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DeBerg set on opening roster, starter

February 2, 2004 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Albany/Indiana Firebirds News Release


INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Firebirds have gone through three rigorous weeks of training camp, scrimmaged against a division opponent, broken down film and dissected a group of 40 potential arena football players to create a 22-man opening day roster with which the team will go to battle this Saturday night, February 7th, against the Columbus Destroyers.

First-year head coach Steve DeBerg will announce the roster today that he will take into the AFL season, in hopes of leading the Firebirds to the 2004 ArenaBowl championship. Indiana will cut down to twenty-two players today, add two players to their practice squad and place four on injured reserve, giving them a 28-man total roster for the start of the season. Players move between practice roster, active, inactive, and injured reserve throughout the season, but every team must have 20 active players into each game.

DeBerg also took the opportunity Saturday night, on the WISH-TV/Channel 8 "Saturday Sports Locker" with Chris Widlic, to announce that Kevin Daft would be his starting quarterback Saturday versus the Destroyers. Daft, who was the back-up quarterback in San Jose last season, beat out 2003 af2 Player of the Year, Tony Zimmerman, and free agent Adrian McPherson to earn the number one spot to start the season.

"Kevin showed during training camp that he has the necessary skills to lead this team to their maximum potential", commented DeBerg. "All three quarterbacks did some good things, but at this point Kevin has displayed the ability to lead the team the best and I feel that he gives us the best chance to win".

Among those players who were not on the announced roster was WR/LB ‘Touchdown" Eddie Brown. Brown, a nine-year veteran of the AFL, was released by the team and becomes a free agent. Also placed on recallable waivers were; WR/LB's Kwazeon Leverette and Tony Simmons, FB/LB Jarrod Penright and DS Malcolm Moore. In another move today, WR/DB's LaDaris Vann and Dee Moronkola became the first two members of the Firebirds 2004 practice squad. Teams can keep up to four players on their practice squad throughout the season.

Four players were also placed on injured reserve to begin the season; OL/DL's Van Tunei, Greg Krause, and Anthony Herron, plus rookie QB Adrian McPherson.

Composing the Firebirds' opening day roster are eight players from last season's (6-10) team, seven AFL rookies, four experienced free agents and all three players the team received as compensation during the off-season from the Colorado Crush. FB/LB Leroy Thompson and WR/LB Kerry Brown both enter the 2004 season with eight years of experience under their belts, the most of any current player, while DeBerg will look to six-year AFL vet, OS Mike Horacek, to return to the form that helped him earn AFL Offensive Player of the Year in 2000.

Firebirds' season tickets for the 2004 season are on sale now and can be purchased by calling a Firebirds' ticket representative at 317.472.8080. Firebirds merchandise is also available at Home Court Gift Shop. For merchandise information, please call 317.917.2755.

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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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