Coming Out Party for Verone McKinley
Mary-Ann Williams
Friday May 24, 2002
This time the team looks to four-year veteran Verone McKinley. A seasoned defensive specialist, McKinley looks to finish out the season with Chicago after being let go by Coach Michael Trigg for not being capable of playing the Rampage defensive scheme.
"[Verone has] good size, has the ability to cover a guy in a man-to-man situation,” said Trigg. “We needed guys that are a little quicker than Verone is. The way Chicago plays defense, he should fit in well there. I think Verone is tailor-made for the way the Rush play defense.”
Faster and taller than the average DS (the 6’2” Texas native reportedly clocked a 4.4 in the 40), McKinley looks to complete Chicago’s back three alongside DS Cedric Walker and WR/DB Dameon Porter. He steps in following DS Tristan Moss’ release after the Rush defense allowed 59 and 66 points to Grand Rapids and Tampa, respectively, including dropping a loss to the struggling Tampa Storm. The Rush are looking to McKinley to make the difference as they head into the mid-season stretch.
“The thing that I see differently right now is I see this kid’s making plays in practice,” said Rush head coach Mike Hohensee. “He’s close to the receivers when we play man-to-man -- he’s right there -- and he flies around to the football a little more aggressively than Tristan did.”
The numbers don’t tell the whole story, but so far this season, Moss has the edge on McKinley in tackling, a key ingredient missing from the Rush repertoire. While playing for the Rampage, McKinley managed five tackles and no assists. Moss, on the other hand, brought down 11 guys, and helped out on another nine.
“It’s hard to compare the two,” said Hohensee. “I had Tristan through a training camp and the first part of the season and this kid was here last week on a two-day work-out. This is the beginning stages of it. I have to see him in a pressure situation.”
So why trade a known entity for an unknown quantity? Because the team lacked confidence in Moss.
“I think that one thing that happened with Tristan is that everyone lost a little confidence in him,” said Hohensee, “and that’s too bad because I thought he was a good football player and an exceptional person.”
McKinley also reportedly has the power and physical play that Moss (and before him Derek Stingley) lacked. Until he’s on the field, however, there’s no way to know how he’ll do, and there’s nothing like a trial by fire. McKinley will wear the Rush white and blue for the first time against Arizona, undefeated except for a one-point loss to San Jose.
“This week is a coming out party for him,” said WR/DB coach Stan Davis. “He’s an experienced player. It’s just a matter of learning our terminology. It’s not like we’re taking a rookie, you know. He’s been playing for the championship team.”
Tackling, Dummy
Catch Hohensee on a verbose day and he’s ready to call lousy play lousy play. When I asked him how tackling was coming along after last weeks fiasco on the field, he replied, “It still sucks, but we’ll get better.”
Not that he thinks all that highly of any AFL teams’ tackling ability.
“I look around the league and there aren’t too many great defensive specialists in this league. There are a lot of guys that have hung around for a while, but they’re all getting beat.
“So saying that we’re going to go out there and find all these guys that are going to stop everyone cold… there ain’t nobody out there stopping everybody cold. I think what you want to do is go out and find smart players that play physical that come up and tackle people.”
Anyone’s Season
Entering week six, the Arena Football League has been turned upside down. Across the league, talent has been let go as the teams jockey to get the best line-up heading toward the summer months. Gary Compton heads to Grand Rapids from Indiana. Carlos Johnson of Orlando and Tristan Moss of Chicago are both still searching for somewhere to land to finish the season. What’s going on?
“I think everybody feels they have a chance and you don’t wait to fix something,” said Hohensee. “I think part of expecting to win is because there are only 16 teams in the league. Everyone feels they’re pretty solid, and if they can tweak one or two things here if they see something wrong, they probably have more depth to replace it [this season], so they feel more confident to make a move like that than they did before.”
Porter Set to Play
Never fear, Superman fans, Dameon Porter will be on the field in Arizona. After resting a day or two, Chicago’s spotlight-player plans to be back in the fray come Saturday.
“I’ll be there,” said Porter. “I’ll be ready to go. That’s my job, and I’m up for it.”
Mary-Ann Williams lives in Chicagoland with her four children, Carter, Jackson, Jeremy, and Riley Jade. As a freelance writer, she`s written articles for the Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and the Daily Herald. She also serves as editor of the AFL-side of Arenafan Online, and covers the Chicago Rush.
