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Huddleston Brings AFL Experience To Lightning

February 15, 2007 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Stockton Lightning News Release


STOCKTON, Calif. - The Stockton Lightning of the arenafootball2 league have been assigned FB/LB Jajuan Huddleston, Lightning head coach Doug Murray announced today.

"Our entire coaching staff was ecstatic when Jajuan decided to sign with our franchise," said Murray. "He is a franchise player and brings experience, professionalism, and loyalty to our team. Because Jajuan and I have a personal and professional relationship, our confidence in each other is extremely high, and I'm confident this will equate to success on the field."

Huddleston, 28, returns to the familiar af2 stage after spending the 2006 season with the San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League, where he was a part of a 10-6 SaberCats team that won the Western Division title and advanced to the American Conference Championship Game last season. The Klamath Falls, Oregon native registered eight tackles and assisted with one sack on the defensive side of the ball, while tallying two carries for three yards and one rushing touchdown.

His most prolific numbers came as a two-year star linebacker in the af2 with the Central Valley Coyotes, whose defense was supervised by Murray. In 16 games as an af2 rookie in 2004, Huddleston finished second on the Coyotes with 42.5 tackles, registered two tackles for loss and garnered one interception. In addition, Huddleston rushed for four yards on one carry, and tallied 40 receptions for 364 yards and six touchdown receptions.

In his second af2 season in 2005, the 6-foot-3, 260-pounder ranked third on the Coyotes with 33.5 tackles in 14 games, tied for the team lead with 4.5 sacks and tied for second on the team with 4.5 tackles for loss. In addition, Huddleston registered 14 carries for 42 yards and one touchdown.

A product of Fresno State University (NCAA), Huddleston helped guide the Bulldogs to a bowl berth in the Silicon Valley Football Classic as a 2000 senior and previously competed at Eureka College of the Redwoods (Calif.), where he was named second-team all-league as a freshman and first-team as a sophomore while playing at the safety position.

"Coach Murray was a huge factor in my decision to come to Stockton and I'm thrilled to join a Lightning team set for great things in 2007," said Huddleston. "Coach Murray and I have a history and it goes back to my first year with the Coyotes. I feel comfortable playing under his system; he's the type of coach you want to play and win for."

Huddleston is re-united with Lightning FB/LB Lyndel Hawkins, who was a teammate of Huddleston at Fresno State. He is also re-united with WR/DB Kenyatte Morgan, who was a teammate of Huddleston with Central Valley.

Stockton opens the 2007 af2 season on Saturday, March 31 with a road matchup against the defending ArenaCup Champion Spokane Shock, beginning at 5:00 p.m. PT. The Lightning finished their inaugural 2006 arenafootball2 in fourth place in the National Conference's West Division and recently hired Doug Murray as the second Head Coach in team history.

In their first season, the Lightning ranked third in af2 attendance with an average of 7,445 fans per home game. Season tickets for the 2007 Lightning regular season are on sale now. For more information on season tickets, merchandise, or other information, please call the Lightning at (209) 373-1500 or visit www.stocktonlightning.com.



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