Sam the Onion Man

Sam

No. 3 – Retired
Position:	Wide Receiver
Personal information
Born:	(2019-05-12)May 12, 2019 (aged 42) Green Lake, Texas, U.S.
Height:	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight:	205 lb (93 kg)
Username:	Duilio05
Career information
High school:	Green Lake Elementary
ISFL Draft:	2043 / Round: 2 / Pick: 23
DSFL Draft:	2042 / Round: 5 / Pick: 37
Career history
SeawolvesOttersHahaluaHawksCopperheadsSabercatsFire Salamanders
Roster status:	Retired
Career highlights and awards
2048 (S33) Ultimus
Player stats at ISFL.net

Sam the Onion Man (born May 12, 2019) is an American football wide receiver entering his 7th season playing in the International Simulation Football League. Despite not playing in college, Sam has proven to be a reliable WR and even help the Baltimore Hawks win S33 Ultimus.

Early years

Sam grew up in Green Lake, Texas where he was also born. He attended the only school in town, Green Lake School, an elementary, a total of 27 other students attended the school. Being a small school there wasn't a lot of sports activities. So much of his time outside of class was learning from his pop different craft skills, especially woodworking. He would help fix wagon wheels, oxen harness, even build himself a boat that Sam uses almost every day to row across Green Lake and back. He grew up with several siblings and helps care for all of them. His favorite thing to eat was peaches, the town doesn't get peaches often, but when the local market does Sam is always buying as many as the store will allow him to. Sam's best friend is his mule Mary Lou who he claims is over 100 years old because he feeds her a diet of onions

College career

Sam didn't attend college, instead, he stayed in Green Lake and became an onion merchant and a fine craftsman after finishing his schooling at Green Lake School. He has helped people around town fix so many problems that he has coined the phrase "I can fix that." He additionally claims his onions can solve any health problem: hair loss, acne, stomach problems, etc; he gets his onions from the top of the mountain where water flows uphill which gives the onions special health, healing, and wellness benefits. Sam is entering the DSFL saying that his onions have given him the speed and strength to excel as a wide receiver, and is telling teams that if they are struggling to score TDs, he can fix that. The prospect bowl will be his first time ever playing a full game of football. He has been teaching the kids at Green Lake School how to play and believes they are ready to start playing other schools next season. At the prospect bowl Scouts and coaches alike will attempt to determine if he is naturally gifted or if his onions are just rotten. When asked about his goals entering the league he responded saying, "I want to share my onions with as many teammates as I can."

Professional career

Sam was drafted by Norfolk Seawolves in the 5th round of the 2042 (S27) draft. This was considered a large drop for Sam who showed off flashes of great skill and potential to be the best Wr in the draft. Sam is on record saying, "All those DSFL GMs are cowards for waiting to draft such a good player, even if I have no desire to play more than one season in the DSFL". His time at Norfolk was enjoyable off the field, but dissapointing on the field. The top talent WR was buried on the depth chart behind two other WRs and also competing with 3 Tight Ends and 3 running backs for catches. He caught only 1 TD, and finished with only 572 yards. The as a whole finished the season with a 4-10 record.

Pre-draft measurables

Ht	Wt	40‑yd dash	20‑ss	3‑cone	Vert jump	Broad	BP	Wonderlic
6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	4.38 s	4.01 s	6.86 s	32.2 in (0.82 m)	10 ft 10.3 in (3.31 m)	15 reps	20
ISFL S28 Combine, 3rd in Vert, 2nd in Broad, 2nd in Shuttle, 1st in Cone

Sam was drafted in the second round by OCO. This was perceived to be a decently large drop, again, for the wide receiver as many mock drafts believed he would find himself taken in the first round. Sam has been on record expressing interest in testing Free Agency as soon as his rookie contract was over. Additionally, Sam adamantly desired to be called up and play in the ISFL immediately instead of staying down in the DSFL.

