Rampage coach busy during bye week
Chip Burch
Thursday March 29, 2007
Grand Rapids Rampage coach Sparky McEwen was busy during the team’s bye week, noting he had very little time for himself.
“Me personally, there hasn't been a whole lot of time available,” he said.
McEwen was busy trying to figure out a way to stop the Rampage’s three-game slide and also trying to figure out how to keep opponents from running up the score on him. Grand Rapids is 1-3 going into next week’s game against the New York Dragons.
In the three losses, Rampage opponents have averaged 77 points a game, including an 83-point debacle against the Utah Blaze in Week 4 that set a franchise record for most points allowed.
McEwen said he has been “trying to find talent to upgrade our roster since we suffered so many injuries.”
“The bye week comes at a great time because we are so banged up. It also gives the staff to slow down and prepare at a slower pace. It also gives us a time evaluate our roster.”
The Rampage did that with a number of moves in the week. Released were DS Reggie Doster, DL LaWaylan Brown, FB/LB Bruce Blue and backup QB Mark Radlinski. Signed were OL/DL Sheddrick “Buck” Gurley, DS Trey Bell and OL/DL Bryan Henderson.
The Rampage also activated QB Chad Salisbury from the injured reserve list. He is expected to start against the Dragons April 7. He suffered a concussion in the Rampage’’s win over the Colorado Crush.
Gurley played for the Tampa Bay Storm last year, registering 4.5 tackles.
Henderson was an All-Arena defensive lineman in 2004 with Arizona. Last season he played for both the Kansas City Brigade and Utah, getting a combined 10 tackles, two sacks and one fumble recovery.
Bell is an Arena Football League rookie out of Wisconsin-Whitewater who was in the Chicago Rush’s training camp at the beginning of the year.
McEwen said he may not be done making moves yet.
“We're close but the ones we made have been significant,” he said. ““For the most part we've addressed some of the key issues we've had over the last couple weeks.”
Now it’’s on to planning how to beat New York, who beat the Storm 59-52 March 23 for its first win of the season.
“They have a game they have to play on Sunday“ at home against the Philadelphia Soul, McEwen said. “They're one of the most talented teams we'll play all year. The week was needed to evaluate the Dragons to see what they have on their roster.”
