United Football League

UFL Training Camp Tee Up - Nighthawks Add Heisman Winner Smith To QB Derby

By Dusty Sloan

As expected, there are plenty of new names coming into - and back to - the United Football League as 2011 training camp begins its second week from coast to coast.

The biggest splash on Thursday was made by the Omaha Nighthawks, who signed quarterback Troy Smith, the 2006 Heisman Trophy winner out of Ohio State. Smith started a career-high six games for the San Francisco 49ers in 2010, finishing the season with 1,176 yards and five touchdowns passing and 121 yards and a touchdown rushing. For the 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens (2007-09), Smith saw time in 20 games (eight starts), and has a career National Football League passer rating of 78.5.

The highest volume of player signings on Thursday came from the Virginia Destroyers, who added five players to the active roster - wide receivers Cortez Hankton and John Standeford, tackle Na’Shan Goddard, linebacker Neal Howey and defensive end Ervin Baldwin. Hankton caught 23 passes for 283 yards and two touchdowns for the Florida Tuskers last season, Standeford came to Florida late last year and had 71 yards from scrimmage on six touches in the 2010 UFL Championship Game, Goddard started at right tackle for Florida in the final six games of 2010, including the title game, Howey is a rookie out of Eastern Michigan and Baldwin played three games with the Indianapolis Colts in 2009.

The Sacramento Mountain Lions added fullback Charles Ali on Thursday. Ali originally was in the UFL with the New York Sentinels in 2009, and had the team’s lone rushing touchdown that season. He also played 28 games (four starts) over two seasons (2007-08) with the Cleveland Browns.

Quick hits: UFL Founder Bill Hambrecht, also the Las Vegas Locomotives’ owner, attended Locos practice for the second day in a row on Thursday… The Locos’ scrimmage tonight at 8 p.m. local time is to simulate the late-night games on the team’s schedule, as well as to beat the Nevada heat as much as possible. The game-like action will be the major evaluation tool for determining the Locos’ position battles… The Nighthawks are having a party for the release of the Bombshells’ 2011 calendar Wednesday at 8 p.m. local time at Twin Peaks (17330 West Center Road).

UFL youngster of the day: Nighthawks rookie running back Noel Devine is looking to make his mark in his first year of professional football after a standout collegiate career at West Virginia.

At 5-foot-8 and 180 pounds, the dynamic Devine put up some eye-popping numbers for the Mountaineers. He is West Virginia’s all-time leader in all-purpose yards with 5,763, and scored 31 touchdowns. As a running back, Devine racked up 4,317 yards and 29 touchdowns on the ground, and another 710 yards and two scores receiving.

Further reading: Here is today’s sampling of UFL-related stories from local markets:

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110901/SPORTS/709019736/1001 

“The call came, they expressed a deep amount of interest and I can do nothing but return the favor with my play on the field and my willingness to be a good teammate.” - Smith.

http://www.lvrj.com/sports/ex-rebel-bell-stalks-locos-spot-129024218.html 

“The attitude here is different from the other places I’ve been. These guys expect to win. You can see that just by the way they carry themselves on the field. They know they’re winners. I hope I’ll be here. But to be honest, I don’t think too much about what will happen if I don’t make it here. I go like the wind, wherever it takes me.” - Locos linebacker Beau Bell.

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/02/3879704/day-of-reckoning-approaches.html 

“Everyone is working hard, and we’re now in full pads every morning. Final cutdown is coming, and we’ll have to get down to 50 players by then. Right now, we still have 70. So guys know what’s going on.” - Mountain Lions Head Coach/General Manager Dennis Green.

Omaha QB Plot Thickens With Addition Of Smith

By Dusty Sloan

As if the competition to be the starting quarterback for the Omaha Nighthawks in 13 days at TD Ameritrade Park against the Virginia Destroyers wasn’t interesting enough, the franchise went out and got its second Heisman Trophy-winning signal-caller of the offseason.

Former Ohio State star Troy Smith, the 2006 Heisman Trophy winner, was signed Thursday to compete with 2001 Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch (Nebraska) and former Heisman hopeful Jeremiah Masoli (Oregon, Mississippi) to be Omaha’s offensive leader heading into its second United Football League season.

