The Unusual Suspects

Published on March 22, 2007 under arenafootball2 (af2)
Bakersfield Blitz News Release


BAKERSFIELD, CA - When you take a look around the practice field at Bakersfield College, you'll see some of the faces you're used to such as FB/LB Nick Onaindia (Utah State '01), WR Eric Mahanke (Fresno State '98), and DL Ben McCombs (Mid American Nazarene [KS] '02). However, you'll also see a few new faces running with the Blitz in 2007.

"We've got a lot fresh faces in here this year and some of these guys are going to do great things for us," said Head Coach Gary Compton (East Texas State University, '90). "We've got John Petty (Grambling State, '04) at fullback, we brought in a big guy Leo Sullivan (Stony Brook [NY], '05) who goes 6'4" and 320 lbs. to play tight end. We've also got Phil Wilson (Johnson C. Smith University [NC], '98) in here to play some center for us."

Another player that has his head coach and his teammates taking notice is QB Dan Riley (Quincy [IL] University, '05). "Dan Riley has come a long way in camp. I really like what he's done," said Coach Compton.

"If he keeps working at it, he will be an awesome Arena Football player. He has all the tools and the right attitude to succeed. And if you think about it, he's never played Arena Football before and experience is everything in this league," said Mahanke.

Riley always has his nose in the playbook in an attempt to absorb as much as he can, as quickly as he can. "Having Alex [Neist] for a roommate has been great for me. We watch film together and I probably wear him out with questions, but he's been a great help to me. Having two experienced veterans like Alex and Chad around is a huge help," said Riley.

Riley seems to be grasping on to the game pretty quickly. "I've never seen 3 (quarterbacks) this good in camp before and I've been in more than a few camps," said Mahanke, the 5-year Arena Football veteran.

Blitz Bits: After rain washed out Tuesday's practice, the team was back at it on Wednesday. "We didn't put in anything new today. It was more of a review so we good get the tempo back up," said Coach Compton...The team will be putting in the game plan for the season opener against Laredo over the next few practices...Tonight's practice will be the last of Training Camp 2007. The team will have meetings tomorrow and be back on the field on Saturday morning.

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The Bakersfield Blitz will open up Rabobank Arena this Sunday, March 25th from 3-5 p.m. for the Inaugural "Red/Blue Scrimmage" and Season Ticket Holder party. This event is your chance to meet your favorite players, coaches and Blitz Girlz dancers. There will be prizes and giveaways all afternoon. The event is free and open to the public. Members of the media are welcome and encouraged to attend.

The Blitz will make their season debut on Thursday, March 28 at the Laredo (TX) Lobos and will have their home opener on Saturday, April 21 at 7:00 p.m. against the Stockton Lightning at the Rabobank Arena. Season tickets are available now by calling (661) 377-2548.

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