The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Ex-Husky Pindell makes history in FCF league
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Taking a live snap and eluding tacklers for the first time in more than two years, former UConn quarterback David Pindell scored the first touchdown in Fan Controlled Football history Saturday at Infinite Energy Arena in suburban Atlanta.
He dropped back, rushed right, cut left and dived into the end zone for a team named the Glacier Boyz. The play, not all that different from some of his best at Rentschler Field in 2017 and 2018, was called via vote by fans watching a live stream on Twitch while “coaching” on the league’s mobile app.
“It’s better than I thought it would be,” said Pindell, who as a senior set UConn’s single-season quarterback rushing record with 1,139 yards. “I was telling a receiver that this is a crazy feeling, just getting out on the field and competing again. It put me in a happy place.”
Pindell’s initial instinct was to dismiss FCF as something silly. But through several conversations with famous rapper
Quavo, one of the league’s celebrity team owners, he gave up a job as a truck driver in Maryland to take a chance he figured could only help him realize football dreams he still harbors.
“It can’t hurt,” said Pindell, 24. “And they pay.”
FCF is played 7-on-7 on a 50-yard field. Each game takes about an hour, with
two 20-minute halves and a running clock. A play runs every 70 seconds or so because the pass — most of the play calls are passes, yes — must be voted on, reach the team sideline and be relayed via headset to the quarterback in the huddle.
“It’s fun,” Pindell said. “It just felt good. I was able to do my thing. When you’re watching football, nobody wants to see you hand the ball off all day. It’s basically throwing touchdowns, back and forth. It’s exciting football.”
It is football, yes, just packaged and developed so differently. It is football overlapping with gaming and fantasy sports. It is football with all kinds of quirky rules — starting with who’s in charge of the way games and an inaugural season play out.
The general public essentially serves as the coach and general manager, drafting teams every Wednesday and calling plays in real time each Saturday from a list of options on a phone. There is no kicking or punting. Every touchdown is
followed by a 1-on-1 battle between receiver and defender, with the quarterback having three seconds to throw. Fans vote on game MVPs and best celebration, and both are among incentives for which players can earn bonuses.
Pindell earns $1,450 a game. He is one of eight franchise-tagged players, the only players in the league who remain with the same team throughout the season.
“They saw my UConn highlights,” he said proudly.
Another franchise player is 2012 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel. Pindell’s Glacier Boyz faced Manziel’s Zappers Saturday. Because all four of the league’s teams practice together during the week and are living in a bubble, the two quarterbacks have become fast friends.
“Johnny is a good dude,” Pindell said.
FCF announced there were 700,000 total live views for Saturday’s opening games, and the league app was the most-downloaded sports app on the Apple Store between Saturday-Monday. Manziel’s 38-yard run on Zappers’ first play drew over 2 million views on Twitter and Instagram.
FCF features many former Division I players, including former South Florida quarterback Quinton Flowers, and there is a heavy celebrity backing. Team owners include retired NFL running back Marshawn Lynch and former UConn/WNBA player Renee Montgomery (Beasts), Chargers running back Austin Ekeler (Wild Aces) and Mets pitcher Trevor May (Zappers). Quavo is one of three owners of the Glacier Boyz, with NFL cornerback Richard Sherman and Donald De La Haye, AKA “Deestroying,” a famous YouTube personality who was a kicker at Central Florida.
Pindell has spent considerable time on social media since departing UConn in an anxious effort to latch on with a professional team, posting workout videos to Instagram and Twitter. He had several XFL and CFL tryouts canceled due to the pandemic and finally signed a contract in November with the Columbus Lions of the National Arena League.
That season is scheduled to begin in May. Pindell took that job as a truck driver to get by in the meantime.
Then, Quavo reached out — first through Instagram, then with a phone call.
“He said, ‘You still ballin’? You looking to get signed?” Pindell said. “Quavo was like, ‘You should come play for my team.’ I was just like, ‘Is this for real?’ He said it’s going to blow up. At first, I was doubting the idea. I was like, ‘I don’t know, this looks kind of funny.’ I Googled it and it just didn’t look official. I told [Quavo] my agent is probably not going to want me to do this.’”
Then again, what was there to lose? If the XFL or CFL is to be in Pindell’s future, he probably needs some recent game film to show off.
“So like a week later, Quavo reached back out and said, ‘Bro, what can I do to get you on my team?’” Pindell said. “I was like — you know what? — it’s Quavo. He’s definitely got a lot of connections and a lot of exposure. And I just wanted to play football. It’s fun, just getting on a field and competing again.”
