Tag Archives: Tennessee Titans

NFL

Woodside, Logan

Card: Panini Contenders 2018
Acquired: 2018, Box Breaker

Logan Woodside played quarterback at Toledo, a college team known for its offensive firepower.  After redshirting in 2015, Woodside showed up on the National stage in 2016 posting some impressive numbers, throwing for 4129 yards (69.1% completions) and 45 touchdowns to only 9 interceptions. He’d close out his Senior campaign with an otherwise solid year in 2017, throwing for 3882 yards and 28 TDs. Maybe if these numbers had been reversed for his Junior and Senior years, there would have been at least a little buzz surrounding Logan. Near the end of the 2017 NFL Draft though, he’d be selected by the Cincinnati Bengals.

With a bevy of quarterbacks backing up incumbent starter Andy Dalton (Jeff Driskel and Matt Barkley), it was hard for Logan to get game action, however he finally saw sizable action in the final preseason contest against the Colts. With Barkley sustaining an injury during the game, and Driskel passing the more expensive veteran on the depth chart, it looked like Logan might just make the squad- but he’d be cut anyway right before the regular season began. After a brief stint on the Titans practice squad, Logan was selected by the San Antonio Commanders of the Alliance of American Football. Selected almost as an afterthought by the team, Logan had no clue he was even eligible for the league until they contacted him.

Facing an uphill battle as the 3rd man in the rotation behind Dustin Vaughan and Marquise Williams, Logan somehow ended up starting from day one for the Commanders. Although he battled injuries over the last two contests, Logan threw for 1385 yards and 7 TDs to 8 interceptions. He also carried the ball 26 times for 45 yards.

His best game came in week 5 against the Arizona Hotshots. Arizona opted to try to stop up SA’s formidable rushing attack, so Woodside picked them apart throwing for 290 yards on 21 of 27 passes for 2 TDs. The Commanders took the game on the road and Logan won Alliance Player of the Week Honors for his efforts.

After the Alliance folded, Logan resigned with the Tennessee Titans and as of 2020 is their scout team QB.

NFL

Gado, Samkon

Cards: Playoff Contenders 2006, Leaf Rookies & Stars 2006 Longevity (87/249)
Acquired: TTM 2020, C/o Home
Sent: 2/24 Received: 4/4 (40 days)

Samkon Gado is one of those rare athletes who wasn’t really on the radar of scouts going into his final year playing college ball. In fact he was looking forward more to becoming a doctor than playing football, but as fate would have it, nearly the entire Liberty runningback corps was depleted, and Samkon stepped in and ran for 901 yards on 138 carries, scoring 11 TDs in 9 games.

It was all about being at the right place, at the right time for Samkon, and it seemed that scouts identified his intangible talent for rising to the occasion. After going undrafted in 2005, he was signed to the Kansas City Chiefs practice squad for a brief time. A month or two later, he was signed by the Packers. Then nearly the entire runningback stable went down one by one due to injury. First Ahman Green, then Najeh Davenport, and then finally Tony Fisher.

Gado saw extensive playing time in their absence after taking the starting runningback role. He’d have 3 100 yard efforts during the season, and set a franchise rookie record rushing for 171 yards against the Lions. Ultimately he too would end his season on injured reserve.

With new management in town for 2006, the Packers traded Gado to the Houston Texans after Week 1 of the season for Vernand Morency. The Texans were shoring up their runningback depth behind Ron Dayne and Wali Lundy. During the season he’d pitch back to back 60 yard efforts against Jacksonville and Buffalo.

In 2007, Ahman Green also joined the Texans runningback committee, and was the starter above Dayne. Gado beat out Lundy to make the final squad, scoring his first TD with the Texans in the season opener against the Colts.

He’d be cut at the end of October, and signed with the Miami Dolphins, after starting RB Ronnie Brown went down. Again, backup Ricky Williams, then himself also was fallen by injury, so Samkon had to step in again. He’d help contribute to the Dolphins only win on the 2007 season.

Samkon then played for the St. Louis Rams over the next two seasons, but saw little action outside of special teams. In 2010 he signed with the Tennessee Titans but did not make the final roster.

Samkon finished his medical degree and now is a doctor at Saint Louis University Hospital as part of the Otolaryngology program.

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CFL, NFL, University of Texas

Young, Vince VY (4)

Card: Panini Contenders 2018, Score 2010, Panini Contenders 2010*, Donruss Classics 2009-2010*
Acquired: In Person, 2018 Heisman House, 2018 Kicking it ATX
See Also: Vince Young, Vince Young (2), Vince Young (3)

Paired with Ricky Williams the day the Heisman House tour came to Austin was none other than UT’s very own Vince Young. It seemed like a no brainer to go to the event. While it’d seem odd that VY would be a guest at the event- it completely made sense for a variety of reasons. UT was playing USC, and while the rivalry from that great 2006 game has dimmed slightly, the comradely between the two storied schools has grown. Vince recently was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame, 10+ years after he became the only two time MVP of that game, (little less with one of them for a National Championship against USC). The final reason is because VY wanted to win the Heisman in 2006, but it was given to Reggie Bush instead. When Bush had to vacate the honor, the presenters tried to give it to Vince Young- but he declined the secondhand award. 

As usual Vince strolled in 20-30 minutes late, much to the chagrin of those standing in line for autographs. He was accompanied by none other than USC runningback LenDale White. I had no clue but apparently VY and White were very good friends. They had become close after their years on the Titans together. Vince did a short interview about his time playing at Texas and answered a few questions. He then donned a pair of shades and signed autographs for the fans in line. I didn’t really want to push it so I was quite happy to have him pen this Panini Contenders 2018 card. We talked for a second and exchanged pleasantries. He told me, “To be blessed!”, and I told him, “Hey, you know you have a choice. You can get up in the morning and be happy if you want or mad. I choose to be happy.” He then responded, “You know it.” This was probably my second best experience meeting VY. It’d be in stark contrast to his appearance at Kicking It ATX. 

I had high hopes for the Kicking It ATX event at the Domain. I had really bad luck the last few in person events, as very little had been scheduled and the cancellations kept rolling in. I got probably 9 or so cards of Vince ready to go and with him proclaiming on Twitter that there would be special guests, I got pumped that maybe there’d be a few other guest stars.

It was a total letdown. Outside of Vince, Aaron Ross and his wife just had a baby and had to make a last second cancellation. They basically walked in the door- and back out. Vince was pretty nice to fans, but when I asked him if he was going to watch the new football leagues (XFL, AAF), he told me essentially no, but with an f-bomb attached to it. He signed these three cards, for me, but I just felt like he wasn’t happy at all that I was there as he gave me and my friend the stink face while signing our stuff.

I know that I am an older fan and collector. Most players just don’t see that anymore. They see people like me as a threat to their brand or another white guy EBay-ing their autograph. I just left that event feeling introspectively defensive about my involvement in the ‘The Hobby’, and it maybe the end of the road for me getting VY’s autograph.  

I decided in the end to give away two of the cards I got from the event. Bryan is a good guy who just seems to have bad luck. He’s almost like John Candy from ‘Planes, Trains, and Automobiles’, and like John’s character, he has a giant heart for ‘The Hobby’. There’s nobody more deserving of one of these than him- so I gave him the Playoff Contenders 2010. The other card- the Donruss Classics 09/10, had been in my collection for a while. Eric and I have been chatting it up back and forth for sometime and he’s helping me on a super secret signing or two, so I felt it’d be nice to drop him the other one out of the blue as well.