Mike Gesicki

Mike Gesicki

Mike Gesicki was drafted 44th overall by the Berlin Fire Salamanders in S43
No. 81 – Portland Pythons
Position:	Tight End
Personal information
Born:	(2033-15-04)March 4, 2033 (aged 27) Columbia Heights, D. C., U.S.
Height:	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Weight:	255 lb (116 kg)
Career information
High school:	West Potomac
College:	Penn State University
Career history
Roster status:	Active

Mike Gesicki (born March 4, 2034) is an American football tight end for the Portland Pythons of the Developmental Simulation Football League (DSFL).

Early years

Mike Gesicki was born in DC, with pretty well off parents. His dad was a banker and his mom worked part time as a chef. Even with their unique backgrounds, both parents shared a love for football, with Gesicki's dad being a solid TE for JMU in college. Around the age of 12, he joined his first organized football league and fell in love immediately with the game. At the pop warner level, Gesicki messed around and tried a lot of positions, finally deciding on TE, with it's unique skillset and his fathers legacy. He went to West Potomac High School in D.C. He by his sophomore year he was already on varsity, getting solid playing time. He became the start in his junior year and was pretty average. It was his final year where he really took off, catching 45 passes for 700 yards and 2 touchdowns. After this impressive season, he turned down offers from JMU and Old Dominion to go play for James Franklin and Penn State.

College career

Everything was different at Penn State. Everyone was bigger, stronger, faster. Luckily, in between committing and attending Penn State Gesicki had a growth spurt, reaching 6'6. This made him one of the taller players on the team. After arriving at Penn State, he soon redshirted his first year with little potential for playing time. This continued as a redshirt freshman, with only about 30 snaps and 3 catches to his name. The team also had limited success, going 8-5 and losing their bowl game. In his sophomore season Gesicki was put into the TE 2 spot, and he received significant playing time. He had a solid year with 23 catches, 287 yards, and his first college touchdown. The team had a better year with a new QB and went 10-3, barely missing an NY6 bowl game and finishing ranked 13th. By the time his junior season started he had become the starting TE. He had a good year that flashed potential, with 35 catches for 427 yards and 3 touchdowns. The team had their best season in years, going 11-2 and winning a Rose Bowl. Gesicki finally had his breakout season as a senior, making 1st-team all-conference and 2nd-team all-American with 58 catches, 706 yards, and 7 touchdowns in the regular season. The personal success contributed to PSU making the playoffs at 12-1 as a 4 seed with a Big 10 championship ring. In the playoff game against Miami Penn State lost on a game-winning field goal as time expired, ending Gesicki's career with a 2 touchdown performance but a loss.

College career statistics

Career statistics			Receiving
Season	Team	Games	Rec	Yards	Avg	Lg	TD
2052 (S37)	PSU	3	3	25	8.3	12	0
2053 (S38)	PSU	13	23	287	12.5	35	1
2054 (S39)	PSU	13	35	427	12.2	42	3
2055 (S40)	PSU	14	72	972	13.5	76	9

DSFL Career

Pre-draft measurables

Ht	Wt	40‑yd dash	20‑ss	3‑cone	Vert jump	Broad
6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	255 lb (116 kg)

S41

In Mike Gesicki's first season in the DSFL he was drafted 34th overall in the 4th round by the Portland Pythons. He was very excited to be on his first professional team, especially a good one with a really good QB in Donovan Winters. The season didn't start off well, with the Pythons losing their first two games, especially a 34-7 blowout loss against the Coyotes in week 2. Despite this, there was some personal success with Gesicki catching his first (and only) touchdown of the season on 4 catches for 12 yards. At about the halfway point through the season the Pythons were at 3-4 with a chance to break into the playoff race. The Pythons then proceeded to lose 62-9 and almost fall out of the playoff race. They soon recovered with a 3-game win streak, but going 1-2 the rest of the season meant that the Pythons missed the playoffs at 7-7. Gesicki finished the year with 57 catches for 413 yards and 1 touchdown.

