The Midwest Division Preview
Michael Vergane
Tuesday March 27, 2001
Joining the powerhouses are the Tulsa Talons, former IFL teams in Lincoln and Wichita, along with expansion franchises in Louisville and Des Moines.
Quad City Steamwheelers
2000 record: 16-0, af2 champion
Head Coach Frank Haege has the daunting task of trying to follow up on the Steamwheelers’ 19-0 championship season. And he will try to accomplish this without the af2’s leading scorer, Shon King, the af2’s Ironman Of The Year, Xavier Patterson, and the af2’s top rated quarterback, Billy Dicken.
Hoping to replace Dicken is their backup from last season, Mike Gluski. Gluski put up impressive numbers of his own throwing for 696 yards, 18 TD’s and no interceptions in relief.
The Steamwheelers’ top returning receiver, Scott Hvistendahl, said of Gluski, “The thing about Mike is that he is a hard worker. He has great discipline in getting into the weight room. He works on his throwing technique and he does all of the little things he needs to do, which is what you want in a quarterback.”
Former Western Michigan QB Jay McDonagh and Western Illinois grad Mark Zanders will push Gluski for the starting spot. McDonagh played for Madison in the IFL last season, where he threw for 2,335 yards and 47 TD’s.
There are several openings which need to be filled at the WR/DB spot. Looking to take those spots are former San Jose Sabercat Melvin McClendon and speedy 6’2’’ 200lb Justin Skaggs from Evangel College.
Center Spencer Stevens will once again be anchor the offensive line.
Peoria Pirates
2000 record: 14-0, IFL champion
The Pirates enter the 2001 season with an impressive pedigree. They are the 2000 champions of the defunct IFL, and like Quad City, they also went undefeated. The IFL featured a different style of play, however, and the Pirates will have to adjust to Arenaball this year.
With the departure of Bruce Cowdrey to Pensacola, Peoria will be coached this season by the quarterback who led them to their championship, Gary Porter. Porter, whose Arena experience came with the 1997 Texas Terror, has been coaching during the off-season at his alma mater, Northwestern Oklahoma State.
Porter admits that this is a different type of game from the IFL, but believes he has the type of players who can adjust. “We worried what our offensive lineman were going to bring to the table defensively, but after the first couple of practices and seeing what they did in scrimmages, we don’t worry about that anymore.”
Porter brought two quarterbacks into camp: Mike Nelson, who was Porter’s backup with the Pirates in 2000, and Sean Hoolihan who was one of Porter’s opponents in the IFL last season. Porter feels Hoolihan is a winner. “We were very pleased to get Sean. He brings a dimension to this team athletically. He can run the football and avoid the rush. With Sean, we have to get him settled down and get him into the pure passing mode of this game. I believe in both of my quarterbacks and I believe they are winners.”
Hoolihan and Nelson will have several good targets to throw to including Kenny Junious, a big physical 6’5” target, and Sheridan Mitchell, who Porter discovered at a Chicago Rush tryout camp.
“One of our challenges is starting the season on the road early against Quad City,” said Porter, pointing to March 29th’s highly anticipated Kickoff 2001 match-up. “It will be important for us to do well there.”
Lincoln Lightning
2000 record: 10-4 (IFL)
Another new team in the Midwest Division is the Lincoln Lightning, one of three former IFL teams that were absorbed into af2. They will play in the smallest arena in af2, the 5,000-seat Pershing Auditorium. But in a football crazy town like Lincoln, there will not be enough seats to go around.
Former Iowa Barnstormer Jose Jefferson, who credits Kurt Warner for teaching him the Arena game while both were on the Barnstormers roster, patrols the Lightning sideline. He realizes that the Arena style of ball will require some adjustments from his men but feels they are up to the challenge.
Lincoln’s training camp roster included 16 players from last season’s squad. Chief among them is their starting QB from 2000, 6’5” 240 lb. Josh Luedtke. Luedtke threw for 2092 yards and 43 TD’s last year.
The Lightning roster also features a player sporting an af2 Championship ring, former Steamwheeler Jay Eilers. Eilers joins Lincoln this season in order to be closer to his home.
“I love the character of our team,” said Jefferson. “Our guys have embraced the idea of playing both ways and playing more than one position. Plus I think that they have a lot to prove to this town, this league, and to themselves. We have a great group of men, not only great football players but great people.”
