UTAH HEAT RECRUITMENT MACHINE IN FULL PRODUCTION; HEAT EXPECT TO PRODUCE MORE WINS AND CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENTION IN 2007

 

Team Preview by: Jared Neumeier

 

SALT LAKE CITY –  Of the 10 AAA teams entering the 2006 RMFL season, if I had to pick one of them as “most likely to place last”, it would have been the Utah Heat.

 

In fact, I did.

 

Last season, I projected the Heat to place 10th, earning a trip down to the AA division.

 

I was wrong.

 

The Utah Heat surprised a lot of teams, particularly with a solid running game and some defensive grit en route to a 2-7 record.  This record was highlighted by several things. Of course the two road wins against the Idaho Matadors and Salt Lake Nemesis, but they also played the Utah Wolverines pretty tough (17-0, 16-0) in two games with them.  But perhaps the game that opened eyes the most was a 9-0 loss to the Cache Valley Bears.  The Bears were undeniably one of the top AAA teams last season and they were only able to best the Heat by 9 points…  Which tells you, the Heat were not very far away from the top.

 

And still aren’t.

 

The Heat have had a busy off-season, getting a new head coach in Jim Hamlin to coach and run team affairs.  Mike Hinds is still a player behind the scenes and has some of the right connections to get players to play no one else seems to be able to do.

 

This recruitment has lead to a number of off-season pick-ups, none of which the team wanted to mention.  In fact, I had to do the research my self to see who I think might be big off-season additions… and losses to fill out this review.  All in all, the team has been pretty “hush hush” regarding where they stand.  In all the apparent secrecy, however, they seem VERY confident that the team will be a big time player for the 2007 championship.

 

Running Back, Dannon Handcuff, is coming into his own and wide receiver, Brian Simmons looks like a true star himself emerging in the league.  If the Heat can get some solid play from quarterback, Jeff Wissler, this offense… and this team may be headed for some games in late June.


The defense, as always, will be very solid.  They had a definite weakness in pass defense in 2006. Okay, they were just short of terrible.  However, I think with a fresh new coaching perspective and some new defensive backs to go with the best of the ones they already have might be the difference in making this a complete unit.

 

There are a lot of players on this team that have played on some winning organizations… like the Utah Blitz or the Utah Warriors.  This is not a typical, “lets just get a lot of good football players together and see what we can do” kind of team.  They have talent, size, speed and heart… and a couple of wild cards.

 

If Hamlin can devise an offense that can produce… and they shore up their secondary, who’s to say how far this Utah Heat team can, or cannot go.

 

Not me.

 

KEY ADDITIONS:

 

Jeff Wissler – Quarterback

Jim Hamlin – Running Back/Place-kicker

Jeff Johnson – Wide Receiver

Teancom Tuinei – Offensive Line

Ron Tongaonevai – Offensive Line

 

 

KEY LOSSES:

 

Zane Church – Defensive Back

Doug Mackey – Defensive Line

Jay Fletcher – Defensive back/wide receiver

 

OFFENSE:

 

In 2006, the Utah Heat offense set a level of futility that may not soon be duplicated in the AAA division of the RMFL.  The Heat ranked not only dead last, but only netted 329 yards through the air all season; a solid GAME by either of the league’s top quarterbacks last season (Dave Stireman or Troy Dougherty).  That figures out to be a paltry 33 net yards per game.  Of course, some of that had to do with some spotty offensive line pass blocking.  The Heat gave up a league-leading 36 sacks on the season (4 per game) as any one of 8 different Heat quarterbacks found themselves harangued and harassed on almost every pass attempt.  The Heat only got 2 touchdown passes ALL SEASON… kind of a bad GAME by the standards of some quarterbacks around the league.  Okay… so the “good news”, right?  First of all, their running game wasn’t all that bad.  They averaged 4.9 yards per rush, which placed them in the top 5 in that category; in fact, they were 4th in the AAA in total net rushing yards behind an emerging star, Dannon Handcuff, who rushed for 370 yards on 56 carries and 3 touchdowns.  His average of 6.6 yards per carry was among the league leaders.  Also, Brian Simmons, their best home run threat, and the player that caught the only two touchdown passes last season, returns… and with hope. Simmons caught 29 passes for 386 yards when the total net was significantly less than that (because of the losses to to sacks), he was their ENTIRE passing game.  Jim Hamlin takes over the coaching duties for the team, particularly the offense, and is another new player addition at fullback.  At 260 pounds, Hamlin is in a rather unique position to help this offense improve… as a coach and a player.  Hamlin will be one more big body to help spring the talented Handcuff AND, he can use his size to help protect their projected new starting quarterback, Jeff Wissler, so he might have some time to make good throws.  Of course, not all of the quarterback struggles in 2006 can be dumped on the offensive line.  Their usual starter, Reggie McLucas, really wasn’t bad, he was actually a great athlete, however, was inconsistent when he did have time to pass. Simmons is a REALLY, REALLY great player and should be among league leaders if he gets a QB to get him the ball.  In all, McLucas threw 6 interceptions and no touchdowns as the teams primary starter.  This takes a lot of pressure off Wissler. He has no where to go… but up.  Wissler was in Rhino-Raider camp earlier in the spring and was being looked at as a possible successor to Dave Stireman.  Stireman describes Wissler as a “competent quarterback, and a great athlete”.   Wissler will have newly acquired tight end, Paul Perez as another target and joining Simmons on the outside will be another familiar name to many of the Heat’s ex-Utah Blitz players, Jeff Johnson.  Johnson was the leading pass receiver for the old Utah Blitz and really should upgrade the outside for the Heat.  With both Simmons and Johnson, the defenses opposing the Heat will have to stay honest as either is a threat to go deep on any play… if the offensive line can provide protection.  Therein lies the rub.  The Heat, however, have been busy in many ways in the off-season, probably first and foremost, upgrading the shoddy offensive lin that was ranked 9th in the RMFL… even with solid run blocking.  Dez Alvarado (5’11, 300) returns and will be joined this season by Teancom Tuinei. Tuinei is a 6’5”, 390 pound monster of the gridiron and will be a very wide body to get around in pass protection.  Along with Alvarado and Tuinei will be Vaka Latu (6’1, 240), Ron Tongaonevai (6’4, 320) and Metui Laloni (6’1, 265).  There is no other way to look at this unit other than as an upgrade from the 2006 version… the question will be “how much better”?  Hamlin is also scheduled to do the place-kicking and a good measure of how well he is coaching will be defined by how many times he gets to trot out to actually try out his right leg.  I am certain that the Heat offense will be better.  Wissler will be a better quarterback, Johnson will be a better #2 receiver, the line is definitely better… they will run better and throw better… and they will not come in last place.  Still, with an unproven quarterback and  an unknown offensive mind directing the charge, I’m just going to have to take a conservative approach in the pre-season .  Projected Offensive Rank: tie 8th

