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Dallas Vigilantes pare down roster to 23

March 30, 2010 - Arena Football League (AFL)
Dallas Vigilantes News Release


DALLAS, Texas - Despite having a rare bye week to start the season, the Dallas Vigilantes' coaching staff spent this past weekend completing the arduous task of identifying the pieces needed to win this season's ArenaBowl championship, including making tough decisions in paring down the team's training camp roster of 35 players to the mandatory 23-man regular-season roster.

After a fast and furious two weeks of training camp, Dallas head coach Rich Ingold believes his team has made rapid strides in a short amount of time.

"I feel good about this squad overall," Ingold said. "We had a very good training camp and we were able to work around some injuries we suffered early on. For the most part, all of our marquee players came away unscathed. We had a very impressive showing in our lone preseason game. Now I'm ready to see these guys play for real. The hardest part of this camp was having to make those final cuts because we had superb competition."

On paper, Dallas possesses all the weapons offensively to be one of the league's most prolific offenses, led by veteran quarterback Shane Stafford and wide receivers Derek Lee and Larry Brackins. Stafford threw for more than 4,000 yards in each of his past four seasons while playing for the Tampa Bay Storm and Orlando Predators.

Lee has established himself as one the elite deep threats in the league and had three 1,000-yard seasons in four years with the Georgia Force and Columbus Destroyers. On the other side, Brackins is coming off of a 2008 season in which he reeled in 107 receptions for 1,412 yards and 29 touchdowns in helping the Philadelphia Soul win the ArenaBowl championship.

Former Dallas Desperados fullback Josh White will serve as a nice complement to the passing game. Entering his eighth season, White has rushed for 921 yards and 41 touchdowns the past six seasons and is one of the league's better blocking fullbacks as well.

Expected to protect Stafford will be offensive linemen Phil Bogel, Rico Ochoa, Gary Battle, Attauyo Nsekhe, Linnis Smith, and Tommy Taggart.

On defense Dallas will be led by defensive back Eddie Moten and defensive lineman Duke Pettijohn, both of which are established stars in the arena league. Moten intercepted 31 passes in four seasons with the Soul while Pettijohn recorded nearly 250 tackles and 19.5 sacks in seven AFL seasons.

The Vigilantes also have the luxury of owning one of the best kickers in the league in veteran Mark Lewis, the 2007 AFL Kicker of the Year.

Dallas will kick off its inaugural season when its travels to Tulsa to take on the Talons on Saturday, April 10, at 7 p.m.

The Vigilantes open the 2010 home schedule on Friday, April 30, when they host the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz at 7:30 p.m. at American Airlines Center. Tickets for the 2010 season are on sale now and can be purchased by calling 972.378.5454.

Final Roster

(OL/DL) Gary Battle

(OL) Phil Bogel

(WR) Larry Brackins

(DB) Chris Brown

(QB) Collin Drafts

(WR) John Fields

(DB) Jason Harmon

(WR/DB) Kenny Henderson

(OL/DL) Mike Landry

(WR) Derek Lee

(K) Mark Lewis

(DB) T.J. McKay

(DB) Eddie Moten

(OL/DL) Attauyo Nsekhe

(OL/DL) Rico Ochoa

(DB) Efe Osawemwenze

(LB) Brandon Pahulu

(DL) Duke Pettijohn

(OL/DL) Linnis Smith

(QB) Shane Stafford

(OL/DL) Tommy Taggart

(DL/LB) Justin Warren

(FB) Josh White



Arena Football League Stories from March 30, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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