Sam signed a 3 season contract with Orange County. Not much happened for Sam and Orange County during those three seasons. Orange County was mired in indecision to create a playoff caliber team or to completely rebuild, as such the team was stuck finishing in 5th or 4th place in the ASFC. At the end of S30 Sam declined an extension and tested Free Agency. Despite heavy interest from several other teams, Sam returned to OCO believing they were still his best option to play in his first playoff game and to maximize his individual stats. This did not work out as expected.

S31 Orange County finished with a 4-12 record in last place in the ASFC. Sam recorded fewer yards and only 1 TD despite being the team's primary receiver. In comparison, the team he had turned down during Free Agency in favor of returning to OCO, made the playoffs and won the Ultimus. S32 offseason saw Sam leave OCO and sign with HON.

S32 with Honolulu Sam set personal records in yards and touchdowns. However, Sam would again miss out on making the playoffs. Hahalua worked through the first 3 quarters of the season looking like they'd return to the playoffs and even possibly defend their title in the Ultimus. After week 11 Honolulu had a 9-2 record and sat in first place of the ASFC. The next 5 weeks turned dreadful as the team lost all five and resulted in a 9-7 finish for 4th place in the ASFC.

At the end of S32 Sam again entered Free Agency. He decided to take the initiative to contact a few other players that he had a strong desire to play with, who were also available Free Agents for S33 offseason. After some initial conversations, the Free Agency Headlines were shocked when Sam, Busch Goose, and Raeni Clarke announced they were a package deal and would be negotiating with potential teams together. After a week of negotiating with over half of the teams in the league, the three decided to sign together with Baltimore.

Part of Sam's contract with Baltimore for S33 was to allow Sam to decide the color and logo of Baltimore's Color Rush Games. In honor of his role model Walt Green, Sam selected a dark forest green and beige (SA Marshal's scheme) to color an Onion logo.

Based on Individual stats Sam had a down season. He only managed 901 yards and 2 TDs for the season. However, as a team, Baltimore had an incredible season. After their 2047 (S32) season in which the team tied for last in the conference with a 5-11 record, the team won the 2048 (S33) Ultimus. Despite a bumpy ride in the second half that almost derailed the team's playoff aspirations after starting 8-1, they rebounded. Beginning with the Wild Card Round, the Hawks beat Chicago 23-14. In the Conference Championship Baltimore squeezed past Sarasota 30-24. They earned home-field advantage for the Utimus after the red hot Orange County Otters upset heavy favorites Arizona in the ASFC Conference Championship.

The 2048 (S33) Ultimus between Baltimore and Orange County became an instant classic. With the incredible storyline that both teams made the Ultimus after being at the bottom of their conferences just a season before, there was a lot of intrigue and excitement naturally built into S33 Ultimus. OCO came into the game with a lot of momentum having won 8 of their last 9 games. The actual game surpassed expectations. OCO started the game with unparallel efficiency on both sides of the ball. In the first quarter, the otters scored 24 unanswered points thanks to a pick-6 and two fumble recoveries. What seemed to be an easy routing of an unprepared Baltimore team, turned into the greatest comeback in ISFL history. Regaining momentum by scoring 14 points in the 2nd quarter to make it 14 - 24 at half time, Baltimore would finish the game scoring 24 points in the final 13 and half minutes while holding OCO to only 7 points on their final 5 possessions. The final score being 41 - 38 Baltimore.

Sam's individual contributions in the Ultimus included scoring Baltimore's first TD and leading the team in catches for 57 yards.

