Phantoms` Have Difficult Decision at QB
Campbell Blake
Sunday March 18, 2001
“Training camp will be an open competition, we have signed a veteran this off-season in Pat O’Hara and ovisouly he has the inside track right now. We also have our returning starter, Chad Salisbury. He is coming off a major injury that ended his season last year in week seven. We also have … Brian Snyder and he took his team to the championship last year in Arena [Football] 2” said Phantoms Head Coach Mark Stout.
With Pat O’Hara apparently the quarterback of the present, Chad Salisbury is not out of the picture. In the mind of Stout, Salisbury is the team’s quarterback of the future. After not playing the vast majority of last season, O’Hara may find himself once again as the main man at the helm this season with the Phantoms. He will be asked to bring all his successful attributes to Toronto, which allowed him to guide his former team, the Orlando Predators, to an Arena Bowl Championship in 1998.
In O’Hara the Phantoms have a quarterback who has seen it all, as he has been both a starter and a backup on championship teams. This 6-year veteran is one of the most prolific passers in Orlando Predator history. He entered the 2000 season ranked 1st in practically every Predator career passing category including total offense, completions, passing yards and touchdown passes. The highlight of O’Hara’s career occurred in 1998 when he guided the Predators to a 62-31 victory over Tampa Bay to win their first Arenabowl championship in team history.
 Chad Salisbury had surprising success for a rookie in 2000. Image courtesy of Mark Canello |
“I think Chad is an excellent talent,” said O’Hara, “I think I have been brought here as far as the experience part of it, and to even maybe help Chad a little bit, as that I have been around a little bit. Chad is a very talented quarterback”
The wild card in the quarterback equation is Brian Snyder, who is coming off a very impressive season last year in the af2 with the Tennessee Valley Vipers. Along with guiding his team all the way to the Championship game before bowing out to Quad City in a 68 to 59 loss, Snyder placed in the top five of many of the league’s offensive categories, including passing yards -- with a total of 3828 -- and 354 completions. During the af2 championship game, Stout was most impressed that Snyder had the ability to produce even when the heat was on, passing for 379 yards and 6 touchdowns.
Regardless of who takes the majority of the snaps this season they will all benefit by having what could be the best group of receivers in the league this season. Ty Law, Damian Harrell and Kerry Brown have a great combination of speed, knowledge and experience. Any of the possible starting quarterbacks should have an easy time finding the open man. Even though Salisbury has familiarity with Harrell, O’Hara has plenty of experience with Law. The two were teammates in Orlando for the last three seasons.
When it finally comes time to pick the leader of the Phantoms’ offense, Coach Stout will have to choose wisely: The experienced veteran, the up-and-coming star or the one-year af2 vet? O’Hara enters training camp as the man to beat, but Salisbury and Snyder won’t make it easy. Thankfully for Phantoms’ fans, all are talented, and any of them can lead Toronto to victory in 2001.
Campbell Blake was a writer for ArenaFan Online during the 2001 season.
