Open Tryouts produce four players for Phantoms
Campbell Blake
Saturday March 10, 2001
With a few roster spots still to be filled, Head Coach Mark Stout’s intentions were to find a few Canadian kids who could play the game of Arena Football. “I really don’t hold any importance on whether they are Canadian or American, I’m looking for football players, where they come from doesn’t matter to me,” said Coach Stout when asked if there was any pressure to add a Canadian player to the roster to give the team a hometown look. Since two camps had already been held in the United States, these players were not only competing against the players on the field today, but against the guys who had attended and impressed at the first few camps.
 Coaches staged a "test" game to further evaluate possible talent. Image courtesy of Campbell Blake |
When it was all over, Coach Stout and his staff selected a group of four and the remaining hopefuls were left only with a commemorative t-shirt and a story to tell about how they tried out for a pro football team. Meanwhile, the selected four were as excited as they were surprised.
“I’m very shocked, very shocked,” said former York University quarterback Fabio Brusco minutes after learning that he was one of the selected few who had earned an invite to the Phantoms main training camp. Brusco, who has spent the last two years playing in Italy, will be heading into camp later this month vying for the 3rd quarterback spot, behind the experience of Pat O’Hara and Chad Salisbury.
Former first Team All-OUA cornerback Kevin Johnson’s said that he learned more in his first day with the Phantoms than he did in all of his four years at Sir Wilfred Laurier University. One advantage Johnson will have in his attempt to make the regular-season roster is that playing on both sides of the ball is nothing new to him as he started at both wide receiver and defensive back during his university days. Despite his experience, Johnson said he learned how to operate within a proper man-to-man and zone defense during Saturday’s open tryout.
Along with Bursco and Johnson, Former Edinboro State Wide Receiver Andy Taylor and a former OUA safety (who had secretly taken the day off work to chase his pro football aspirations, and asked not to be identified) were selected. (Won`t he be surprised when his name is announced on the next Phantoms` press release?)
With over 10,000 athletes playing college football each year, only a select few will realize their dream of making it to the next level, so occasionally someone will slip through the cracks and go unnoticed. These free agent camps give the unnoticed players the chance to show what they have to the watchful eye of a pro team. So while the selected group of four have only made it past the first stage of fulfilling their dream of playing pro football, they are still one step closer to achieving it.
Campbell Blake was a writer for ArenaFan Online during the 2001 season.