S42

The Portland Pythons had just lost their starting QB to the ISFL, so rookie Jay Cue the 3rd took over and the team was expected to take a step back. Even with a new QB, Gesicki was still expected to take at least a small step up in his sophomore season. Gesicki massively started the season with his best career game in week one vs the Gray Ducks. Gesicki had 6 catches for 137 yards and 3 touchdowns in a big win to start the season. After the big win the team went on a 4-game, 1-score losing streak that put them in a bad spot. The Pythons were able to recover with 2 blowout wins to rebound to 3-4 and contend for a weak division. But after that the train fell off the rails in 5 straight losses to put the Pythons at 3-9 and eliminated them from the playoffs. The team split the last two games to end the year at 4-10 in a disappointing season but with hope for the future.

S43

As Gesicki entered his 3rd year on the Portland Pythons, he saw it as his last chance for DSFL glory before being called up to the big leagues. The Pythons had an incredible DSFL draft, snagging Thor Dangerson, Jordan Bamford, Jamie Orion, and Mattrim Cauthon with the first 3 going in the first round of the ISFL draft, while Cauthon went in the 2nd. These new additions and significant progress from Python QB Jay Cue III led to an explosive offense. With so much competition for targets, Gesicki's numbers took a significant step back, having 86 fewer yards and 21 fewer catches than the year before. But a statistical setback was worth it for the season the Pythons had. A solid foundation with a great draft class allowed the Pythons to explode out of the gate, starting the year 3-0 scoring over 35 PPG. The Pythons did lose to the Luchadores in week 4 but bounced back winning 5 in a row. This left the Pythons at an incredible 8-1 and dominating the league. The domination continued (except for a fluky 35-3 loss to BBB) as the Pythons cruised to 11-3, winning the north and having the best scoring offense and 2nd best defense. The Pythons won their first game in the playoffs, beating the Coyotes 31-14 with Gesicki catching 4 passes for 66 yards and a touchdown. Gesicki was going to the most important game of his life, his first Ultimini appearance. It was never close as the Pythons were up 33-0 at halftime in a 33-10 Ultimini win. Despite Gesicki's quiet game (1 catch for 19 yards), it was great for him to help bring the Ultimini back to Portland.

DSFL Stats

Career statistics			Receiving
Season	Team	Games	Rec	Yards	Avg	Lg	TD
2056 (S41)	Pythons	14	57	413	7.2	27	1
2057 (S42)	Pythons	14	64	563	8.3	52	4
2058 (S43)	Pythons	14	43	477	11.1	47	5

ISFL Career

S44

After Mike Gesicki's successful DSFL career ended in an Ultimini win for the Pythons, it was finally time for the next level. Gesicki had been drafted 44th overall in the 4th round by the Berlin Fire Salamanders way back in S42 but the Fire Salamanders were patient in waiting to let Gesicki into the ISFL. Considering the Fire Salamanders already had a TE and didn't use TEs much in their offense, Gesicki had to change. Gesicki was given a few position options, but eventually decided he would go for an easier transition and a high-value position and officially switched to LB. It was pretty crazy to go from DSFL TE to ISFL LB in one season, but Gesicki was prepared. He worked hard in the offseason to improve at tackling and become as prepared as possible for the ISFL. Gesicki was a little concerned when he didn't play in the preseason, but the Fire Salamanders were making sure an off-season weightlifting injury had healed. Gesicki came in with a very quiet rookie season, only starting 3 games all year in limited action with only 33 tackles and 1 PD all season. The Fire Salamanders also started the season cold with 2 one score losses before rebounding to 2-2. They made it to 4-3 after Gesicki's best career game (5 tackles) in a win over the Wraiths. After losing 3 of their next 4 the Salamanders were 5-6 and clinging to small playoff hopes. They beat the Butchers in week 12 to keep them in the playoff race but then had a crushing loss to the Hawks in week 13 the playoff hopes were small but still there at 6-7. The Fire Salamanders kept their hopes alive with a 24-22 win over Sarasota in week 14 to even their record again but again had another crushing loss as the Yeti destroyed the Salamanders. But even with all of that at 7-8 the Salamanders needed Wraith and Sailfish losses and a win over hapless NOLA. The Fire Salamanders smashed NOLA 57-6 and the Wraiths lost but the Sailfish survived a Yeti comeback to eliminate the Fire Salamanders. Even after the disappointing season, Gesicki was ready to come back and avoid a sophomore slump.

