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Tampa Bay Storm game notes

January 31, 2006 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Tampa Bay Storm News Release


STORM/RAMPAGE PREVIEW
The Tampa Bay Storm (0-1) coming of a loss in Philadelphia head into Grand Rapids to face the Rampage (0-1). The Storm have never started a season with two road games. In six all-time games the Storm has outscored the Rampage 359-301, the Storm has won five of six. Storm quarterback Shane Stafford completed 24 passes for 298 yards and seven touchdowns last year when the two teams met at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa Bay en route on to being named the AFL Offensive Player of the Week and AFLWA Player of the Week. OS Freddie Solomon also had a strong outing versus the Rampage a year ago. He hauled in nine passes for a game-high 148 yards and four touchdowns. Grand Rapids head coach Sparky McEwen, now in his second season as the head man with the Rampage, made personnel changes to his squad for the season. Michael Bishop, who was the starting quarterback last season, is now in Chicago and Raymond Philyaw was cut from the team. Jose Davis is now the starting quarterback for Grand Rapids. Familiar faces OS Aaron Bailey and DS Johnnie Harris were acquired in the off-season. Bailey led the league with 144 receptions with the New Orleans VooDoo last season and Harris is a former AFL Defensive Player of the Year with the Storm in 1998.

STORM/SOUL RECAP
The Tampa Bay Storm offense was stopped 7 of 12 times in a 34-52 loss versus the Philadelphia Soul in front of 14,115 fans at the Wachovia Center. QB Shane Stafford completed 23 of 42 passes for 285 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions. On the receiving end of Stafford's scoring strikes were Freddie Solomon, Lawrence Samuels, Ronney Daniels and Bobby Sippio, who caught two touchdowns. The Storm defense were able to stop the Soul offense and QB Tony Graziani three times, once on a Jonathan Ordway interception at the goal line. Tramain Jones led the Storm defense with seven tackles.

In The Market
General Manager/Head Coach Tim Marcum and Director of Player Personnel Dave Ewart were busy during the off-season signing highly sought after free agents WR/LB Bobby Sippio (Dallas), lineman Thaddeus Bullard (Las Vegas) and Buck Gurley (Orlando).

The Storm returned 15-of-20 players from last season. Of the players lost during the off season, two were kicker Matt George and backup QB Stoney Case.

Super Size Me!!!
The average weight of the Storm lineman this season in comparison to last is up nearly 10 pounds (2006 = 287.3 lbs.; 2005 = 277.8). The new additions to the line allow FB/LB Nyle Wiren, who played OL/DL in 2005, to carry the ball in 2006. New lineman include Thaddeus Bullard (275 lbs.), Mondre Dickerson (300 lbs.), Buck Gurley (300 lbs.), Aaron Hunt (275 lbs.), A.J. Ricker (295 lbs.) and Greg Taplin (280 lbs.). Bullard, Dickerson and Hunt are currently on IR.

Hey Rook!
8 players on the 2006 Storm roster are in their first AFL season. The Storm rookies include kicker Bill Gramatica, lineman A.J. Ricker, Mondre Dickerson, Aaron Hunt, Greg Taplin and Kevin Dogins, and wide receiver/defensive backs Alphonso Roundtree and Leroy Smith.

Gramatica saw time in the NFL for four seasons with the Arizona Cardinals and Miami Dolphins. Ricker spent time in the Chicago Bears camp in 2005 and Alphonso Roundtree spent three seasons with the Miami Dolphins (2003-05).

In their AFL debut's versus the Soul last week Gramatica converted on 4-of-5 point after attempts. Taplin assisted on two tackles on defense.

Youth Movement
Tim Marcum football teams are usually veteran laden. This year's team features 11 players on the current 24 man roster with less than three years of experience.

Lynarise Elpheage, Jarrod Penright, Ronney Daniels, and DeMarcus Johnson are key returnees from the 2005 Storm roster with less than three years in the league.

The average age on the team is 28 years, 10 months.

Buck's Back In Town!
Former Tampa Bay Buccaneer lineman Buck Gurley is back in Tampa with the Storm. The University of Florida standout won a Super Bowl ring with the Buccaneers in 2003. In that season he played in eight games for the Bucs and recorded two tackles.

Gurley has spent his last two AFL seasons with the Orlando Predators. Last week against Philadelphia he assisted on one tackle.

Stat-ford Keeps The Numbers Rollin'
QB Shane Stafford is coming off one of the most remarkable seasons in Storm history. He broke season passing records for attempts (631), completions (405), touchdowns (83), yards (4,522) and completion percentage (64.2).

