NEWS
AROUND THE LEAGUE: RMFL/TEAMS GEAR UP
FOR UPCOMING PRE-SEASON GAMES AND A SEASON OF MYSTERY
RMFL – As the now annual question of
whether or not the Rhino-Raiders will be as good as they were the year before
begins to draw into focus, in 2007, there are a lot more mysteries that will
also begin to draw the attention of RMFL pundits and prognosticators.
How well will the AA Champion Muddogs compete
in the AAA division?
Will the Salt Lake Seminoles be competitive
at all in the AAA division?
How will the other Montana teams stop Justin
Nixon this season?
Will Damon Greenberry
be back…and if so, will he be able to repeat his record-setting 2006 performance?
How will the Madison Lionz do without MVP
Troy Dougherty?
What of the vast improvements reported in
Pocatello and Utah Wolverines camps, are they for real?
Will the Vipers’ sand-bagging into the AA
Division yield a title or will it be an improved Rockets
team or will the best of Montana step up this season and win the AA?
And the list could go on.
But as of the end of February, every RMFL
team is 0-0. Not even a pre-season game
has been played to this point, so dreams and aspirations are what every RMFL
franchise has the right to have.
There is still time to build a champion.
With all of the changes expected to happen around the league, the Cache
Valley Bears (blue) and Madison Lionz (white) are still expected to be near the
top of the AAA in 2007.
Lets take a look at a few of the camps reporting and see what’s going on, “Around the League”.
CACHE VALLEY BEARS: The Bears have been practicing for the last couple of months trying to improve on the little mistakes of last year. The main concern was the O-line and DB's. With new acquisitions on the line and DB's we will be better than last year. The Bears are also trying to finalize a deal with the radio station to be live on the air.
GLACIER KNIGHTS: The Knights report another influx of new talent, however, no one they are ready to tout yet. Rather quiet in Knight-ville, but they are cautiously optimistic of another step up in 2007.
GREAT
FALLS GLADIATORS: The Gladiators have added Ben Roth to their
coaching staff. Ben was a collegiate
running back in Michigan and will coach the backs and receivers as well as the
defensive backs. They have also added
Mr. Morgan (Coach Morgan's dad) as our Director of Operations, allowing GM,
Brad Thurber, to spend more time concentrating on playing—(Morgan’s been a
great help). The Gladiators have lost a
few military players (what's new?) but have also added almost 30 new players to
the roster. While they expect to see
some attrition once they start padding up and collecting fees, they are
currently expect to carry about a 55 man roster this
year. They have added some size on both
sides of the ball, and are excited about our prospects for this year. They also recently signed a deal with the
local FOX affiliate to be one of their major sponsors and provide the
Gladiators with over 350 30 second television spots leading up to their home
games. Finally, GM, Brad Thurber, recently
became a father (in October), and Coach Morgan and Coach Rainey will each soon
become fathers.
IDAHO
FALLS MUSTANGS: The Mustangs are starting up practices March
10th at Lincoln Park at 10 am. For the first time in 11 seasons, the Mustangs
have reserved Ravsten Stadium (Idaho Falls High School)
for the season. With its “bowl setting”, Ravsten
Stadium may be the finest facility to play football all over the league. The
Mustangs franchise LT, Will Liebert
will be playing for Dixie State. He’s a team captain there.
MADISON
LIONZ: In the Lionz Camp, they are preparing
to begin Practice on Feb. 28. They have also added some old faces to the
coaching pool. Greg Givens and Nate Maw will try
their hand at coaching this year along with Head Coach Rick Hilder
and Offensive coach Troy Dougherty. As always, with a team made up of college
kids, the Lionz are busy recruiting new talent. The Lionz are expecting another
interesting year full of surprises!
MUDDOGS: Due to the UIFL Season, the Muddogs starts camp this Saturday,
February 24th at the Redwood Recreation Center at 11 AM. They'll continue
practice from this date forward every Saturday either at the Rec. Center or at
Granger High School.
Currently
the Muddogs are in the Conference Championship (Semi Finals) for the Utah
Indoor Football League. The furthest that they have ever
advanced in their 3 year history of the UIFL. They beat the 5 time
champions, the Utah Sting to advance.