Entering the S34 offseason Sam again tested Free Agency. He decided to sign with Austin Copperheads. Sam was very intrigued by the experimental 2 quarterback system Austin planned to employ for S34. He thought the idea of potentially catching 2 touchdowns from 2 different quarterbacks in a single game would be a really fun accomplishment. However, the odds of this occurring seemed very slim. Through the offseason scrimmages and practice games with other teams it just never seemed to even come close to occurring. Sam shouldn't have been worried. Week 1 of S34 against Arizona Sam accomplished his goal and caught two touchdowns, one from Daytona and one from Eighty-Two. This was the first time since S03 Week 5 when Rove, Christ & WR Kroetch did it as well. During the season Austin's other two receivers would also accomplish the same feat. However, Sam would do it a second time in Week 16 being the only player in league history to do it twice in one season. While the QBs and WRs were having fun with this experimental offense, they were the 2nd highest scoring offense, the defense was struggling to stop other teams. As such Austin went 7-9 on the season and missed playoffs tied for 5th on ASFC. Sam again chose to test FA in the off season.

San Jose is where Sam moved to for S35. SJS had finished 7-8-1 the season before, a half game short of playoffs. Sam believed joining SJS would give the team the boost needed to make playoffs. Unfortunately, the team only improved by half a win to 8-8, once again being half a game short of making the playoffs. This season also turned out to be the start of Sam's decline as a star wide receiver. Despite catching 3 more catches in S35 than he did in S34, Sam recorded lower yards, average, and touchdowns. The end of season results for Sam and SJS was probably immediately on the wall with the loss to Sam's previous team Austin in week 1. Sam did have an amazing week 7 game against Arizona with 164 yards and 3 TDs. However, the team had many games with only 1 receiving TD, and even more games with zero receiving TDs. Of Sam's 9 TDs that season, 6 of them came in two games.

Sam's second to last season was spent with Berlin for S36 were things got even worse. For S36 Berlin finished with a 2-14 record. It is Sam's worst win record of his career. While it was known Berlin was on a decline, it was not expected to be as bad as it was. Berlin had been a 11-4 and 8-8 team the last two season. The team was unable to score more than 20 points in 10 of their 16 games. Despite this Sam still managed a respectable stat line for the season. He finished 10th in yards, and tied for 14th in TDs. Despite his production, Sam felt his career was near a close during the off season. He was only reached out to by 2 teams and one of the teams gave him the stipulation, "it would depend on who they drafted". San Jose was the other team who reached out to Sam and it was them he decided to spend his last season with.

Deciding S37 would be his last season was hard for Sam to admit. He felt capable for at least another season, but as S37 wained it became apparent San Jose had relegated Sam to being WR3. He finished with 2 fewer catches than SJS's WR Blondin. San Jose finished the season with a 6-10 record missing playoffs. It capped off a very strange and lack luster career for Sam. Of Sam's 10 seasons as a professional football player he played for 6 different teams, but only made the playoffs once, a lone S33 playoff run that resulted in an Ultimus. One curious quirk about Sam's career is aside from Baltimore, the other 5 teams to roster Sam seem to have had worse records with Sam than the season before or after he was rostered. Sam's one big regret from his career is he finished 45 yards short of the 10,000 career yards mark.

Professional career statistics

Career statistics			Receiving
Season	Team	Games	Rec	Yards	Avg	Lg	TD
2042 (S27)	Seawolves	14	45	572	12.7	55	1
2043 (S28)	Otters	16	52	525	10.1	46	4
2044 (S29)	Otters	16	57	644	11.3	50	3
2045 (S30)	Otters	16	98	1087	11.1	77	7
2046 (S31)	Otters	16	90	1040	11.6	60	1
2047 (S32)	Hahalua	16	97	1195	12.3	51	9
2048 (S33)	Hawks	16	63	901	14.3	46	2
2049 (S34)	Copperheads	16	91	1293	14.2	75	15
2050 (S35)	Sabercats	16	94	1169	12.4	75	9
2051 (S36)	Fire Salamanders	16	96	1185	12.3	73	8
2052 (S37)	Sabercats	16	73	916	12.5	72	7
Career Totals	ISFL	160	811	9955	12.3	77	65

Achievements and records

Ultimus Champion (1): 2048 (S33)

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