San Jose wakes from long catnap

Andy Lopusnak
Thursday March 10, 2011

Friday's 2011 opener will be the first Arena Football League game for the San Jose SaberCats in 958 days. It was more than two and half years ago that the three-time ArenaBowl champs fell three points shy of hoisting the Foster Trophy for a fourth time.

In the months following ArenaBowl XXII, the Arena world went from thriving to dying. By December of 2008, the league suspended operations and the entire 2009 season was lost. Late in 2009, Arena Football One formed from a hodge-podge of arenafootball2 teams and a handful of AFL franchises. Months later, AF1 bought all the rights of the AFL and re-branded itself as the AFL. Absent from the 15 teams of the 2010 re-launch was the SaberCats.

The SaberCats waited a year to comeback because of uncertainty with the fledgling league. Midway through the 2010 season, the SaberCats were convinced and became the first of four new teams for the 2011 season.

Joining San Jose this year are former AFL markets like Kansas City and Philadelphia as well as moving/re-branding weaker former af2 markets (Bossier-Shreveport BattleWings and Alabama Vipers) to former AFL strongholds (New Orleans VooDoo and Georgia Force). The addition of expansion Pittsburgh Power, a team originally announced prior to the collapse, rounds out the league at 18 teams - the most since 2007 when the league sported 19 teams (two of which folded after that season).

Back at the helm of the SaberCats is two-time AFL Coach of the Year Darren Arbet, who is now also a part owner of the franchise. During the two-plus year layoff, Arbet had offers to work in the personnel office at various NFL teams and coach collegiately, but felt the league would return. When it did, he attended many games and began scouting for the SaberCats' eventual return.

The early scouting was needed because the 2011 SaberCats have just three players from the 2008 ArenaBowl run - WR/KR Rodney Wright, QB Mark Grieb and WR Samora Goodson. Wright and Grieb were AFL superstars in 2008, while Goodson spent most of that season on the practice squad and has no AFL stats. 

Arbet, whose 70.5 winning percentage is the third best ever and highest among active coaches with at least 20 games coached, convinced some big names to join the SaberCats in the offseason. The biggest of which is 2010 AFL Defensive Player of the Year and AFL Lineman of the Year Gabe Nyenhuis, who set a league record with 15.5 sacks and nine forced fumbles for the Tulsa Talons last season. Arbet also got Nyenhuis' fellow defensive lineman Adam Hueber that added two sacks and two fumble recoveries for the league's top defensive line unit.

Staying on the defensive side, San Jose added DB Mervin Brookins, who posted 7.5 tackles and an interception last year's ArenaBowl for Spokane. Though most of the defensive has little indoor experience aside from these, Arbet said, "they are young, fast and ready to play...this is a very good group."

Offensively, the SaberCats return one of the greatest quarterbacks the indoor game has ever seen in Mark Grieb. Even with missing 2010 to "be a father, teach tenth graders biology and be an offensive coordinator for a high school," Grieb still ranks fifth in AFL history in passing yards and passing touchdowns. He was the first player in league history to post five-straight 4,000-yard passing seasons.

Grieb admitted that he could "count on one hand the number of times he throw a ball" until Arbet gave him a call about coming back about two years after ArenaBowl XXII, but "kept in shape to be healthy" during the super extended offseason. However, once he got into camp "the rust started coming off" and with a chuckle he added, "I guess, two years isn't too long."

Witnessing practice, Grieb looked like the Grieb the AFL world knows all too well. His accuracy was there and he tossed spiral after spiral, long ball after long ball and darts to receivers all over the practice field seemingly with no effort.

Grieb's main (and only target) from 2008 is also back. Wright led the SaberCats with 134 receptions for 1,453 yards to go along with 24 touchdowns. Not only will Wright be Grieb's go-to receiver, he will be the team's primary kick returner. In 2008, he had 1,186 yards and a touchdown on 58 returns; and finished third in the league in all-purpose yardage (2,669).

After the 2008 season, Wright spent 2009 on the practice squads of the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers; and in 2010 was still trying to hook onto an NFL squad, but kept an eye on the AFL with the hopes of returning if the NFL didn't pan out.

The receiving corps added 2008 leading scorer Otis Amey, who led the league with 302 points and 50 touchdowns to go along with his 1,516 receiving yards for the Cleveland Gladiators. However, the All-Arena First Teamer is on the club's physically unable to perform list and should be back sometime during the season. Without Amey, the team will rely heavily on Samora Goodson, who spent most the 2008 year on the team's practice squad but was on the active roster for the playoffs when James Roe went down with an injury.

San Jose has Nichiren Flowers, who caught 61 balls for 892 yards and 17 scores in just nine games last year for the Chicago Rush. The SaberCats have high hopes for Burl Toler, who the team signed originally in 2007 but the Washington Redskins scooped him up before getting a chance to play for the green and gold.

One of the lesser known, but crucial pickups for San Jose could be center Robert Powell, who played in every game last season for the American Conference champion Tampa Bay Storm. He hiked the ball to All-Arena Second Team QB Brett Dietz and held down one of the best offensive lines in the league. Joining Powell on the O-line is Atlas Herrion, who spent four seasons in the NFL and two more with the Arizona Rattlers, including last season.

"Essentially we were a team of a bunch of veterans (in 2008) with a few rookies sprinkled in," noted Grieb. "Now we're a team of rookies or new guys to San Jose with a handful of veterans."

Arbet's not worried about the high number of rookies compared to just a few vets noting, "we have 18 games to get it right." Last year, both ArenaBowl XXIII teams (Spokane and Tampa Bay) suffered double-digit losses in Week One (Spokane lost to Milwaukee by 12 and Tampa Bay lost at Tulsa by eleven).

Friday night, the SaberCats take on the defending ArenaBowl champion, and Western Division foe, Spokane Shock at HP Pavilion at 7:45 PM Pacific Time. Arbet boasted, "Spokane's the best in the business. There's no better way to kick off the season playing the best."

He added that the biggest difference that fans will see looking back at 2008 to this Friday would be, "the different names on the back of the jerseys...it's going to a great game against the best in the business."

The SaberCats are expecting a near capacity crowd for the home opener, but some tickets are still available. Individual game tickets start at $16 and season tickets for the nine home games begin at just $135. For more information, visit TheSanJoseSaberCats.com or call 408.673.3400.