in individual stats. He put up nearly ten thousand yards and set the record for most touchdowns in a season. He even was able to score his first rushing touchdown! However, the Outlaws were not able to get back to the Ultimus Bowl and were bounced by Orange County in the ASFC Conference Championship both times.
In 2021 (S6) and 2022 (S7) Bronko got into a funk. In 2021 (S6), he failed to hit 4,000 yards, and posted his worst TD/INT ratio since his first full season at quarterback, as Arizona failed to make the playoffs for the first time in league history. The start of the following season was miserable for Bronko AND the Outlaws, but at the end of the season Bronko finally got his mojo back, was able to pass 4,000 yards, and pulled Zona to a 3-1 record after the trade deadline to sneak into the playoffs. While they were bounced, Bronko played a good game, and just them making it there was a big accomplishment.
In 2023 (S8), Bronko began to feel a little creaky in his knees, and contemplated retirement. However, Arizona lured him out of retirement and to sign one last deal with the team. He worked in an offense heavily based around the run, but Bronko made his last season a memorable one. With the most inexperienced receiving core in the league, Bronko had an incredible season, breaking the single-season completion record, and tying his career low for interceptions, despite throwing over 100 more passes than when he originally set that low. Despite the Outlaws missing the playoffs, it was a great way to go out.
In 2024, Bronko made it clear he planned to retire, but that didn't stop GMs from trying to lure him away from the pasture. Arizona, Philadelphia, Colorado, Yellowknife, and San Jose all offered him contracts, with the Liberty making the hardest push for him, but he refused them all and retired in his Arizona condo.
Professional Regular Season Career Statistics
| Career statistics | Passing | Rushing | Receiving | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | Games | Att | Comp | Pct | Yds | TD | INT | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD |
| 2016 (S1) | Arizona Outlaws | 11 | 8 | 7 | 87.5% | 71 | 0 | 0 | 103.6 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 35 | 400 | 11.4 | 3 |
| 2017 (S2) | Arizona Outlaws | 14 | 518 | 285 | 55.0% | 3130 | 25 | 15 | 77.1 | 10 | 25 | 2.5 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2018 (S3) | Arizona Outlaws | 14 | 495 | 289 | 58.4% | 3650 | 25 | 8 | 91.6 | 16 | 27 | 1.7 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2019 (S4) | Arizona Outlaws | 14 | 628 | 371 | 59.1% | 4719 | 35 | 13 | 92.6 | 15 | 45 | 3.0 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2020 (S5) | Arizona Outlaws | 14 | 606 | 347 | 57.3% | 5000 | 44 | 18 | 96.0 | 5 | 25 | 5.0 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2021 (S6) | Arizona Outlaws | 14 | 547 | 319 | 58.3% | 3918 | 26 | 14 | 86.2 | 23 | 141 | 6.1 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2022 (S7) | Arizona Outlaws | 14 | 535 | 311 | 58.1% | 4165 | 23 | 16 | 84.8 | 19 | 88 | 4.6 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2023 (S8) | Arizona Outlaws | 14 | 608 | 412 | 67.8% | 3937 | 27 | 8 | 94.9 | 16 | 60 | 3.8 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Professional Playoff Career Statistics
| Career statistics | Passing | Rushing | Receiving | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | Games | Att | Comp | Pct | Yds | TD | INT | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD |
| 2016 (S1) | Arizona Outlaws | 1 | 5 | 4 | 80.0% | 34 | 1 | 0 | 134.6 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2017 (S2) | Arizona Outlaws | 2 | 73 | 41 | 56.2% | 509 | 2 | 3 | 69.9 | 4 | -2 | -0.5 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2018 (S3) | Arizona Outlaws | 2 | 86 | 46 | 53.5% | 593 | 5 | 1 | 89.9 | 3 | 8 | 2.7 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2019 (S4) | Arizona Outlaws | 1 | 45 | 23 | 51.1% | 308 | 1 | 2 | 62.1 | 2 | 1 | 0.5 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2020 (S5) | Arizona Outlaws | 1 | 39 | 21 | 53.8% | 262 | 0 | 1 | 64.3 | 2 | 11 | 5.5 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2022 (S7) | Arizona Outlaws | 1 | 36 | 21 | 58.3% | 232 | 2 | 0 | 96.1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Achievements and Records
Awards
- Team
- Ultimus Champion (3): 2016 (S1), 2017 (S2), 2018 (S3)
- ASFC Champion (3): 2016 (S1), 2017 (S2), 2018 (S3)
- Individual
- NSFL Top Performance of the Year (1): 2017 (S2)
- NSFL Pro Bowl Selection (5): 2017 , 2018 , 2019 , 2020 , 2022
NSFL records
- 2016; Set NSFL record for highest passer rating in the playoffs (134.6)
- 2017; Set new NSFL record for most touchdowns in a game (6; Week 10 vs San Jose Sabercats)
- 2020; Set new NSFL record for most touchdowns in a season (44)
- 2023; Set new NSFL record for highest completion percentage in a season (67.8%)
