A Familiar Picture in Music City
Charliy Nash
Sunday March 25, 2001
If the
Nashville Kats need to save money this season I have a suggestion for them. They can use last year’s team picture instead of taking a new one. Think I’m kidding? Try this scenario: QB Andy Kelly (or backup James Brown) takes the snap, he can hand the ball to Jason Bratton or Rupert Grant, or he can throw to Cory Fleming, Tyronne Jones, Darryl Hammond, or Jarrick Hillery, while being protected by a line that includes James Baron, Aaron Hamilton, Pat Downey, Robert Gaddy, Bruce McClure, Ben Crosland, and William Gaines. Sound familiar? Throw in kicker Steve McLaughlin and the defensive pair of Kirk Pointer and Robert Davis and it sounds a lot like the Y2K Kats who made it to the Arena Bowl.
Andy Kelly should recognize all the same butts around Kats Kamp this season.
Image courtesy of Joe Kauffman |
You have to turn the Defector Detector up to full intensity to find the missing pieces: DS Carl Greenwood was traded to the Houston Vaga-Bears, free agent lineman Carlos Fowler signed with Los Angeles, and
Bob Kronenberg moved from lineman to Assistant Coach. The XFL will cause the Kats to be without the services of two key players for a few games: DS/KR Ron Carpenter, and master of all trades (WR/DB/LB/KR/KH/K) Jeff Russell. Russell is actually an unsigned free agent, but all indications from both sides are that he will return to Nashville.
There are several new faces in the Kats Kamp this year. Veteran DS Adrian Lunsford was Nashville’s first free agent signing. Local college star WR/DB Cliff Green came to the team in a trade from Los Angeles. The Kats also traded to obtain veteran DS Alonzo Hampton from Toronto. Several af2 players are on the preseason roster including WR/DB John Dollar, OL/DL Matt Norwood, FB/LB C.J. McClain, and OL/DL Jason Stuart. NFL tailback Travis Reece is making the transition to FB/LB by putting on a few pounds. WR/DB Corey Kelley became the second player in Kats’ history to make the team from open tryouts.
If the Kats do opt to take a new team picture, it shouldn’t be difficult to get Coach
Pat Sperduto to smile. All they’ll need to do is have him look at the roster.
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.
The opinions expressed in the article above are only those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts, opinions, or official stance of ArenaFan Online or its staff, or the Arena Football League, or any AFL or af2 teams.
