Record-breaking performance started with learning game on Nintendo Video-game statistics

By Eric Moore

LITTLE ROCK — Rose Bud senior J.D. Felice is used to putting up insane numbers while playing football on a video gaming system.

He never really thought he might put up the same kind of numbers in a real game.

In a week eight loss to England, Felice broke the national record for receiving yards in a game with 421 yards, eclipsing the previous mark by seven yards.

Felice caught 24 passes to amass his 421 yards, five of them for touchdowns. He also had a rushing touchdown in the 64-55 shootout loss to England.

Those are the kind of numbers Felice routinely saw when he was first introduced to football - through a video game.

Felice received a Nintendo gaming system and a football game to go with it for his birthday in 1998 after he and his family moved to Arkansas from Pennsylvania. Through the game he was able to learn about positions and penalties.

Ten years later, going into halftime against England, Felice and his head coach, Steve Rose, knew he might have a shot at a state record, but with receptions, not yards.

“The only record I knew was the reception record,” Felice said. “I found out later that night that it was a state record [for yards]. I was overwhelmed.”

The realization that he had broken the national record did not come for a few days, and with it came a flood of attention. He has done his best to approach the situation without taking too much attention away from his team. Although he is proud of his accomplishments, he sees himself as a leader on this team, responsible for keeping his team motivated.

“They have a lot of heart, but their hearts get broken easily,” Felice said. “[The attention] has fired them up some more.”

Before that fateful game against England, Felice had not considered playing football in college, but he has begun to rethink his decision, especially now that the Ramblers have missed the playoffs and his high school career is over.

If he does go on to play college ball, Rose believes that college will be getting a steal with Felice.

“He’s a playmaker,” Rose said. “He leads with his play and backs up [his talking] with his play. He was definitely oneof our go-to guys.”

In Rose’s system, the plan was to get the ball in Felice’s hands at least 15 times per game, which was just fine with Felice. With his catching ability, he was able to turn small plays into big plays just by sticking with the fundamentals.

“You just have to worr y about catching the ball,” Felice said. “That’s your job. Yards are a bonus. I don’t have a preferred route, just whatever gets the corner the most [irritated].”

Being able to be in an open offense this season has made Felice’s senior year one to remember. In his sophomore and junior years (the first two years of varsity football at Rose Bud), the Ramblers ran their offense out of the Wing-T, where passing was not a priority. Felice was even moved to quarterback late in his junior year to be a bigger help to his team.

Once Rose and his Spread offense arrived, Felice was able to showcase his skills on the field, and football became fun for the senior again.

“It was the funnest thing I’ve done in so long,” Felice said. “[The offense] is more complicated mentally, but I love it.”

Putting up such sick numbers required a lot of faith from his quarterback, JoshKlapp, as well as his other teammates.

“They all trust me and I trust them,” Felice said. “I trust myself to make big plays for the team.”

For someone who considers the smallest things to be the most interesting, the thought of breaking a record as big as this one has taken some time to sink in. Now that it has, Felice can see that new avenues are open for him and his love of football may not end with this season.

- emoore@ arkansasonline.com

Three Rivers, Pages 124 on 11/09/2008