“It was very, very, very hot,” Smith told Steven Pivovar of the Omaha World-Herald of his first workout Thursday. “I wasn’t expecting this. But it felt good to be out here. Jeremiah Masoli and Eric Crouch are very good quarterbacks, and I’m going to continue to learn and pick up as much as I can from those two guys.”

During his Heisman Trophy season, Smith threw for 2,542 yards and 30 touchdowns, and led the Buckeyes to a 12-1 record, a Big Ten championship and a spot in the BCS National Championship Game.

Smith started a career-high six games for the San Francisco 49ers in 2010, finishing the season with 1,176 yards and five touchdowns passing and 121 yards and a touchdown rushing. For the 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens (2007-09), Smith saw time in 20 games (eight starts), and has a career National Football League passer rating of 78.5.

Smith originally was a fifth-round pick by the Ravens in 2007.

Smith also is on a football team again with Nighthawks running back Maurice Clarett. Smith and Clarett were in the same 2002 Buckeyes recruiting class.

Smith and Crouch share the same prestigious honor from their college days. Now, they share a common professional goal - to be the Nighthawks’ starting quarterback less than two weeks from now.

“They’ve each won a tremendous honor, but now it’s about getting the job done in 2011,” Moglia told Pivovar. “It’s an honor that can never be taken away from them, but they need to focus on getting the job done here and now. And that’s their attitude.”

Newcomers, Ex-Colonials Added To UFL Rosters

By Dusty Sloan

The United Football League saw four newcomers join the league on Tuesday, while the Virginia Destroyers added a pair of former Hartford Colonials.

The Omaha Nighthawks have bolstered their offensive line with the additions of Nebraska rookie Mike Smith and Colgate product Nick Hennessey. Smith is looking to begin his professional career after missing all of the 2010 season with a broken leg. In 2009, Smith started all 14 games, and in 2008, he started 12 of 13 games played - all at left tackle. He played in all 12 games as a backup tackle as a redshirt freshman in 2007.

Hennessey originally an undrafted free agent with the Buffalo Bills in 2009. He also is a member of the Patriot League’s 25th Anniversary Football Team.

The Nighthawks also added veteran linebacker Angelo Crowell, who was in Omaha training camp last year. In five seasons with the Buffalo Bills (2003-07), Crowell recorded 343 total tackles, seven sacks, a safety, 13 pass breakups, five interceptions and four forced fumbles.

Virginia added a pair of UFL veterans in ex-Colonials Ryan Cave (guard) and Derek Walker (defensive end). Cave spent the second half of the 2010 season in Hartford, starting once at right guard, while Walker had a sack, five total tackles, a forced fumble, a pass breakup and a league-record 83-yard fumble return touchdown last season.

The Sacramento Mountain Lions inked rookie linebacker Victor Aiyewa. Aiyewa spent some time in 2011 training camp with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent, and collegiately at Washington, recorded 83 total tackles, 22½ tackles for loss, four forced fumbles and 4½ sacks in 13 games as a senior in 2010.

Rookie Colburn Added To Sacramento QB Mix

By Dusty Sloan

Rookie quarterback Ryan Colburn has officially been added to the Sacramento Mountain Lions’ quarterback derby.

Colburn, Sacramento’s first-round choice in the 2011 United Football League Draft, had a solid senior season in 2010 for Fresno State. At 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, Colburn comes to the Mountain Lions after having thrown for 2,817 yards and 23 touchdowns last fall for the Bulldogs. He also completed 63.1 percent of his passes, and ran for three touchdowns.

In his first year as a collegiate starter as a junior in 2009, Colburn threw for 2,459 yards and 19 touchdowns, and completed 60.7 percent of his passes.

Colburn is the third quarterback Sacramento has added to its active roster prior to the start of training camp, following former Canadian Football Leaguer and San Jose State standout Adam Tafralis and ex-Indoor Football Leaguer Arkelon Hall.

In Las Vegas, the Locomotives have added an intriguing player in the secondary in longtime Arena Football League standout Marquis Floyd. Floyd, who bounced around the National Football League from 2008-10 but never saw any regular-season time, had nine interceptions, 18 pass breakups and 115 total tackles in 18 games for the AFL’s Arizona Rattlers in the just-completed 2011 season.

Floyd has played four AFL seasons, and played two seasons in arenafootball2 prior to that.

Pryor’s Best Chance At NFL QB Development Would Start In The UFL

By Dusty Sloan

If former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor wants to be a quarterback in the National Football League sooner rather than later, his best course of action would be to become an NFL player a little later rather than sooner.

