Rampage Hold Third Open Tryout
Randy Snow
Thursday December 29, 2005
Participants gave it their all during the tryout because the team had guaranteed that three players, two receivers and a kicker, would be signed to contracts and brought into training camp in January.
But why hold an open tryout so close to the start of training camp? Why not just pick up a couple of free agent players?
"There’s always young talent out there that’s trying to break into the league," said Rampage head coach Sparky McEwen. "You don’t necessarily have to go by what’s on the waiver wire. A lot of times you can find a new draft eligible type kid that’s looking to play professional ball. A lot of times you get guys who are locked into other systems and they’re hard to break down. This way we can actually mold a player if we find one in these type of tryouts."
One of the players in attendance was receiver James Scott, who made the trip from Dayton, Ohio to participate in the tryout after finding out about it on the Internet. Scott has played for three different af2 teams since 2000, the Carolina Rhinos, Cincinnati Swarm and most recently, the Louisville Fire.
"When I heard they were guaranteeing at least two or three roster spots, I said, ‘I might as well take the chance,’" Scott said. "The opportunity presented itself, I might as well try and seize it." This was Scott’s second tryout with an AFL team this year. He also had a tryout with the Columbus Destroyers.
"When I put on things like this," McEwen said, "I really like to see the guys from af2 come up because I spent a year (coaching) in af2. This just gives these guys an opportunity to step up and go to the next level."
The Rampage held two open tryouts in November, one in Grand Rapids and another in Tallahassee, Florida. Training camp for the 2006 season opens on January 2.
Crunch Time
Also on hand to watch the Rampage tryout was Bob Kubiak, head coach of the Battle Creek Crunch of the new Great Lakes Indoor Football League, which begins play next April. The new indoor football league will feature seven-on-seven play and will have a total of six teams, two of them will be right here in Michigan, the Crunch and the Port Huron Pirates.
Randy Snow covered the Grand Rapids Rampage of the Arena Football League for ArenaFan from 2003-2008. He also covered the Fort Wayne Fusion of arenafootball2 in 2007. From 2004-2008 and in 2010, he was a member of the Arena Football League Writer’s Association and, since 2011, has been a member of the Professional Football Researchers Association. Randy lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan but will travel just about anywhere for a football game or a great football story. He runs the web site www.theworldoffootball.com and hosts a podcast with his son, Adam, called “This Week in The World of Football.”
