United Indoor Football Opens Training Camps

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MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - Omaha , NE – It’s the first day of United Indoor Football training camps. With a roster deadline of midnight last night, UIF Director of Operations, Tatum Keller, says rosters were be filled to the last minute. “It was a late night double-checking rosters and posting the transactions,” she said. Teams have a week to evaluate talent before the first round of cuts. Rosters must be trimmed from 45 to 35 by Mar.15. The final 30 man roster is due at the league office Mar. 22.

The Rock River Raptors looked to get an early start by holding Midnight Madness. Raptors President, Tom Crow, says the event drew in some good fans and received really good press coverage. Three news stations did live reports and kept cameras there through the entire practice. “We had some really good guys show up (for camp) with a couple of linebackers really impressing coach (Rik Richards).”

While UIF welcomes the Billings Outlaws to the league, they welcomed players to training camp with a 10 a.m. practice this morning at Yellowstone Metro Park . Also in the Mountain Time Zone, the expansion Colorado Ice hold team meetings tonight at 7 p.m. with practice slated for 8 p.m. The third new UIF team, the RiverCity Rage ( St. Charles , MO ) will cross the river as they hold their first practice at 9 p.m. in Glen Carbon, IL. New Head Coach, Jim Cox, “We are just really excited to get camp started. We have a lot of players returning from a 14-2 team and several more great new players fighting for a spot. We, like I’m sure everyone else, just want to get started.”

Offense will be the key as the Bloomington Extreme open camp at Illinois State University ’s Horton Field House in Normal . “We are making quite a few changes in our offense, so we will spend a lot of time working with the offense the first week,” said Head Coach Ted Schmitz. “We’re night and day, A to Z, ahead of last year,” he added.

Evansville practices for the first time at 7 p.m. this evening. BlueCats Head Coach John Hart said, "We're ready to get started. All of the equipment's been handed out and I know our players are ready to go. Everyone's looking forward to finally strapping on the pads and getting started on 2007. We're looking forward to having a good training camp and we're looking forward to playing River City on the 24th."

In Wheeling , WV , the Ohio Greyhounds look to return to national prominence. New Head Coach, Ervin Bryson, says, “We are pleased with the talent we are bringing in to re-establish the ground game that the Hounds have been famous for in the past.”

Omaha Beef players will be in meetings and hold a walk through today. Their first practice is 6 p.m. Sun. General Manager, Dustin Talacko, is impressed with the Beef roster. “I think pound for pound this is the most athletic team we’ve ever brought in to camp. We’ve got more depth at the skill positions than ever before.”

It’s voluntary workouts today for the Lexington Horsemen. Their first official practice takes place Monday. Running back Rayshawn Askew signed in time, adding a feature back with a championship pedigree to an already impressive roster. Askew has multiple seven-touchdown performances on his indoor resume in other leagues.

The Sioux Falls Storm have a late night practice scheduled for 10 p.m. this evening. General Manager Colin Steen says “It’s good to be back at it as we defend our back-to-back championships, but the biggest thing for us (in camp) will be the competition. We have lots of veterans, but there’s plenty of new talent vying for spots.”

Sioux City Head Coach Rich Britt will guide the Bandits through their first practice at 11 a.m. Sat. “I’m very excited about the roster. We have a lot of new faces and a new attitude,” he said.