2014 Mock Draft: Team Jones Smith

Bryan Jones and Zack Smith, Team Jones Smith

Offense: Dylan Tunnell, Michael Natenberg, Chris Kosednar, Grant Lindsley, Noah Saul, Cam Harris, Nick Stuart

Defense: Kurt Gibson, Hylke Sneider, Jack Hatchett, Jolian Dahl, Adrian Yearwood, Masahiro Matsuno, Seth Wiggins

Subs: Ben Faust, Aaron Liu

Looking across the board at the beginning, it was clear that there was a shortage of tall playmakers. We wanted to draft early for tall all-around players, considering speed, athleticism and throws. After that, we continued to draft tall defenders who could handle other teams’ best players. With such a large amount of great handlers to select, we chose to focus on guys who could make a difference anywhere on the field. We predicted that we would still be able to pick up a bunch of really good handlers late in the draft. It worked out, as we were able to draft our first pure handler in Noah Saul in the 9th round.

Pick-by-Pick Breakdown

• Kurt Gibson, Doublewide (#2 overall) – After Beau was taken there were a number of multi-tooled players available. George Stubbs, Matt Rehder, Jimmy Mickle, etc. Gibson is considered by many as one of the best all-around players in the game and fill into any position with cutting, handling, and throwing.
• Dylan Tunnell, Chain Lightning (#15 overall) – At this point, we felt there were not a lot of fast, tall, all around players left to be taken. With his World Games experience, size, speed, and throwing ability, Dylan gave us a keystone for our offensive line.
• Mike Natenberg, Doublewide (#18 overall) – Going with our goals of getting size and speed, we chose an all around tall player in Mike “Tank” Natenberg. Also with World Games experience and a multi-tooled player, we knew he could fill into almost any role we needed.
• Hylke Snieder, Johnny Bravo (#31 overall) – We continued our strategy of taking size, speed, and athleticism at this stage in the draft. At this point in time, guys with those qualities and elite throwing ability were no longer around. There was a premium on these fast, tall, athletic defenders/receivers and knew that Hylke would be on others lists. We also needed someone to guard Beau and knew that Sneider has had some experience in the past with Sockeye.
• Seth Wiggins, Seattle Rainmakers (#34 overall) – Despite not playing in the Series, we felt like we had to take such a good all-around player. Wiggins has World Games experience, was one of the main reasons that Rhino qualified for Nationals in 2012, and could be the centerpiece of any offense. We drafted with the intention of making him one of the anchors on the D line to likely create with Gibson.
• Jack Hatchett, Ironside (#47 overall) – There are a lot of good defensive players out there, but there weren’t too many more elite guys available at this stage in the draft. We had plenty of other options at offensive cutter, offensive handler, and even defensive handler left on the board. Based on the way the draft was going, picking up Hatchett was a great move for our squad. He was the only Ironside defender to get blocks in the semifinals vs. Sockeye, totaling three. He has one role: to guard some of the toughest assignments and generate turns. He may be a reach to some, but we were glad to get our man early with plenty of talent left to be taken elsewhere.
• Grant Lindsley, Sub Zero (#50 overall) – With four defensive players taken and a ton of offensive handler talent available, we wanted a purely offensive player. Lindsley has great speed, can get the under at any point in time, and he showed improved throwing and handling abilities while leading Sub Zero to a title at Chesapeake last year. He has experience playing with Dylan on Chain Lightning which means they should have no problem fitting in together.
• Jolian Dahl, Chain Lightning (#63 overall) – Still looking to take advantage of any size and speed left on the board, Jolian was still a threat this year offensively for Chain Lightning, but has the size and speed to play D line and run down hucks off of a turn.
• Noah Saul, Ring Of Fire (#66 overall) – At this stage in the draft, we felt like the available handler list was beginning to shrink. We knew our offense would consist of cutters like Lindsley, Tunnell, and Natenberg we didn’t need someone who would try to do everything on the field, however we liked Saul’s athleticism and ability to kick-start the offense from isolation with hitch routes if need be.
• Adrian Yearwood, GOAT (#79 overall) – We were surprised to find Yearwood still on the board this late, give that he one of the players tasked with defending Beau in the semis of WUGC 2012. Adrian is also a very strong thrower and would be deadly in the backfield with Kurt on the defensive line.
• Cam Harris, GOAT (#82 Overall) – Harris really had his coming-out party in a comeback against Chain Lightning in 2012 at Chesapeake. He also has Worlds experience on Team Canada . He has great throws, height and athleticism, and he somehow got lost in the mix this year with the focus being on Mark Lloyd. Offensive Handler number two for us, giving us versatility if he chooses to go downfield.
• Masahiro Matsuno, Buzz Bullets, (#95 Overall) – At #95 overall, one of the best players in the world was still available. Yes, we took him to play defense considering we had concerns of him communicating with players. We’re pretty sure he knows how to play defense regardless of what words are being spoken.
• Nick Stuart, Sub Zero, (#98 Overall) – Had a great game against Ironside at Chesapeake in 2013, 6’4’’, fast, tall, and solid hucks. We figured we’d make him a 4th O line cutter or switch him for someone else on defense. He was one of the biggest athletes left on the board.
• Chris Kosednar, Sockeye (#111 Overall) – We wanted to round out the offensive line with someone who could be a reset handler. Chris plays hard defense off of a turn and is consistent with the disc.
• Aaron Liu, Vancouver Nighthawks (#114 Overall) – With the majority of our team chosen, we decided to get another defender since we had some D line players who could fill on for an injury on offense. Liu is a nasty handler defender and gives us the ability to guard players who can get open in the small spaces.
• Ben Faust, The Ghosts (#127 Overall) – Adding in a veteran presence with deep throws was something we were interested in, so we picked up Ben Faust knowing that he’d likely be an offensive line sub.

