Fury Look to be “One of Eight”
Neal Ruhl
Thursday January 15, 2004
“Whenever we break a huddle in practice, we always break it with the chant ‘on the 8!’,” said Coach Luginbill. “We just want to get to the playoffs, and then we will figure out where we are and let the chips fall where they may.”
Coach Luginbill also noted that, with the reduction of available playoff spots, getting off to a good start would be critical.
“Last year you had a team start 0-6 (New York), and they still made the playoffs. You won’t see that this year. I feel we have got the toughest opening schedule in the league, but I like that. It lets us know where this football team is in relation to the good teams in this league right off the bat.”
The Fury open up at home on February 5th against the San Jose SaberCats, then go on the road the following week to face the ArenaBowl runners up in the Arizona Rattlers.
The Fury lost some firepower in the off-season with wide receiver Marcus Nash leaving to join Terrill Shaw and Clint Dolezel to form a pretty formidable offense in Las Vegas.
“That was purely a cap situation,” noted coach Luginbill. “Would we have liked to have Marcus back? Yes we would, but we have reloaded with some big, physical receivers.”
Detroit has added 6’ 4” WR Khori Ivy and 6’ 5” WR Bashir Yamini, who was an All-American in track at the University of Iowa. It doesn’t appear that the Fury will be undersized in the wide out position.
Injuries, which plagued the Fury last year, also appear to be a thing of the past as Luginbill has obtained some depth.
“I like our talent level. We’ve also got some guys returning, and we have acquired some young guys,” said Luginbill. “Last year we never had any continuity. Andy was working with a different OS almost every week, and that is a tough situation to be in. This year we have depth at every position, so we will be able to be consistent.”
Re-alignment will also be a friend of the Fury as Grand Rapids lost the aforementioned Clint Dolezel and Terrill Shaw, stripping them of their two main weapons. Chicago has a new QB in Raymond Philyaw and a roster with 10 first year players. The Indiana Firebirds will be gambling—no pun intended—on Florida State rookie QB Adrian McPherson, and the Colorado Crush are a second year team.
Coach Luginbill agreed. “If you look at our division, there is a lot of turnover on almost every team. The frustrating thing is that, if you win your division, you are not guaranteed a playoff spot.”
The Fury, while facing a tough task in the first two games, see the schedule lighten up considerably after that. They face two of the three expansion teams in consecutive weeks. The Fury MUST take care of business in the division as the out of division schedule is daunting, with two games against Arizona, San Jose, and road trips to Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. Detroit has to beat weaker teams when they play them to have a shot at making the playoffs and build on the success of last season that saw them have the biggest one season turnaround in Arena League history.
UNLEASHING THE FURY
Defensive Specialist Ron Carpenter is the only player in history to be on the roster of a Super Bowl and ArenaBowl team in the same season… In his college career, QB Andy Kelly played in the Cotton, Fiesta, and Sugar Bowl, while earning MVP honors in the Sugar… Fury coach Tom Luginbill maintains he is the only AFL player or coach to be voted number one in “Plays of the Week” on ESPN’s Sports Center after he was caught on tape falling over the wall and onto the field during the 2003 AFL season.
Neal Ruhl lives in the Metro Detroit Area where he has covered the Detroit Lions as well as the Motor City Bowl.