For Pryor to develop into the type of quarterback the NFL is looking for, Pryor first should take his considerable talents to the United Football League.

Pryor is eligible for today’s NFL Supplemental Draft, but he also is subject to an NFL ruling that he wouldn’t be allowed to practice for the team that drafts and subsequently signs him (or, if he isn’t chosen, just simply signs him) until Week 6.

At 6-feet-5 and 232 pounds and running a 40-yard dash on Saturday which would make almost every NFL wide receiver jealous, Pryor is an intriguing, versatile offensive option at best, but a less-than-polished quarterback at worst. For every attribute on the plus side of Pryor’s ledger (arm strength, athleticism, mobility, etc.), there are just as many, if not more, attributes in the negative or unknown column (accuracy, decision-making, intangibles, questions about taking snaps under center, etc.).

This is where the UFL could come in very handy for Pryor. Salary aside, what would be better for a player like Pryor, who, despite recently saying all the right things about playing different positions, sees himself as a quarterback and only a quarterback - sitting around for five weeks and not being able to practice during the start of the 2011 NFL regular season, or playing six (and possibly seven) professional games and learning how to not only be a professional quarterback in a pro-style offense, but also learning the other aspects of being a professional athlete prior to coming into the NFL?

Pryor showed flashes of future brilliance with the Buckeyes - winning all but four of his starts, winning three straight Big Ten titles, winning BCS bowl games and throwing and running for a combined 8,341 yards and 74 touchdowns.

He did none of that, however, in a pro-style offense. All the talent in the world doesn’t matter if you can’t perform in the situations you are put into at the next level.

How much further ahead would Pryor be starting his professional career on the field for 70 plays a game in a six-game regular season (and, perhaps, the UFL Championship Game) playing under, say, Las Vegas Locomotives Head Coach/General Manager/President Jim Fassel or Sacramento Mountain Lions Head Coach/General Manager Dennis Green? As compared to not being able to do much of anything until mid-to-late October in the NFL? It’s a question that doesn’t even need to be answered, because the answer is so obvious.

Of course, there is the potential of injury in the UFL, and given that Pryor’s agent is Drew Rosenhaus, the UFL-first option for Pryor, now that he is in the NFL Supplemental Draft, probably isn’t anywhere close to being on the radar.

But if the goal is more to get Pryor to be an NFL-ready quarterback sooner, rather than getting more money up-front sooner, and given the parameters for entry set forth by the NFL, being an active professional player come mid-September would seem to be the much more preferable option.

And thanks to the UFL, it’s an option Pryor has - and one that he should take a long, hard look at come tonight.

Ex-Colonials Continue To Find New Jobs Throughout UFL

By Dusty Sloan

The Dispersal Draft of Hartford Colonials players took place Monday night, but those who weren’t chosen continue to find work in the United Football League.

Five ex-Colonials were signed by UFL teams Thursday, including four by the Virginia Destroyers. Cornerback Ahmad Carroll, a former first-round draft pick of the Green Bay Packers, will go to camp with the Destroyers and add to a group led by ex-Florida Tuskers veteran Darius Vinnett, journeyman Jason Horton and fellow ex-Colonial Kyle Whitehurst. Safety Tra Battle, a two-year UFL vet with Hartford and New York, adds to a Virginia group that features ex-Tusker starter Jerome Carter, former Virginia Tech standout Aaron Rouse and National Football League vet J.R. Reed.

Tight end Ronnie Ghent, who caught 25 passes in two seasons with Hartford and New York, has joined Virginia to add a veteran presence to newcomers Louis Irizarry and Joe Monteverde. And linebacker Savion Frazier will look to compete for playing time among UFL veterans like Odell Thurman, Terrence Melton, Tony Taylor and Arnold Harrison.

Hartford’s No. 2 rusher from 2010, Andre Dixon, has signed with the Sacramento Mountain Lions. Dixon, who had 241 rushing yards last fall, is added to 2010 Mountain Lions backups John David Washington and Steve Baylark on the active roster. Sacramento still is awaiting the re-signing of two-year starter Cory Ross, the UFL’s all-time leading rusher and reception leader.

Nighthawks Add To Deep Running Back Group With Devine Signing

By Dusty Sloan

The Omaha Nighthawks will have plenty of talented tailbacks to choose from for the upcoming 2011 United Football League season, and that group just got better with the addition of rookie Noel Devine.

