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Beard Back On Defense

April 6, 2006 - National Indoor Football League (NIFL)
Tri-Cities Fever News Release


Kennewick, WA. - The Tri-Cities Fever are pleased to announce the signing of defensive back Sullivan Beard. Beard, who was instrumental in the Fever's defensive success last season throughout the playoffs, was recently released from the Arena Football League's Utah Blaze organization. He started two games for the Blaze while spending the first half of the season with them. He led the team in tackles in both games he started.

The Fever are waiting as long as they can before deciding who Beard will be replacing on the 25 man roster. "We need to do some strong evaluating this week in practice," said head coach Dan Whitsett. "We have some great athletes in our secondary, so it is going to come down to who we can trust the most back there to do things right and not miss assignments." Also getting a look this week is defensive back Muhammed Shamsid Dean from Eastern Washington University.

Another position that will be different for the Fever this week is at quarterback, both quarterbacks. Joe Wiser, a Portland State grad who was signed last week to the practice squad, will get the start Saturday against the Big Sky Thunder ( Bozeman, MT). Backing him up will be former Southridge standout Blake Kluse. "We lost two quarterbacks in the Wyoming game," said Whitsett. "(Lemuel) Adams broke his collarbone, while (DeMarcus) Morris severely sprained his hand. I don't know what it is about Wyoming and our QB's getting injured there, but that is three in two years at Casper." Two of those quarterbacks that Whitsett is referring to, Tyler Thomas and Lemuel Adams, suffered season ending injuries.

Receiver Jarvis Dunn and defensive end Michael Hodges both suffered finger injuries in Wyoming but both will be ready to play on Saturday according to Whitsett. "Dunn and Hodges will be fine, they both have injuries that they will play with on Saturday."

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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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