His career totals also benefited from his huge season in 2005. Including his performance last week versus Philadelphia he has passed for 11,172 yards and 208 TD's, only the 2nd QB in Storm history to pass for over 11,000 yards and 200 TD's (Jay Gruden 15,623 yards, 280 TD's).

Ordway, Jones Set Tackle Marks
DS Jonathan Ordway set a Storm record for tackles in a game against New Orleans on April 30, 2005 when he made 14.5. The previous high was set by Antoine Worthman against Milwaukee on July 9, 2000. Ordway ended last season with 87.5 tackles. Tramain Jones set a new Storm record with 114 tackles in 2005. The previous team record was 88.5, set by Omarr Smith in 2003.

Last week, Jones led the team in tackles with 7 and Ordway tallied 3.5 stops.

Ordway Climbs to the Top
Defensive specialist Jonathan Ordway finished the 2005 season second in the AFL in passes defended. He made 29 pass breakups and intercepted six passes. His 29 breakups were second in the league. His six interceptions tied for fifth in the AFL.

Last week, Ordway intercepted Soul quarterback Tony Graziani at the goal line to keep the Storm in the game.

Leading at the Half
The Storm were unstoppable during the 2005 regular season when leading at the half, going 8-0. They are 132-16 all-time when leading after two quarters. Tampa Bay outscored opponents 423-388 in the first half last season, including 254-204 in the second quarter.

The Magic Number
The Storm are 46-2 in franchise history when they score 60 points or more. They scored 60 points or more on six separate occasions during the 2005 season and won all contests excluding one loss to the Philadelphia Soul. They put up 63 points in Week 1 vs. San Jose, 62 in Week 2 vs. Austin and 70 in Week 6 vs. Grand Rapids. Tampa Bay also improved to 9-0 all-time when they score 70 points or more. The last time the Storm scored 70 points in a game was July 7, 2001 vs. Houston when they won 70-47. They posted 61 points in their Week 16 game against the New York Dragons and won 61-58 while finishing the season by putting up 78 points in Columbus.

Laying Down The Law
Future AFL Hall-of-Famer and perennial AFL Ironman Lawrence Samuels continues to shatter Storm all-time numbers. Hauling in six catches for 46 yards and one touchdown last week versus Philadelphia, the Livingston graduate is now 448 yards from tying the all-time reception yards record by Storm great Stevie Thomas. On defense he tallied four tackles and is now seven tackles from taking over the all-time mark for tackles, Tracey Perkins holds that mark with 348.

Lawrence Samuels set a Storm record for receptions last season with 123 grabs in 16 games last season. The previous record was held by Freddie Solomon, who made 106 catches in 2003. Samuels' 166 receiving yards in Week 16 of 2005 versus Columbus were a career high. He also tied his career best of three touchdowns in the game.

Samuels cracked the 100-catch plateau for the first time in his career during last season's Week 14 matchup with New Orleans. He finished the season with 123. His previous best was 81 in 2004, when he also racked up 951 yards and nine touchdowns. He finished the 2005 campaign with 19 touchdowns to tie his career best for scoring grabs in a season (last accomplished in 2000). He averaged 88.2 receiving yards per game last season; his previous best was 64.8 in 2003.

Tons of Experience on the Sideline
If there's one thing the Storm coaching staff has, it is Arena Football coaching experience. Headed by Tim Marcum, the AFL's all-time winningest coach, the three-man coaching staff has a total of 37 years of AFL coaching experience entering the season.

Marcum has 18 seasons under his belt, all as a head coach. He enters his 12th season in Tampa Bay, and prior to that served as the head coach of the Detroit Drive and Denver Dynamite. Under his guidance his teams have won seven ArenaBowl titles and have played in 10 of the 18 championship games.

Storm assistant coach Dave Ewart is in his fourth season with the Storm and his 11th season in the AFL. Prior to joining the Storm he served as head coach of the Florida Bobcats. He has also been the head coach of the Texas Terror and St. Louis Stampede and served as an assistant with the Bobcats, Stampede, New England Sea Wolves, and Cleveland Thunderbolts.

Special teams coach Jimmy Dunn has coached arena football for 10 years. He was the head coach with the Miami Hooters in 1994 and Charleston Swamp Foxes of the arenafootball2 from 2000-2002. Also, he has served as offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Rockers, Miami Hooters, Charlotte Rage and special teams coach for the Orlando Predators.



Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from January 31, 2006


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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