| Three years ago, Cowboys DB Deion Sanders did something truly
attention-grabbing. In the opening game of the 1996 season, Sanders participated in
108-of-125 plays from scrimmage, caught nine passes for 87 yards on offense and
contributed defensively by recording three tackles and forcing a fumble. He started all 16
games that season on defense and eight games on offense, which made him the NFL’s
first regular two-way player in over 30 years. Sanders has provided excitement on both
sides of the ball as a pro, which is not an easy thing to do in the NFL. He has appeared
in numerous Pro Bowls and has been a threat at receiver, cornerback and as a kick
returner.
"There are certain things you can’t coach," said Todd Shell, who tries
to do so nonetheless.
Shell, who played linebacker for the 49ers, is no longer affiliated with the NFL. He
coaches in the Arena Football League, where Sanders-like, two-way players are bountiful.
"To take a receiver and teach him to be a defensive back is a hard thing to
do," said Shell, a former head coach of the San Jose SabreCats who is now an
assistant with the Arizona Rattlers. "Or to have a guy that was a defensive back in
college and make him into a receiver, like a guy like Deion Sanders. Deion Sanders would
be the greatest Arena Football League player to ever play."
Taking a guy with some of the abilities Sanders has and putting those talents to use on
the 50-yard Arena Football field is what the job of an AFL coach is all about.
"Guys like that are extremely hard to find just because of (their) ability to play
on both sides of the ball," Shell said. "It’s a little bit easier to find a
DB to play in the Arena League. What’s tough is to find a guy who can play in the
defensive backfield and receive."
At its best, the Arena League is full of Sanders-like, multidimensional players. It is
a league featuring some of the most unique athletes in football.
"It takes a different kind of player to play in the Arena Football League,"
Shell said.
It is very rare for a player to join an Arena Football team ready to handle the rigors
of playing on both sides of the ball. All of the players are accomplished football players
from college or the NFL, but most have played only one position throughout their careers.
Florida Bobcats assistant coach Jim Jensen, who was known as one of the most versatile
players in the NFL during his 12 seasons with the Miami Dolphins, knows about the demands
on each player entering the AFL.
After he finished his career with the Dolphins in 1992, Jensen joined the Bobcats as a
wide receiver-defensive back. But he was left thinking about retirement three games into
his first season in the AFL after being knocked out on a tackle. He managed to stay in the
league for three more seasons, however, by switching to quarterback.
"It was harder than anything I had to do in the NFL," Jensen said of playing
in the AFL. "You have to play both ways and deal with the walls. And I think I was
targeted a little more as a former NFL player."
Jensen was drafted by the Dolphins in 1981 out of Boston University as a quarterback
and played wide receiver, running back and on special teams. He caught 19 TD passes and
threw for two more during his NFL career.
As an AFL coach, Jensen said teaching players new positions is the biggest challenge.
"I feel like I have a lot to offer," Jensen said. "Being drafted as a
quarterback, I can coach the quarterbacks, the receivers and the fullbacks."
Finding the talent, on the other hand, is not as easy as it might seem. It is not
always about having the best possible athletes on the roster, but having the best
all-around football players who can and are willing to learn new positions.
"We try to find pass rushers and teach them to play offense," Jensen said.
"That’s why Tampa is such a good team. Almost all of them are defensive pass
rushers; they can get to the quarterback."
Shell said the players in the Arena League are very coachable.
"What I enjoy about coaching Arena Football is you really get to use your coaching
abilities," Shell said. "A lot of the NFL is more schematic; you find they get
more technically sound. Guys are pretty well-developed, skilled at what they do. In Arena
Football, you may have to teach receivers to play defensive back. You have to teach them
how to backpedal and read offenses. It’s like taking a sophomore in high school and
teaching him from Step One. That’s what makes coaching Arena Football a little more
enjoyable, because you really get to teach."
The coaches have surprisingly good talent with which to work.
"The thing people don’t realize is how good these players are," Shell
said. "I’ve coached a number of players where I thought, ‘Now why
aren’t they at the next level?’ Some of it might be timing; maybe they just were
not at the right place at the right time."
To put the talent level and some of the misconceptions people have of the AFL in
perspective, Shell recalls a story about the time he took a friend to a tryout camp.
"It’s funny sometimes when you have the tryouts," Shell said.
"They’ll publicize the tryouts for, say, the Arizona Rattlers or the Albany
Firebirds, and the people who will show up thinking they have a chance to make the team
… haven’t played football since high school and don’t realize the caliber
of athletes these guys are. I had a friend of mine come with me to watch the tryout, and
we had about 300 people there. And afterwards he asked me how many will make it. I said
none — not one of these guys is good enough to take to training camp — and he
said, ‘You’re kidding me.’ And that’s the thing that we have to
promote." |