In playing all 13 games in 2010 for the Mountaineers, Devine led the team with 934 rushing yards on 208 attempts, and added six touchdowns. He also was West Virginia’s third-leading receiver, catching 34 passes for 258 yards and another touchdown. Devine had back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons as a sophomore and a junior, gaining 1,289 yards in 2008 and 1,465 yards in 2009.

Devine comes to the Nighthawks after spending part of 2011 training camp with the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League.

Devine, at 5-foot-8 and 180 pounds, gives the Nighthawks another talented back to go with the likes of incumbents Maurice Clarett and Shaud Williams, and ex-Nebraska Cornhusker and New York Sentinel Marlon Lucky.

From The Stat Files - What It Takes To Win In The UFL

By Dusty Sloan

It’s been no secret that the majority of the games in the first two years of United Football League play have been highly competitive.

So what are some of the trends league-wide in terms of how many points are needed to be successful, and the same way with points allowed?

- Las Vegas Locomotives Head Coach/General Manager/President Jim Fassel has an 11-5 record in UFL play - 9-5 in the regular season and 2-0 in UFL Championship Games. When the Locos score at least 24 points in a game, they are 6-2. When they allow 24 points or less in a game, they are a perfect 11-0.

- Sacramento Mountain Lions Head Coach/General Manager Dennis Green is 6-8 in two UFL seasons. Using the 24-point threshold, the California Redwoods/Mountain Lions franchise is 4-2 when scoring at least that many points, and 6-2 when allowing 24 or less points.

- Omaha Nighthawks Head Coach/President Joe Moglia will look to turn around the franchise’s fortunes in 2011, and the following trends, as well - the team scored an average of 22 points per game in three wins, and 9.4 points per game in five losses; it allowed an average of 19 points a game in three victories, and 29 points a game in five losses.

- Virginia Destroyers Head Coach/General Manager Marty Schottenheimer’s last year as a Head Coach prior to 2011 was with the San Diego Chargers in 2006. The Chargers went 14-2 during the regular season that year, and during their 10-game winning streak to end the regular year, San Diego scored at least 24 points seven times and allowed 24 points or less seven times.

How many wins are in a passer rating?

The higher the passer rating, the better the quarterback, right? Perhaps, and perhaps not. But the better question is - the higher the passer rating, the better chance of a win, right?

In the 21 UFL games played during the 2010 season, here are the passing statistics for those who won games, and those two didn‘t:

CATEGORY ATT. CMP. YARDS TD INT RATING

21 winning teams 672 408 4,861 31 17 87.7

21 losing teams 783 428 4,500 19 32 62.6

More important than the passer rating, look at the interceptions - nearly one more per game (0.714) for the losing teams than the winning teams.

Nordin Returns To Add TE Depth In Las Vegas

By Dusty Sloan

The Las Vegas Locomotives, already boasting an impressive group of tight ends heading into training camp later this month, added another name to the list with the return of Jake Nordin.

Nordin was a backup tight end with the Locos during the 2009 season, catching a four-yard touchdown pass in the season-finale against the New York Sentinels and a five-yard pass in the United Football League Championship Game.

Nordin has played five games in the National Football League - one with the Baltimore Ravens in 2007 and four (one start) with the Detroit Lions in 2009. He caught two passes for 26 yards with Detroit.

Nordin joins a tight end group in Las Vegas which features two-year starter Adam Bergen, 2010 backup Dezmond Sherrod and talented newcomers Xavier Lee and Jamie Petrowski.

Lee Returns To Locos To Add QB Depth

By Dusty Sloan

Former University of Nebraska rookie quarterback Zac Lee has returned to the Las Vegas Locomotives following a brief stint with the National Football League’s Seattle Seahawks.

Lee signed with the Seahawks on July 26 after being on the Locos’ active roster prior to the United Football League’s 30-day delay to the start of the 2011 season. Seattle released Lee on August 3.

Lee threw for 2,143 yards and 14 touchdowns as a junior at Nebraska in 2009, and was a backup as a senior, going 11-for-20 for 102 yards.

Lee re-joins a Locos quarterback group which features 2010 UFL Championship Game Most Valuable Player Chase Clement and journeyman Chad Friehauf, the 2004 Harlon Hill Trophy (Division II Player of the Year) winner.