Gladiators Tweak Roster, Add Rohan Davey
Will Burge
Friday April 4, 2008
The old saying goes, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” The Gladiators believe the opposite. “If you beat them, have them join you.” That’s exactly what Cleveland did Tuesday.
The Cleveland Gladiators signed quarterback Rohan Davey only days after releasing backup Jose Davis. Davis was a hometown boy having played at Kent State University in college. Davey, however, is a much more viable insurance policy if Raymond Philyaw were to go down with injury.
The Gladiators got an up close look at Davey in their season opener against the New York Dragons on March 3. Davey was 21-30 passing for 249 yards and 5 touchdowns replacing injured starter Aaron Garcia. The Gladiators went on to win that game 61-49. He was eventually waived by the Dragons on March 25.
Davey is a 6’3” 245 pound quarterback who played his college ball at LSU. While playing at LSU Davey became the only quarterback to throw for over 3,000 yards in school history and earned MVP honors in the 2001 Sugar Bowl.
He was originally drafted by the New England Patriots in the 5th round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He was a member of the team from 2002-2004 earning two Super Bowl rings while playing there.
In 2004 Davey was sent to NFL Europe where he was named Player of the Year and won the World Bowl with the Thunder.
He appeared in all sixteen games for the Dragons last season and started nine of those. In that time he was 216-364 with 2,612 yards and 45 touchdowns.
The Gladiators also signed WR/DB Willis Marshall, formally of the Georgia Force. He will replace WR Cornelius Bonner and DB Ryan Bowers who the Gladiators released and waived respectively. This is Marshall’s eighth season in the AFL and has recorded 521 receptions for 5,800 yards and 83 touchdowns. On special teams Marshall has 246 career returns for 4,960 yards and 6 touchdowns.
In college, Marshall won three Division I-AA championships with Youngstown State University under current Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel. He also won a Grey Cup in the CFL in 1998 with current NFL quarterback Jeff Garcia.
The Gladiators are hoping that these moves will sure up a roster which lacked depth at both the quarterback and defensive back positions. When Philyaw went out with an injured hand against the New Orleans VooDoo, Jose Davis put up abysmal numbers. He was only 6-10 passing for 115 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Davis hardly showed the efficiency needed to lead a team in the fast paced Arena Football League.
Cleveland is also hoping that Marshall will help out a secondary that ranks second to last in the league in opposing quarterbacks passer rating at 121.5. They are also second to last letting up 68.7% completion percentage to opposing quarterbacks. Any boost will help a secondary which is prone to giving up long touchdown passes. They rank last in the league giving up 8.7 yards per attempt.
The Gladiators return to action this Saturday at 8:00 P.M. in Dallas facing the undefeated Desperados. When replying to whether or not he’ll be healthy and have his young squad ready for a road game against one of the top teams in the league Philyaw said, “I’ll be ready buddy.”
