Veteran McLaughlin to replace Tayler as Preds kicker

Published on January 21, 2005 under Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Orlando Predators News Release


ORLANDO, Fla. (Jan. 21) -- Veteran kicker Steve McLaughlin, one of the Arena Football League's all-time leading scorers, agreed to terms with the Orlando Predators on a one-year contract on Friday. Terms were not disclosed.

McLaughlin will be the Predators starting kicker when the team opens its regular season against Colorado on Jan. 30. He replaces All-Arena and "AFL Kicker of the Year" Jay Taylor, who signed a two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Bucs (NFL) in November, became the team's starting kicker for the last five games of the season. He hit five of six field goals and all 11 extra point tries.

In McLaughlin, the Predators get an AFL veteran who has scored 100 or more points in five of his seven seasons. Last year with Georgia, he hit on six of 27 field goals and 86 of 94 extra points to account for 104 points. His 91.4% on extra points was third best in the league. His low success rate on field goal percentage last year could be attributed to poor field percentage, as 14 of his 27 attempts came from 45 yards or longer.

Earlier in his career, McLaughlin was among the league-leaders in field goal percentage, hitting 54.5% of his attempts (12-22) in 2000 and 63.9% (23-36) in 2001 in helping the Nashville Kats to back-to-back ArenaBowl appearances. He earned second team all-arena honors in 2002 and led all AFL kickers in scoring with 152 points in 2001.

"Steve's an experienced kicker and we're fortunate that he was available to us," Predators Head Coach Jay Gruden said. "He's made a lot of big kicks in big games over the years and that's what we were looking for."

For his AFL career, McLaughlin is 93 of 217 on field goal attempts (42.9%) and 493 of 543 (90.8%) on extra points. His 772 career points ranks fifth among kickers on the AFL's all-time points list.

A third round pick of the St. Louis Rams in 1995, McLaughlin played in eight games during his rookie season, making eight of 16 field goal attempts. He went to camp with the Atlanta Falcons in 1996 and the Baltimore Ravens in 1997. McLaughlin won the Lou Groza Award as the nation's top college kicker in 1994, where he hit 23 of 29 field goals for the Arizona Wildcats.

In addition to McLaughlin, the Predators signed lineman Joe Fantigrassi. A former center for the University of Miami, Fantigrassi played last season for the Florida Firecats in the "arenafootball2" league.

PREDS NOTES: Friday's signings give the Predators 36 players on their pre-season roster...Head Coach Jay Gruden will need to pair that number down to 24 on Sunday...Orlando will scrimmage arch-rival Tampa Bay on Saturday...the event will start at 3 p.m. at the St. Pete Times Forum...the scrimmage is free and open to the public...The Predators 2nd Annual Black and Red Ball will be held tonight at the TD Waterhouse Centre...Rudy Ruettiger, who life was portrayed in the hit movie "Rudy" will be the guest speaker...close to 500 people are expected to attend the event that will benefit the Orlando Predators Foundation...While several players may be held out of Saturday's scrimmage with minor nagging injuries, the Predators have gone through training camp with few injuries...With one week remaining before the season opener, Director of Ticket Operations Chris Tamburrelli reported the team had issued close to 9,500 season tickets and season ticket revenue was already an all-time record...next Sunday's opener with the Colorado Crush will be broadcast by NBC and will reach approximately half the country.

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Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from January 21, 2005


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