Notes On Pre-Season Camp-April 25, 2010

1- You know you've got a group of very determined football players when about 50 of them show up for a practice on a day when the rest of Nashville is ducking for cover due to tornado warnings and monsoon-like rains, as were the weather conditions in Nashville on Saturday, April 24.

2- There have been 2 "position moves" of prominent veteran Nashville Storm players thus far in preseason camp, and both moves are working out well thus far on the practice field. DeQuinn Watford (Bethel College/THE St Ambrose University), one of the Storm's most effective WR's in 2009 (including a spectacular TD catch in OT that defeated the heavily-favored and nationally #1 ranked Central Penn Piranha in Mechanicsburg, PA in the NAFL's National Semifinals), has now moved to the defensive side of the football at CB and has been making life miserable for Storm WRs in every practice. And Gary "Mr. Jazzy Fly" Peete, probably the most versatile athlete on the Nashville Storm roster, has been moved from Defensive End to Will Linebacker, and is performing very well there.

3- There was one brand-new player on the practice field yesterday, and he was a very important addition----- Ben Brazzell, an athletic 6'6", 280 lb offensive lineman who has played at Riverdale High School, MTSU, and for the USFL's Tennessee Pioneers/Tennessee Crush as an amateur and who has played as a professional Arena Football player for the Tennessee River Sharks, the former NIFL team out of Chattanooga. Brazzell is another versatile athlete who is also capable of playing well on the defensive line and at Tight End, but right now, he brings immediate help to a Nashville Storm offensive line whose numbers are severely down due to the fact that Stanlee Bradley (Cumberland) and Rickie McDowell are recovering from injuries and that Reggie White (Cumberland) and Chris Mosley have not yet reported to camp.

4- The Nashville Storm's leading 2009 WR, Jeremie "Bird" Whittaker, who set a Storm record in 2009 with 14 TD catches in 12 played games returned to the practice field yesterday, which means that the Storm's top 5 pass receivers from 2009 (Whittaker, Mario Merriwether, Ivan Burley, and Roger Moore) are all back, although, as mentioned previously, one of them (DeQuinn Watford) has moved to the defensive side of the ball.

5- There are more high-quality QBs in camp for the Nashville Storm in 2010 than there have been in any of the Storm's previous 8 spring practices, and all of them are performing well. On Thursday, 4 QBs were splitting reps------ incumbent starting QB Phellepe Hall (TSU), a multiple-year All-American who threw 37 TD passes in 2009, 2007-2009 backup Jason Hankins (Rainy River CC), and 2 highly talented rookies--- 2006-2008 Vanderbilt University starting QB Chris Nickson and former Gallatin High School QB (and college BASEBALL pitcher at Austin Peay) Matt Overton.

6- The next week should see more additions to the Nashville Storm team, some of whom will be college Seniors who by then will have learned if they have been invited to NFL camps. Stay tuned.