Riptide Roster at Thirty
March 18, 2005 - arenafootball2 (af2)
San Diego Riptide News Release
SAN DIEGO – The Riptide were assigned more AFL talent to the training camp roster. Jeff MacRea (FB/LB) and David Hurst (OL/DL), both former Wichita Stealth players, reunited with Ponder to make a run for an ArenaCup championship. Chris Lawrence (OL/DL) and Stephan Ratliff (WR/DB) were reassigned to the league.
Macrea (6-foot-1, 270 pounds) began his AFL career in the 2002 season, signing with the Tampa Bay Storm. However, he was later traded to the Arizona Rattlers where he broke his right leg in the fourth quarter of the team's second preseason game. Up until that point, Macrea had been having a fine preseason with six tackles, one quarterback sack and a fumble recovery. He spent the remainder of the 2002 season on the RattlersÂ’ injured reserve list. In 2005, he was signed by the Las Angeles Avengers, but was later waived prior to the start of training camp. Macrea began his collegiate career at Los Angeles Valley College, where he finished with 115 tackles in two seasons as a middle linebacker. In 1996, Macrea helped lead the Monarchs to the conference championship. After transferring to the University of New Mexico (Albuquerque, N.M.), he was moved to defensive end and finished his Lobo career with 79 tackles and 4.5 sacks.
Prior to being assigned to San Diego, Hurst (6’3”, 280 pounds) spent time on the practice squad of the Grand Rapids Rampage and also attended the Austin Wranglers training camp. In 2004, he played in 16 games with the Wichita Stealth where he recorded two catches for 41 yards and a touchdown. On defense, he made 20 tackles including eight sacks and one pass deflection. He also forced four fumbles. In 2004, he was also ranked second in the af2 in sacks. Hurst attended Kansas University where he was a four-year starter as a tight-end and offensive lineman from 1999 to 2002.
To make room for Macrea and Hurst, the Riptide reassigned Chris Lawrence (OL/DL) and Stephan Ratliff (WR/DB) to the league office. Kimo Naehu (K) was placed on the “refuse to report” list, but is expected to report before the pre-season contest against the All-Japan Samurai Warriors on March 26.
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