What happened to..... ?

[Paul-London]

In a series we will look at some of the past draft stars, players who were drafted high or flops/diamonds in the rough drafted in the FWL.....

HB/FB Ghislain Cognet

In Season 1 Austria were 6-8 but made various huge trades in totally changing the teams fortunes.  With so much trading the team hardly had many draft picks and instead acquired players through trading.  They often moved up bunching picks/players to get a top 3 overall pick and at the end of Season 2 this was no exception.

After a successful 11-3 record in which they had traded for former Barcelona Dragons star HB Michael Hicks, the DarkKnights drafted #2 overall.  HB wasnt a need but the team went for highly touted rookie HB Ghislain Cognet regarded as the best rookie prospect in the draft.  In the end Cognet didnt do much with Austria but went on to have a successful career as a HB/FB with Berlin.

Season    Team     Yards rushing        TD

3            AUS        213                     1     FWL Bowl ring
4            AUS        132                     1     WC
5            AUS         39                      0    EFC Game
6            AUS        100                     2     FWL Bowl ring
7          AUS-BER    508                     6    WC
8             BER        353                    2     FWL Bowl ring
9             BER        461                    1     EFC Game
10           BER         429                    6
11           BER            2                    0    EFC Game
12           MEX           7                    1


With a season ending injury to their starting HB in Season 7 Berlin traded for Cognet and gave up a 4th round pick for him.  Cognet started at HB in Season 7 and racked up over 500 yards and moved to FB for the next 3 years where he was very successful.  Eventually in Season 11 the veteran was benched and young FB Lars Gustavson took over the starting FB role and was named All-FWL.  Cognet was cut but picked up by Mexico for Season 12 and spent several games with them before being cut.

Considering he was the 2nd overall pick his career in Austria was a flop but Cognet went on to have a very successful career as a FB with Berlin and was very successful in the playoffs going there 8 out of his 10 FWL seasons.  He picked up 3 FWL Bowl rings, 2 with Austria and one with Berlin.  Despite a bad start to his career where he was regarded as a flop Cognet went on to do very well.

[Paul-London]

FB/HB Kim Kuchi

Kuchi was the last player selected at the end of season 4 draft ( http://www.fwl.org.uk/drafteos4.htm ) .  He won the 'Lowsman' award but surprisingly stuck with Paris and made the roster.

Season  Team   Rush Yds    Td's    Rec    Yds    Td's

5          PAR             0          0      1        21        0  WC
6          PAR             0          0      0         0         0
7          AMS           10          0      5        79        2
8          AMS            0          0      1        21        0
9          AMS            0          0      1        18        0
10        AMS           72          0      10      92         0
11        AMS            1          0      0         0         0
12        AMS          200         4      16      172       0    FWL Bowl loss
13        AMS          930         6      59       525      3    WC
14        AMS          338         3      22       175      0    WC

Kuchi stayed with Paris for two seasons and played in the only Paris playoff game to date in Season 5.  Eventually he was cut but Amsterdam picked him up where he saw limited action as a backup HB/FB.  Amsterdam made the playoffs for the first time in Season 12 and he scored on a 15 yard reception late in the 4Q of FWL Bowl XII to cut Montreals lead to 20-17.  The following year Kuchi was a surprise starter and ran for over 900 yards and led his team to the playoffs.  His 930 yards ranked 7th overall that year and he also had an 88 yard sprint.  The following year Kuchi was back to being a backup but still contributed with over 300 yards.

Despite being the last player picked in his draft year Kuchi went on to do very well with Amsterdam late in his career and was a fan favourite with Admiral fans.  He eventually retired after Season 14 and last year was a commentator on Admiral games.

[Mario ADK]

HB/FB Ghislain Cognet

Considering he was the 2nd overall pick his career in Austria was a flop but

booooh to this:
What could he have done behind legends like Michael Hicks and Lawrence Phillips? Nothing.

He simply suffered the same thing like Sultan McCullough is going through: Never be taken by Austria if you are  considered the best of the best in the draft. Your talent might be wasted on the bench.....

[Paul-London]

You cant boo that Mario !

Some players do better when they move onto another team.  If this was the NFL a RB who was picked 2nd overall who contributed not much to his team and couldnt budge past any of the starters would be a flop.  He had under 500 yards rushing in his first 4 years in Austria then moved onto Berlin for a low draft pick.

At the end of the day he was a complete bust in Austria.

[Michel-Birmingham]

Just wanted to say that Kim Kuchi played for Birmingham in season 9. He was the back-up for Jamal Willis and was traded back to Amsterdam when Jason Miller-Lopez arrived in Birmingham.