Of course if you are talking championship rings in Lincoln, you are talking about the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Lighting roster includes former Cornhuskers, RB Damon Benning, TE Vershon Jackson and Duane Harris.
Tulsa Talons
2000 record: 9-7
The Talons enter their second season in af2 with a new head coach, Skip Foster. He comes to the Talons after 12 successful seasons at Coffeyville Junior College (KS). In 1990, Foster’s squad won the Junior College National Championship and was runner-up in 1996.
Jeff Jarnigan, formerly the head coach of the IFL’s Minnesota team, will join Foster as the squad’s defensive coordinator. He brings with him a reputation for hard-nosed ball and solid line play.
On the field, the Talons welcome back quarterback Craig Strickland who quarterbacked the third-highest scoring offense in af2 last season (52.7 points per game). He completed 54.1 percent of his throws with 44 scoring tosses.
Tulsa qualified for the playoffs in 2000, but many key players from that squad moved up to the AFL during the off-season. Among those are OL/DL Demetrius Crowder and Jason Hall who signed with the Oklahoma Wranglers. WR/DB Jarrail Jackson also signed with Oklahoma and twin WR’s Brent and Brandon Burnside, both of whom signed with the Houston Thunderbears. In all, Tulsa lost seven players to the AFL, second only to the Augusta Stallions.
Iowa Barnstormers
Expansion team
The Barnstormers take on a new identity this season as owner Jim Foster brings his expansion team into the af2’s Midwest Division
Last fall the AFL Barnstormers were sold by Foster’s ownership group and moved to Long Island. Foster kept the name, uniforms and trademarks in order for the Des Moines area to retain Arena football, this time as part of af2.
Although only two former Barnstormers appear on this season’s roster (FB/LB Troy Dickey and OL/DL Gary Howe), Head Coach Art Haege, the father of Quad Cities coach Frank, has done a solid job in assembling talent in a short amount of time.
One player that Haege is high on is 6’4” 225 lb QB Jason Murdock. Murdock was a JUCO All-American at Merced JC (CA.) and was then recruited by Golden Gopher Head Coach Jim Wacker to play for the University Of Minnesota. Others on the Iowa roster who should make an impact include OL/DL Brad Smith and DS Taylon Jenkins.
Louisville Fire
Expansion team
Watching the successful trend that began in the af2 last season, the expansion Louisville Fire bring in a head coach with plenty of Arena experience in Ron Selesky. Selesky comes to the Fire from the AFL Tampa Bay Storm where he was an assistant coach and director of player personnel.
Selesky was an Offensive Tackle during his playing days at North Central College and also played with the Minnesota Vikings during the strike shortened 1987 season.
The Fire will have a Louisville Cardinal flavor as former UL wide receivers Charles Sheffield and Miguel Montano hope to bolster their offense. Montano graduated from Louisville as their all time leading receiver with 175 catches for 2,305 yards.
Also joining the Fire roster are former Cardinals FB/LB Tony Estes, OL/DL Leland Taylor and DS John Fuqua.
Wichita Stealth
2000 record: 4-10 (IFL)
The Stealth enter this season as the third former IFL team to merge into the af2, though they were last known as the Warlords. Head Coach Land Jacobsen came over to the team from Western New Mexico University on the recommendation of Oklahoma Wranglers head coach Bob Cortese. He got a bit of a late start, hiring his assistants just three weeks before the opener. Tres Sullivan, a former AFL passer, will coach the offense and provides the lone Arena experience on the staff.
Jacobsen hopes his offense will flourish behind the arm of QB Derek Brown. The former Cal State – Northridge passer played with Topeka of the IFL in 2000 throwing for 1,261 yards and 29 TD’s. While the Stealth will not return as much of its 2000 roster as Peoria and Lincoln will, it has 12 former IFL’ers in camp, including 10 former members of the Warlords.
Brown’s main target looks to be OS Pascal Volz who played for Jaocbsen while at Scottsdale Community College. Volz most recently spent time with the AFL’s Orlando Predators. He also participated in camp with the Arizona Cardinals and the Berlin Thunder of NFL Europe.
Michael Vergane was a writer for ArenaFan Online from 2000 to 2002.