With
camp opening up, their are rumors of new faces, and some
old faces. The Muddogs will return the core group of guys from their AA
championship, but
they also
lose big names due to school and due to the war in Iraq. Stay tuned on the
Muddogs webpage, as the announcement and the roster will be posted soon.
The
Muddogs were looking for respect all season long in 2006, but now they are just
looking to shock anyone that thinks their 2006 campaign was nothing
but a
fluke.
With
familiar names like Jordan Kjar, Chris Hooper, Matt Thornton, Chris Miles, and
Gary Smith returning, this squad looks to be like a force to be
reckon
with. AA Champs to AAA Champs? Only time will tell..
BE READY TO GET SHOCKED!
POCATELLO: Things have been eventful,
and going well for the Pocatello Predators in 2007. Their first official practice will be on Wed.
February 28th,
however,
their recent "workouts" have been so well attended that they've
actually been practices. They've been
averaging 30-40 players on these days and look forward to all the additional
players who plan on showing up once practices start. As players they are getting used to the new
faces, and the coaches are excited about the level of talent they are able to
work with. The Predators are excited
about our preseason lineup, which is hoped will have them ready for what is
sure to be a difficult season. The big
story for us is the fact that Brock Gunter seems to be one of the few players
they are losing, and while they know it's hard to replace someone like him,
they say they have about 20 new players so far that all look to contribute in
any way possible. They are ready for the
upcoming season and look to start strong, and finish even stronger.
SNAKE
RIVER SABERCATS: The Snake River
Sabercats have been pounding away in the pre-season. Practices are currently being held at New
Plymouth Middle School every Saturday starting at 2 PM. The coaching staff (consisting of Dallas
Hoffman, Rob Castleman, and Tyler Collingwood) has been witling down
The
talent of the players in order to form their respective starting line-ups. Stay tuned for the team previews to find out
who is who and where they play.
Former
running back and linebacker Thomas Kamo has decided
to play for another team - the United States Army. The Sabercats wish him luck in his
military
endeavors and hope for his safe return.
He adds to the list the many Sabercats with military experience, not
counting out the several players who are currently in the military.
Snake
River is currently in negotiations for a pre-season game, hopefully with a
Montana team. It should be nailed down
by March 1st.
Around
the community, the Sabercats will be helping out Pioneer Elementary School during their annual
Carnival on April 20th, 2007. It starts at 5:30
PM in Weiser, Idaho. There will be
rides, booths, and plenty of food. This
should be a great publicity event for the Snake River Sabercats.
UTAH WOLVERINES: For the 2007 RMFL Season the Wolverines knew they had
to address key areas in order to upgrade the team for the 2007 season.
Those areas of concern were the OL, QB, as well as defensive backfields.
Through some rigorous recruiting and significant marketing during the
off-season the Wolverines are confident they will have filled these holes by
time the 2007 season begins in April. This all began with the Wolverine
Combine during the first week of February. With over 70 athletes in
attendance the Wolverine Coaching staff was most impressed with the Lineman
that were on display. Typically one of the
Wolverines areas of weakness has been the Offensive line, but with the addition
of so many great athletes coming over from the now defunct Nemesis as well as
new players to the team the Wolverines feel they will have one of the better
Offensive Lines in the League.
Overall
the Wolverine offense feels it has addressed our concerns of the 2006 season
and plugged the holes that gave us problems last season. The Wolverines
will be much more improved in all aspects of offense so watch for them to be
one of the top ranked this season.
Defensively
the Wolverines have always been tough. In recent season they have let
themselves down from their first two years in the league when they were the top
rated defense. Again, the Wolverine staff has gone out and recruited to
address areas of concerns primarily the defensive back field situation.
Over the past couple of season, the Wolverines have become known as a team you
can’t run on but a team you can throw deep on. Well it’s time to put an
end to that and in doing so the Wolverines have gone out and recruited some new
additions to the team that should make an immediate impact.
The Wolverines would like to thank everyone for all their hard work and look to turn things around after a dismal 2006 season where the Wolverines missed the playoffs for the first time in their existence.