CLINTON — The spark came from senior center Rob Zirlis, who got the ball in the post, peeled off his Valley Regional defender with a drop step and threw down an uncontested dunk for Morgan’s first bucket Saturday.
It tied the game at 2 and didn’t seem like a big deal at the time, but the Huskies knew otherwise.
“Rob’s dunk put in perspective how we wanted to set the tone,” junior guard Drew Nye said. “Our energy was great. After that, we took off.”
With Valley paying particular attention to the 6-foot-6 Zirlis in the middle, the Huskies had space on the perimeter to fire away and unleashed a 3point attack that produced six treys in the first quarter alone and 12 in all in their 85-53 Shoreline Conference rout of the Warriors.
Morgan’s offensive versatility — in the middle, on the perimeter and in transition — was on full display as the conference favorite raised its record to 4-0.
Senior Jason Cohen, who finished with 18 points, drilled three 3-pointers in the opening eight minutes as Morgan raced out to leads of 13-4 and 22-10. Nye swished two and senior Zach Johnson one. Johnson scored a game-high 19 points and Zirlis had 17 as Morgan dealt Valley its first defeat in four games.
“I felt like I got a fair share of touches, but we were lights out from three,” said Zirlis. “I felt that’s because they collapsed on me. We have shooters on the floor and off the bench. With our starting five, anyone can hit a three and anyone off our bench can hit a three.”
Saagar Patel led Valley with 14 points and James Marsden finished with 11. Sophomore Jeremy Arnum, their top scorer and defender, missed the final 22 minutes after injuring his right wrist — a loss that this young but fierce Valley team, which graduated nine seniors last season, could not overcome.
Both teams were unable to practice Thursday and Friday because of weather cancellations. Morgan coach Frank Rossi said Wednesday’s practice became a cram session of preparation for the Warriors’ pressure defense.
“We knew we had the size advantage and knew they might pack in on Robbie,” Rossi said. “We have shooters and the guys were ready when they gave us open looks. That was our goal, to force them to adjust, and I think as the game progressed they had to come out and defend the perimeter a little better, and that got us more inside penetration to Robbie.”
Like his teammates, Johnson flashed some serious range from three and stayed hot into the second quarter. His 3-pointer on Morgan’s first possession staked the Huskies to a 25-10 advantage.
Arnum made two free throws 20 seconds later before disaster struck on the Warriors’ next possession. He missed in an attempt to lay the ball in on the right side, unable to break his fall, his wrist bore the brunt of the impact. Arnum, who had eight points at the time, spent the remainder of the game icing the injury.
Valley coach Kevin Woods said Arnum, who suffered a similar injury two years ago, will get X-rays.
“He landed on it badly and we’re hoping he’s OK,” said Woods. “We lost a lot with Jeremy. He accounts for a lot of our inside points, too.”
The Warriors did not fold, though. Arnum was fouled on the play, and Marcus SantaMaria made both free throws in his stead. Valley kept its deficit manageable and actually cut it to 10 when Marsden hit a 3-pointer from the wing with 38.6 seconds left.
Zirlis put back his offensive rebound with 1.1 seconds on the clock to give Morgan a 40-28 lead at the break.
“Realistically we were right there at the half,” Woods said. “We just didn’t finish and we left a lot of points on the board. We settled for a lot of threes, which is great if they’re going in, but they weren’t going in tonight. And we’re better at attacking than we showed tonight, even without Jeremy. It’s just something the next couple of games that we’re going to have to figure it out.”
Without Arnum, Valley looked outnumbered. Zirlis scored five points in the first 45 seconds of the third quarter and the Huskies began to get points in transition. A three-point play by Johnson gave the Huskies a 14-point lead at 48-34 and opened it up to 19 on a Johnson layup.
“In the second half the kids really got into the rhythm of the game and were getting the ball inside and outside,” Rossi said.
Morgan led 58-41 at the end of the third and scored the first 12 points of the fourth quarter to put it away.
“With past history, Valley is an opponent we marked on our calendars for sure,” Nye said. “We felt we’ve got to play like Valley physically, and I thought we executed very well.”
With one-third of the regular season and one of the Shoreline’s toughest opponents in the books, Rossi seemed content with the progress the Huskies are making.
“Valley is a championship program with a championship culture. Those kids aren’t going to back down from anybody and that’s the point we’re trying to make,” Rossi said. “A lot of people are giving us credit as the favorite in the league and what not, and we keep stressing we need to earn that. Today was a good measure of that. We put our best foot forward and there’s still room for improvement, but we did a lot of good things today.”