No Orlando QB. No Biggie.
Dan Ryan
Thursday March 15, 2001
Yeah, whatever. The Bart Starr of arena football has problems, so do I, namely if I don`t bash the XFL within the next 423 words, I fall short on my quota and thus lose my exclusive discount at the store for cynical self-serving bastard columnists.
For the third consecutive year, Orlando Predator head coach Jay Gruden begins training camp with uncertainty at the quarterback situation, but we know how the first three years have worked out in the jungle -- a season-ending appearance on ABC with two trips to the jewelry shop for ring-fitting.
"We`re fine,“ says Gruden, addressing changing QBs with the same concern of someone changing a tire on his car.
The brief history lesson. Pat O`Hara led the Preds` improbable Arena Bowl run in 1998, but got a speaking role in Oliver Stone`s On Any Given Sunday that could have made Hollywood forget about his role in the Adam Sandler spectacular, The Waterboy. O`Hara misses 1999 training camp, so Gruden brings in Browning Nagle.
 Gruden will be without championship QB Connell Maynor in 2001 Image courtesy of Drew Kennedy |
So who`s left? There`s Braniff Bonaventure, a third-stringer who saw some time at Florida in 1999. There`s
Jon Nielsen, who threw for 4,417 yards and 84 TDs for AF2`s Arkansas last year. There`s a kid from Tennessee State, a few others with impressive videotapes. Maybe, somewhere, there`s one stocking shelves, ala that Warner guy. Hey, Doug Flutie was available….
"It`s as wide open as it ever has been," Gruden said. "Other years, we`ve had guys who have been established, this year it`ll be someone new. That`s fine. They can learn the game as easy as anybody else"
Branif Bonaventure. Hmph. Sounds like an airline promotion instead of someone penciled in as the number one starter -- for now - -of the defending league champion.
"He`s a good quarterback who hasn`t gotten a lot of opportunities," Gruden said. "I`m excited about what he can do if he gets one."
Ideally, Gruden wanted to keep Maynor, but there was only so much money to go around and Gruden`s top priority was to keep the nucleus of the line and defense secondary together. Even Gruden admitted New Jersey`s offer to Maynor was too good to refuse, especially with Maynor and his wife recently having a baby.
"I would have done the same the thing," Gruden said. "It`s the part of the business and I respect him for taking it."
And if the QB situation doesn`t pan out? Well, there`s always Jeff Brohm or Brian Kuklick of the Orlando Rage, both of whom no doubt would like to play in a televised game that someone is actually watching. [Ba-da-bing! Quota met!] They`ll be available in April…or, in what could make every member of the Preds` ticket department cringe:
"We could always go the way of the Baltimore Ravens,“ Gruden said and hopefully kidding. "Go with defense and special teams and win all our games 9-3."
Is Trent Dilfer available?
Dan Ryan has been involved with all forms of arena football since 1988, including writing for ArenaFan when Joe Kauffman and Tim Capper aren’t killing his columns because they don’t get his jokes or perspective. His day job is at Bethune-Cookman University, which has produced both an NFL Hall of Famer (Larry Little) and an Arena Football Hall of Famer (Stevie Thomas) and his hobby is tracking how many f-bombs Adam Markowitz drops in the chat room on game nights.
