SEMINOLES STRUGGLED IN 2007; COULD FACE ANOTHER TOUGH YEAR IN 2008, BUT HAVE A ‘WE’LL TAKE ON ANYONE’ ATTITUDE

Team Preview by: David Sire

Salt Lake City – The Seminoles struggled in 2008 beating only the winless Boise Speed 14-7 and the Shock (who’s only win came against the same Boise team) 7-6. Last year in a 10-team field, the Seminoles ranked #8 in offense generating only 1325 total yards for the year and #9 in defense. The one bright spot in their season was Spoon Moala who finished #3 in punt returns. They have looked to bolster their passing attack where they finished last in the league in total passing yards with the addition of quarterback Brock Adamson who played for Hunter High in 2003. They have also added Chauncy Thornton to bolster their D-line. There are a lot of very talented athletes on the Seminoles. In my opinion, they have the most talented player in the league in Harold Ragin. Although he is not listed on their roster or as a starter, this is pretty normal. He usually doesn’t show up on their roster until later and ends starting in the secondary. Last year, Harold competed, AND WON, the strongest arm competition at last year’s All-Star game. This is a contest intended for quarterbacks to see who can throw the farthest and most accurate. Ask any quarterback in the league, you do not want to throw into Harold’s area. The ball could just as easily end up in your end zone in Harold’s hands. If the Seminoles are to improve over last year, they will have to find a way to meld this talent into a cohesive unit. A big problem for the Seminoles will be that even though they had made some key additions, other teams have added as many or more. But the one thing that the Seminoles have is a great attitude. They aren’t afraid to play anyone, and look forward to any challenge. This will make them a dangerous team. Even though I don’t predict them to make the playoffs, they could play spoiler and ruin a lot of other team’s chances of making the playoffs.

On offense, the Seminoles will be starting newcomer Brock Adamson at quarterback. Joining him in the backfield will be Sepeti (Spoon) Moala and Jeremy Covington. The receiving core will feature Kevin Akbari at tight end and Craig Becerrill and newcomer Jeremy Mecham at wide receiver. The O-line starts Marc Doane, Ryan Crossman (274 lbs), Jason Velasquez (210 lbs), Leia Mapu (320 lbs), and Dan Sloan.

The place-kicker will be Jared Dangerfield (no, I think I’ll pass on a comment here).

Defensively, the Seminoles will start a D-line with only Jared Dangerfield (215 lbs) appearing on last year’s roster. Rounding out the D-line will be Chauncy Thornton, Holden Yeaman, and Zach Fogler. Craig Wells, Chris Rosales, and Will Sosi will handle the linebacker duties. The secondary will feature Steve Andrews, Jeremy Hendrickson, perennial all-star Nate Cone, and Randall Crossman.

The Seminoles are one of three teams to start week one with a bye. They open the next week with the Heat at home. Due to a scheduling requirement to minimize travel, the two Montana teams (Blaze and Phoenix) have a home and away schedule with each other. To make this work, two other teams also had to have a home an away series. The other two teams end up being the Seminoles and Rockets. The Seminoles will play at Rockets the 4^th week of the season and host them for the final game of the season. Two tough games for the Seminoles will be weeks 6 and 7 when they travel to both Da Bears and Wolverines.

OVERALL RANKING: 11^th