Lines

We put together a bunch of different lines for scenarios. The important thing to note is that we have versatility to put guys like Seth Wiggins, Kurt Gibson on O line if things aren’t clicking.

O-line for calm  (Ho/Vert)
Noah Saul – Handler
Cam Harris – Handler
Chris Kosednar – Handler
Natenburg – Cutter
Tunnell – Cutter
Grant Lindsley – Cutter
Nick Stuart – Cutter

D-line for height (Vert)
Gibson – Handler
Yearwood – Handler
Wiggins – Hybird
Tunnell – Cutter
Stuart – Cutter
Hylke – Cutter
Jolian – Cutter

O-line for wind (Ho/Vert)
Noah Saul – Handler
Cam Harris- Handler
Chris Kosednar- Handler
Natenburg – Cutter
Tunnell – Cutter
Grant Lindsley – Cutter
Wiggins – Cutter

D-line for speed (Vert)
Gibson – Handler
Yearwood – Handler
Liu – Handler
Hatchett – Cutter
Wiggins – Cutter
Matsuno – Cutter
Jolian – Cutter

O-line for zone (Boston Zone O)
Chris Kosednar – Handler
Saul – Handler
Wiggins – Popper
Grant Lindsley – Popper
Tunnell – Wing
Cam Harris – Wing
Natenburg – Deep

D-line for zone (Vert)
Hylke – Mark
Yearwood – Cup
Liu – Cup
Jolian – Cup
Hatchett – Wing
Gibson – Wing
Stuart – Deep

Strategy

This is an important distinction depending on how long we have to prepare. With a month, it’s possible we can run some split stack on offense and side stack on defense off of a turn. With split, we can be more dynamic and send Saul and Harris downfield.

However, if we want to keep things simple– probably the best choice with a team that hasn’t played together– we’ll go with ho stack for the offensive line and vert stack for the defensive line. We have three handlers on offense, and Yearwood and Gibson can easily anchor that defensive line in vert stack.

Overall Summary

O-line (Horizontal/Vertical Stack):
Noah Saul – Handler
Cam Harris – Handler
Chris Kosednar – Handler
Mike Natenberg – Cutter
Dylan Tunnell – Cutter
Grant Lindsley – Cutter
Nick Stuart – Cutter

D-line (Vertical Stack):
Kurt Gibson – Handler
Adrian Yearwood – Handler
Masahiro Matsuno – Hybird
Jack Hatchett – Cutter
Seth Wiggins – Cutter
Hylke Snieder – Cutter
Jolian Dahl – Cutter

We feel that the biggest strength of the team lies in the defensive line. Everyone is going to have match up issues with Beau, but we have the most players with experience of guarding him in Hylke, Yearwood, Matsuno along with plenty of other powerful defenders available to shutdown the other teams best match ups. We can guard big guys, we can guard little guys who are agile, and this team should produce the most turnovers across the board.

Our offensive line has plenty of playmakers, with Tunnell and Lindsley who can dominate the unders, Natenberg who will fill into anywhere that’s needed. We’ve got versatile handlers in Harris and Saul and a reset in Kosednar who will get open in the small spaces for us.

Considering that we may only have a month to practice, it’s good that many of our cutters have played together: Lindsley with Tunnell on Chain in 2011, and Tunnell with Natenberg in the World Games. Gibson and Wiggins are expected to get a lot of touches on the D line, with the other cutters fitting in.

We also have plenty of experience  with Club National Champions (Tunnell, Gibson, Natenberg and Wiggins), World Champions (Harris, Nattenburg, Tunnell, Gibson and Wiggins) and many others with international experience.