Rookies Come Though in Kats Debut
Charliy Nash
Wednesday February 2, 2005
Here is a direct quote from the game notes sent out by the Destroyers: "Look for Nashville to rely on quarterback Leon Murray’s arm to outgun the Destroyers Friday night." The slightest amount of research will tell you that Kats’ head coach Sperduto wants to run the ball and control the clock. Columbus head coach Chris Spielman, in his first game coaching at any level, prepared his team for an aerial attack; the Destroyers were unable to stop the Kats ground game.
Dan Alexander carried much of the load. His first rushing touchdown was the epitome of second effort as he backed up several times and broke multiple tackles before bouncing off the wall into the end zone. This is the first such collision I’ve ever seen where the wall lost – the wall panel actually appeared to be dented where Alexander slammed into it.
"The arena walls are something you’ve got to deal with," he said after the game. "I’ve got to learn to get it up field, because if you let it get stretched outside you’re going to end up in the wall." Alexander, Levelle Brown, and Kevin Nagle kept running the ball out of the backfield, keeping the Destroyers’ defense off balance and giving the Kats a 15-minute advantage in time of possession. Quarterback Leon Murray, who passed for 232 yards and 3 touchdowns and ran for 41 yards and 2 touchdowns, credited the running game for keeping the Columbus defensive line from pressuring him.
Another of Sperduto’s NFL veteran/AFL rookies who had a big night was Rober’ Freeman. In his first game he racked up 4 tackles, 2 assists, and 1 pass broken up. "I have teammates that felt comfortable with me playing with them," he said. "That gave me the confidence to go out there and handle my business. Playing with DeRon [Jenkins] and JHill [Jarrick Hillery] it was great. It was a great experience for my first game, plus we won so that made it even better."
Lineman Aaron McConnell shared Freeman’s enthusiasm after playing in his first game. "That’s the most smashmouth football I’ve ever seen – I’ve ever been in in my life. That was absolutely awesome," he said. "That was the most fun I’ve had in my life in a helmet and shoulder pads." McConnell admitted that he might need to do some more aerobic conditioning to keep up with the pace of the game. He also described the challenge of playing offensive line for the first time. "There was one [play] where Leon [Murray] got hit and came up limping and that guy got around me. It was mine that I gave up. It was hard, the first time in your life that you give up the quarterback getting hit – the first time you play [offense]. You definitely do have to learn to shake it off and say, ‘He’s okay. Sorry, it won’t happen again.’"
When it was all over, the veteran coach with the rookie players had defeated the rookie coach with the veteran players. With microphones coming from all directions, Sperduto gave another description of the term that is becoming synonymous with the Kats: big boy football. "We preach hard-nosed football," he explained. "It’s the players we bring in too. By no means are you looking at ballerinas in there. There’s no pretty pretty receivers, no pretty linemen; they just look like a bunch of bulls and the receivers look like a bunch of cheetahs – they’re nasty. That’s what they are, and they like it."
Charliy Nash has covered both incarnations of the Nashville Kats, and now has make the 2 hour drive to Huntsville for an Arena Football fix. He also covers the Tennessee Titans as a blogger for nfl.com and still hopes this will eventually lead to a paying gig.