 

DEFENSE:

 

As the Utah Heat offense struggled to pass in 2006, so their defense struggled to stop the passing of other teams.  The Heat, as a unit, ranked 8th overall in the RMFL, an excellent 2nd against the run… an awful 10th against the pass.  The Heat yielded an average of more than 200 net passing yards per game; as mentioned, the most in the AAA.  On the other hand, their defense against the run was quite stout.  Of course, statistics like these begs the question, “did teams pass because they couldn’t run very well… or did the just not run because it was so easy to pass”?   A truly good defense is good as stopping both. Stacking up against the run, but allowing the pass wins no more games than the converse.  So, like the offense, the Heat defense set out this off-season to make adjustments and/or recruit to solve the passing game discrepancies with the rest of the AAA.  As with the offense, the Heat defense also underwent a bit of an overhaul.  The only 4 names listed on the Heat starting depth chart that I recognize are: Mike Tooa, Fisi Tuatonga, Benny Mafi and Solo Toala.  As a 6’1, 265 pound defensive tackle, Tooa picked up 9 tackles and only 1 sack in ’06.  At linebacker, Tuatonga and Mafi were good for 21-1/2 tackles and 20 tackles respectively.  Fisi also had a couple of sacks and a couple of picks while Benny chipped in for 3 sacks as well.  Toala, the teams all-star representative with Handcuff, recorded 24 tackles and only one interception from the safety position, a stat I’m sure he’d like to improve upon.  Along the defensive front with Tooa will be Sam Laumau (5’11, 280) and Lua Afatasi (6’2, 265) at defensive ends and Lika Opeta (6’2, 260) playing d tackle.  Big number 99, Dustin Reid (5’9, 280) and Tomas Hinds (6’3, 300) should also be counted on to support the defensive line for the Heat.  Stan Vrotney (6’1, 215) joins Tuatonga and Mafi at linebacker, a group that was obviously quite solid… at run-stuffing in 2006 and needs to get more help in pass coverage, either by applying more quarterback pressure or becoming more active in the intermediate pass zones.  Solo Toala returns to anchor a secondary and will get back teammate, Garrett Quaid (9 tackles, 0 interceptions) .  Joining Toala and Quaid, who will hold down a cornerback position will be David Fuentes and Matt Arnel at the other safety position.  Zane Church, who recorded 23 tackles and has been a solid cornerback over the years is gone and utility man, Jay Fletcher, also no longer dots the Heat depth chart.  With so little information on Fuentes and Arnell, one can only hope that they are the secret weapons the Heat have brought in to provide sanity to the Heat pass defense.  Although the Heat recorded a respectable 21 sacks in 2006, their 10 interceptions was second to last, scaring far too few offenses away from taking the ball into this backfield unit.  Similar to the offense, the Heat have release little information regarding the new additions, although they strongly feel as if this unit will be the difference.  I have no doubt that even with the improvements on offense, it will still be the defense that will remain the “heart and soul” of the Utah Heat.  They seem to have the ability to grow hard-hitting linebackers on trees and will never seem to suffer from having poor tackling issues.  I see the defense moving up a notch or two, but without a little more to go on, particularly on how they will be better at pass coverage, I can’t pre-rank higher than this.   Projected Defensive Rank: 7th .

 

COACHING AND INTANGIBLES;

 

I can’t help but wonder that secretly back in “Utah Heat Headquarters” there wasn’t some kind of secret, covert, meeting to discuss just how much information on the “new studs” they wanted to release to the league.  After a couple of hours of whole-hearted laughter, they all agreed to “say nothing, we will take the league by surprise”.  And… they’ve been pretty true to that oath.  However, it is amazing how important a solid, veteran quarterback can be to a football team, both on offense and defense.  A defense, no matter how good, that is often put on the field in bad spots… against good offenses, cannot always be successful.  They need the offense to mount drives, make plays… and score.  I guarantee with Wissler, Simmons and Johnson, this will be a better offense… the only question remains, how much better?  I’ve been conservative in my projections because historically speaking, when they aren’t bragging about them (and in some cases even when they are), they haven’t proven worth bragging about.  The Heat provided no additional information beyond their depth chart.  I can see the Heat offense, however, trying to overpower teams with a big backfield and a big offensive line, with the occasional play action home-run to Johnson or Simmons… and it just might work.  I just can’t project more than a couple of notch improvement and perhaps a sneak into the playoffs as a #6 seed.

 

OVERALL RANKING: 9th