North American CS:GO in-game leader Alan “Shakezullah” Hardeman has replaced Nick “alter” Jackson in Bad News Bears’ active lineup.
The move, announced yesterday by the organization, comes less than a week after the 23-year-old parted ways with Triumph, finishing a 15-month spell with the organization. With Shakezullah’s addition, the AWPer Peter “ptr” Gurney will pass up his in-game leading duties and focus on his individual skills.
Shakezullah is one of the last successful captains in North America and is well-known for developing young players. The list notably includes Michael “Grim” Wince and Paytyn “junior” Johnson, who played under with him in Triumph before moving to Team Liquid and FURIA, respectively. Now he’ll have the chance to work with other two promising players, Jonathan “Jonji” Carey and Michael “Swisher” Schmid.
“I’m extremely excited to be joining Bad News Bears,” Shakezullah told HLTV.org. “They have had tremendous success thus far, and I hope we are able to reach new heights together. Practices have been smooth, and we have a ton of work to do before the Cologne Play-In, as well as ESL Pro League. I am ready to get to work though and look forward to what the future will bring.”
The addition of Shakezullah may help Bad News Bears find an investor. They’ve been playing together since the end of January without any type of support and have become one of the best teams in North America, winning the ESEA Premier Season 36 North America grand finals over Triumph and earning a spot in the next season of the ESL Pro League.
The North Americans don’t have any event schedules in the coming days, so it’s likely that Shakezullah will debut at the IEM Cologne Play-in on June 6, which will see eight of the 16 teams join the $1 million main event.
