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Emphasis will be on offense for Extreme

March 7, 2007 - United Indoor Football Association (UIF)
Bloomington Extreme News Release


BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Offense will be the emphasis when the Bloomington Extreme indoor football team opens preseason training camp Friday (March 9) at Illinois State University's Horton Field House.

"We are making quite a few changes in our offense, so we will spend a lot of time working with the offense the first week," said Schmitz, who will welcome 45 candidates to camp and cut to the league-mandatory 30 players before its United Indoor Football League opener March 30 at U.S. Cellular Coliseum at 7:35 p.m.

"The offense we used last year was more of a passing offense," added Schmitz, whose second-year team returns 23 players from last year's 5-10 season. "We are looking at two or three other concepts that we'll use on offense this year.

"It would be fair to say that last year we relied heavily on the pass and the opponents defended us that way. We want to be known as a team that can run the ball this year. I believe we will have a more potent offense because we will be able to mix the run with the pass."

Veteran quarterback Dusty Burk returns at quarterback to direct the offense, which will be handled by assistant coach John McIntyre who was the team's offensive line coach a year ago.

Burk, who missed six games because of injury, threw for 1,477 yards and 28 touchdowns. The former Illinois State quarterback completed 131 of 236 passes for a 55.5 completion percentage and an 82.89 rating. He threw 12 interceptions.

Former Illinois Wesleyan quarterback Tom Kudyba, who served as Burk's back-up for part of last season before playing professionally in Finland, is back for a full season with the Extreme this year. B.J. McCaslin and Kenton Carr, who both saw action last season, also return.

The Extreme offense ranked fifth in the league in scoring a year ago with a 38.1 average, but Schmitz expects that number to rise with the addition of multi-talented running back Rocky Harvey and a corps of healthy receivers.

Harvey, who ranks fifth all-time in career rushing at the University of Illinois with 2,711 yards, rushed for over 1,700 yards the last two seasons in the UIF for the Fort Wayne Freedom. He had 633 yards and 13 touchdowns last year and passed for another four touchdowns.

"Rocky is a great break-back runner, but he's also a good inside runner," said Schmitz. "He had a lot of success running toss and sweep plays. He's also a good blocker for pass protection as well as a good receiver out of the backfield."

Harvey figures to get plenty of run support from Normal native James Fuller, who ranked sixth in the league a year ago in rushing with 369 yards and a 3.4 average. He also scored 10 touchdowns and was 11th in total offense.

Injuries eliminated the Extreme's top three receivers in Glenn Johnson, Dwayne Smith and Reggie Gray. The trio combined for 1,393 of the team's 2,503 passing yards and 28 of 47 touchdowns.

Johnson led the three receivers with 42 catches for 547 yards and 11 touchdowns. Smith added 41 receptions for 454 yards and 11 touchdowns, while Gray had 33 catches for 392 yards and six touchdowns.

James Walton, who played for Evansville last season, and newcomers Shatone Powers and Ramon Barber also figure to get their fair share of action, Powers was among the leading receivers at Northern Illinois University last season, while Barber put up good numbers during his career at Illinois State.

Among the biggest question mark heading into the season could be the offensive line,

where only Nick Ruud and center Mike Rudicil, a Bloomington High School product, return.

"We feel we brought in some quality players to fill some of the gaps," said Schmitz, referring to Jamarkus Gorman, Adam Grubbs, Janiah Downing, Geoff Pearson, Jim Davis and Dennis Bailey.

The 6-foot-5, 340-pound Gorman is a veteran of the UIF, blocking for Harvey at Fort Wayne the last few years. Grubbs stands 6-5 and weighs 325 pounds. Downing, who played last year at Illinois State, is listed at 6-3 and 310 pounds.

"We'll be more of a read on the run team according to the other team's defensive coverage," said Schmitz. "Last year we were a more set than read team. We have a lot of new guys who are learning and a lot of old guys we're re-schooling. Basically, we're starting from scratch."

The defensive line will be anchored by the return of Quince Holman, Eric Johnson, Martin Wilson and former Illinois Wesleyan and Normal standout Chris Hummel. Holman will leave the team in mid-May to report to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League.

Randall Guzman and Evan Triggs have both joined the Extreme from Fort Wayne and should help.

Jason Hutton and Calvin Jones, a Normal Community High School product, both return after seeing action at linebacker a year ago and could get more playing time with the departure of leading tackler Winston Taylor.

Lamar Baker, Dion Brown and Sam Yeargin were among the team's top 10 tacklers from their defensive back positions and look to pick up where they left off. Baker was second on the team in tackles with 81 and Brown was fourth with 40.5. Brown also had a team-high four interceptions.

The addition of Terrance Turner, Dorian Pitts, Mike Crumpler and Terrill Mayberry should also add to the defensive backfield. Pitts was a four-year letterman at Texas Tech, while Turner played for the Peoria Roughriders last season.

"Defensively, we're not changing a lot," said Schmitz. "But we expect to have a lot more competition for playing time on defense. We have a lot of new faces. We need to do a better job of disguising our defenses. Last year people knew what we were bringing to them."

The kicking game should be one of the strong suits of the team with the return of veteran Peter Christofilakos. The former University of Illinois kicker, who was an all-Big 10 Conference selection, ranked first in the UIF last year in field goal percentage. He made 31 of 61 attempts and scored 144 points.

"We're night and day, A to Z, ahead of last year," said Schmitz. "We learned last year you have to have good athletes who are physical at every position in this league. We need to be two-deep at every position if we can. We didn't have that last year and it hurt us."

The Extreme coaching staff pretty much remains in tact with the return of McIntyre, defensive coordinator Terry McCombs, defensive backs coach Frank West and special teams coach Jered Hooker. Mike Goodwin joins the staff as the offensive line coach.

Single-game and season tickets for the Bloomington Extreme indoor football season are on sale at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum box office. Tickets also may be purchased by calling 309-434-2679; 866-891-9992 or going to the team web site at www.bloomingtonextreme.com or www.uscellularcoliseum.com.

Tickets per game are priced at $10 (upper end zone); $12 (end zone); $18 (sideline); $25 (club - section 101 only); $30 (premium). The U.S. Cellular Coliseum box office is located at 101 S. Madison, St., Bloomington.

Season ticket prices for all eight homes games remains the same as last year: premium seats (rows A and B all around the Coliseum) are $200 per ticket; Club seating (only section 101 is available) $200 per ticket; sideline seating $120 per ticket; end zone $85 per ticker; upper end zone $70 per ticket. Contact Patrick Kelly at 309-434-2664 for season ticket information.

BLOOMINGTON EXTREME SCHEDULE

March 30 - Rock River, 7:35 p.m.

April 7 - at Ohio Valley, 7 p.m.

April 14 - RiverCity, 7:05 p.m.

April 21 - Lexington, 7:05 p.m.

April 28 - at Omaha, 7:05 p.m.

May 5 - at RiverCity, 7 p.m.

May 12 - Bye

May 19 - Ohio Valley, 7:05 p.m.

May 26 - at Rock River, 7:05 p.m.

June 2 - Evansville, 7:05 p.m.

June 9 - at Lexington, 7:30 p.m.

June 16 - Rock River, 7:05 p.m.

June 23 - Colorado, 7:05 p.m.

June 30 - at Omaha, 7:05 p.m.

July 7 - Billings, 8:05 p.m.

July 14 - at Evansville, 7:05 p.m.



United Indoor Football Association Stories from March 7, 2007


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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