Eager Soul Players Start Padded Practices
March 4, 2013 - Arena Football League (AFL)
Philadelphia Soul News Release
PHILADELPHIA (March 4, 2013) - The 2012 American Conference Champion Philadelphia Soul, presented by Parx Casino, completed their first day of padded practices at the NovaCare Complex in Philadelphia. After much anticipation, the players were finally able to start hitting and running plays at full speed.
The competition on the football field was evident today, as the players were finally able to showcase their skills. The coaches were able to evaluate how the lineman battled out at the line of scrimmage. The newcomers to the defensive front (Morkeith Brown, Calvin Fance, Brandon Johnson, Andre Mathis, Michael Robinson, and Lawon Scott) were finally able to show their abilities to read plays, pursue the ball and make the tackles.
The repetition of training camp will begin as tomorrow will consist of more contact practices. The players should have a high intensity in their motors, as Friday will bring the first cuts of the roster.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: OL CHRISTIAN JOHNSON (6'4", 330, Kentucky): Three-year veteran, OL Christian Johnson, enters his second season with the Philadelphia Soul. Last season, Johnson started in all 14 games he played and contributed towards the Soul allowing the least amount of sacks in the AFL (5). As a rookie in 2011, Johnson started every game for the Dallas Vigilantes. While playing at Kentucky, during his first start as a junior, Johnson helped lock down the offensive line to allow zero sacks and record 125 rushing yards to let Kentucky defeat the 2007 BCS Champion, LSU.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "To start hitting again felt real good," said Soul veteran LB Bryan Robinson. "This is the way football is suppose to be played. It's good to see everyone coming together to where they need to be. The first couple of plays, you know, you're a little rusty but we've been trained and we've been playing the game for a while. After a few snaps, we're good to go. I'm excited to see everyone get back to their football mindset, see the offense gel. On defense, we already know what we need to do, we just got to get the team back to where we left off."
CHANGE OF COMMAND: DB Kent Richardson (6'0, 200, West Virginia) and DB Rayshaun Kizer (5'10, 190, Walsh) were the top leaders for the Soul secondary last season, recording a combined 25 interceptions and 45 pass breakups. The two led the Soul to having the second overall pass defense in the AFL during the 2012 season.
Kizer, the league-leader in interceptions in 2011, had yet another record-breaking season in 2012, as he defended a league-high 41 passes. He set the Soul season record for pass breakups in a season (30). To go along with his pass-defending skills, Kizer finished second on the team in total tackles (81).
With Richardson on the league-exemption list, Kizer is now in the spotlight to be the new leader of the secondary. After a phenomenal 2012 season, there will be high expectations for Kizer and the Soul secondary. Led by returning starter LaRico Stevenson, the Soul will look to Jeff Hodges, Darius Pettigrew, David Richardson and James Romain to also battle it out.
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