S45

Well, Gesicki didn't have a Sophomore slump, as he started to carve out his place in the league. He got off to a fast start with his first sack of his career coming in week 1 against the Sailfish and kept it up with a sack and forced fumble in a week 2 win against the Crash. This incredible start would taper off pretty quickly, but Gesicki still had some good games. His most notable games were week 7 versus the Yeti with another forced fumble and week 13 with a strip sack and recovery that flashed real potential. But for some reason, Berlin seemed to struggle in games Gesicki played well, with weeks 1,7, and 13 ending in losses. But aside from that, Berlin got off to a fast 3-1 start with every game being decided by one score. As it turns out, The Salamanders were quite streaky and continued the trend with a brutal 4-game losing streak that left them at 3-5 and outside the playoff race. But Berlin refused to give up and won two close games and a blowout to make it back into the playoff race at 6-5. The hot streak ended as soon as it started though with 3 McDummy Jr. TD passes ambushing Berlin's defense in Denver in a 29-21 loss. Even as the Fire Salamanders returned to Berlin, Painted Penguin was still able to throw 2 deep 3rd quarter TDs that put the game out of reach. At 6-7 in a competitive NSFC, it looked like it was over for the Fire Salamanders. But they did everything they could to bounce back, winning the next two to reach 8-7 and a reasonable shot at the playoffs. All they needed was to beat the Sailfish and the Hawks to lose to the Wraiths. Berlin was excellent against the Sailfish, with Gesicki chipping in a sack and 4 tackles in a 28-24 win. But alas, it was not meant to be as the Hawks dispatched the Wraiths with a game-winning TD pass and the Fire Salamanders went to watch the playoffs from the couch again. Despite back to back seasons of barely missing the playoffs, S45 was still a good season as Gesicki cemented his place as a started and potentially a future star for the Fire Salamanders.

S46

S46 was the best season of Gesicki's career so far. All the work in the offseason in the weight room off as Gesicki finally took over the LB1 position for the Fire Salamanders. As Berlin entered the start of a rebuild, Gesicki was able to put up career high numbers. A sack and 5 tackles in week 1 was a great start and week 2 was even better with 8 tackles another sack and his first career TFL. Gesicki had already tied his previous career high in sacks with 4 with a strip sack in week 6 and broke it the following week with 9 tackles and another strip sack. He would also break his career high for tackles in a game with 12 against the Sailfish in week 9. The promise of last season had been realized as Gesicki capped off this wonderful year with his career best game against the Hahalua in week 16, putting up 10 tackles, a sack, a pass deflection, and his first career interception which he returned all the way to the house. He also set a franchise record with 2 tackles in the 4th quarter, beating Fred Edisons 133 with his 134th and 135th tackles, placing Gesicki in the Berlin record books and 3rd in the league in tackles. Despite Gesicki's breakout, the Fire Salamanders needed to begin their rebuild and that led to an expected bad season. A 3-3 start gave the illusion of hope before a 6 game losing streak eliminated Berlin from the playoffs. The rushing offense and rushing defense struggled as Berlin pulled into the finish line with a 5-11 record and the 3rd overall pick.

ISFL Stats

Career statistics			Defense
Season	Team	Games	Tck	TFL	FF/FR	Sck	Int	PD	Sfty	TD	Blk P/XP/FG
2059 (S44)	Fire Salamanders	16	33	0	0/0	0	0	1	0	0	0/0/0
2060 (S45)	Fire Salamanders	16	45	0	3/1	4	0	6	0	0	0/0/0
2061 (S46)	Fire Salamanders	16	135	5	2/2	12	1	7	0	1	0/0/0

Achievements and records

Use this section as an example.

Awards

Team

• Ultimini Champion (1): 2058 (S43) (XLIII)

Individual

• DSFL Pro Bowl Selection (1): 2057 ,

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