Kats and Dogs
Charliy Nash
Friday March 25, 2005
Then there are the new teammates and the new offensive scheme that have everyone who follows the teams talking. "Travis [McGriff] and Lindsay [Fleshman]," beamed Murray, "those are two very good receivers and I’m excited to get in there and work with them in a game." Murray and McGriff voluntarily came in during the bye week to work together on their timing
Offensive coordinator Tres Sullivan was dismissed after the loss to the Colorado Crush. Former quarterback Scott Semptimphelter has been brought in as a Quarterback Coach. The key for the new offense seems to be fitting the system to the players instead of trying to fit the players to the system. "We’re going to try to use more of our personnel to their strength," Murray explained, "so I think that in itself will help me a lot."
Coach Pat Sperduto hinted that the new offense might not be all that new, "A lot of the stuff is our old stuff, now you’ll see stuff that is more similar to the old Nashville Kats, the teams that played in 2000 and 2001. We’ll work down the field; we’ll still work our running game and some other things that we like to do."
The biggest buzz this week is about a familiar face returning to Nashville, one of the most popular of the original Kats, FB/LB Rupert "Dogghead" Grant. He brings outstanding pass rushing ability on defense and pass protection on offense, and adds even more punch to an already potent running game, but his most valuable contributions may be in the locker room. "He’s a very emotional player, he gets after people," said fellow veteran Kat James Baron, "He wears his emotions on his sleeves, and sometimes you need that. It’s just veteran leadership that will help us at this point."
So it’s a little bit of something old and something new. I’ve even pulled my old "Dogghead" t-shirt out of my closet. I guess everything old is new again.
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.
