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2010 Tryout Effort Nets Tuskers 17 Roster Players

July 23, 2010 - United Football League (UFL 1)
Florida Tuskers News Release


ORLANDO, FL - FRIDAY, JULY 23, 2010 - In many professional sports, the term "open tryout" is often viewed as simply a publicity stunt--something that is done for the sole purpose of connecting a team to its community. But for the Florida Tuskers of the United Football League, the tryout system is a legitimate tool for identifying potential talent - and it's a tool that paid off handsomely in 2010.

The Tuskers held three "open tryouts" during the build up to the 2010 UFL season, with events in Miami (May 8), Orlando (May 15), and Atlanta (June 26). In addition, Coach Jay Gruden and his staff organized several "invitation only" tryouts.

In all, the tryout system resulted in 17 players earning invitations to Florida Tuskers training camp. In short, nearly 25% of Tuskers pre-season roster came from tryout camps.

"The bottom line is there are a lot of great players out there who, for whatever reason, never had a shot to continue their football careers," Gruden said. "Open tryouts and invitation tryouts give these players a chance to be seen. Last year, we had several players come through our tryout camps, make the team and contribute. Hopefully we'll see the same thing this year."

Players who were classified as tryout players took several different paths to the Tuskers.

Running back Kevin Harris (Wake Forest), defensive back Corey Small (Florida Atlantic) and offensive lineman Adrian Clark (Ohio State) were all selected by the Tuskers during the UFL's 2010 Free Agent Draft. But all three of players caught the attention of Tuskers coaches at one of the team's open tryouts before the draft.

"Those players were already in the UFL draft pool, but the bottom line is we got to know them during the tryouts," Gruden said. "Would we still have selected them if we didn't get a chance to see them first? Possibly not."

Other players signed by the Tuskers were truly discovered via the open tryout. Former UCF wide receiver Rocky Ross, LSU wide receiver Bennie Brazell, and wide receiver Calvin Russell from Tuskeegee Institute were not on radar of the Tuskers coaching staff until they appeared at one of the tryout camps.

The third aspect of tryout procedure, the invitation events, netted 11 other players. Players like quarterback Matt Grothe from South Florida, wide receiver CJ Jones from Iowa and cornerback David Irons of Auburn fell into this category.

"Obviously when players are fresh out of college and were just waived from NFL training camps, they still have a pretty good awareness factor among professional coaches. We often will invite those guys in for a private workout," Gruden said.

"The open tryouts on the other hand are really a great tool for lesser known players," the first-year head coach added. "Guys from smaller schools who never got a look or guys who have been out of school for a few years and may have already had their shots with the NFL and are no longer considered viable prospects. It gives those type of players another opportunity to be noticed."

Still it is a numbers game. For every 100 athletes who participate, only a few will be offered a contract. Even with those long odds, Gruden marveled at both the overall turnout and the quality of players at the tryouts and said it made it tough to both evaluate and make final decisions.

"We can only bring 70 guys to camp," Gruden said. "Frankly we could have signed another 20 or 30 qualified players out of the open tryouts but just didn't have the roster space to do so. A lot of it has to do with how strong we are at a particular position. We may have needed two or three guys at one position and maybe only one at another. We saw a lot of great players in Miami, Orlando and Atlanta and even if we didn't sign them we know about them now and can contact them if we need to."

Whether by invitation or by open tryout, Gruden believes in the process. "You just never know," Gruden said. "When I was in the Arena League we discovered a guy who was working in a car wash in Valdosta, Ga. Bottom line is you really don't care where they come from or what they are doing, if they can play, you want to have a way to find them."

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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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