QUARTERBACK SHUFFLE
By: Andy Lopusnak, ArenaFan.com
February 26, 2008

Raymond Philyaw (85), Sherdrick Bonner (83) and Matt D’Orazio (82) all threw over 80 touchdowns last season – ranking fifth, seventh and ninth most in the AFL respectively. This season, all three will be playing on different teams.

Philyaw, 33, led the Kansas City Brigade to a 10-6 record and the squad’s first-ever playoff appearance in 2007. He completed a career-best 69.0% of his passes with career highs in passing yards (4,375) and touchdowns (85), while also adding four rushing scores. Kansas City attempted to re-sign him, but ultimately Philyaw decided to sign with the Cleveland (previously Las Vegas) Gladiators and was reunited with head coach Mike Wilpolt and offensive coordinator Brian Partlow who were both on the staff with the Indiana Firebirds when Philyaw was their starting QB from 2000-03. In his first full season with every team he’s played for, Philyaw has led the Firebirds (2001), Rush (2004) and Brigade (2007) to the playoffs.

Bonner, 39, is like fine wine – he’s just getting better with age. It seems he’s found the fountain of youth and last year, his 14th, Bonner tossed a career high 4,033 yards with 83 air strikes and completed 63.3% of his passes with the Arizona Rattlers. After a great 15-year run in the Phoenix sun, Bonner headed to the Windy City and signed with the Chicago Rush, who released D’Orazio after a back injury. Bonner’s 829 career passing touchdowns are second most in league history. He is only the third QB to ever pass for 40,000 yards in a career and has had at least 2,000 yards passing in an AFL record twelve seasons.

"There was new ownership and a new coaching staff in Arizona," Bonner told the Chicago Daily Herald about his decision after the Rattlers’ fourth head coaching change in five seasons. "Nothing was solid at the time. This organization reminds me of the early years in Arizona."

D’Orazio, 31, rose from relatively unknown status to win an ArenaBowl title after the most unlikely season in AFL history. In 2006, he was signed by the Chicago Rush after a statistically average season with the 2-14 Columbus Destroyers. The Rush struggled to win for the first 12 games of 2006, going 4-8, and then won three of its last four games to sneak into the playoffs at 7-9. From there, Chicago surprised everyone and won ArenaBowl XX with D’Orazio taking home ArenaBowl MVP honors.

Last season, D’Orazio led the Rush to a 12-4 record, set a personal best in all passing categories, and brought the Rush to the American Conference championship game. However, a back injury against San Jose ended his season and the Rush’s run for a back-to-back title. Chicago released him in the off-season fearing he would not be ready for the 2008 season and quickly signed Bonner. His signing with Philadelphia could be a godsend if starter Tony Graziani goes down with an injury like he’s done the past two years. Graziani has missed eight games to injury and the team is just 1-7 in those contests.

D’Orazio told my ArenaFan colleague Fran Stuchbury that he was “disappointed” and “taken back by the decision” because he “didn’t expect it would come because of the past few years I had with the team. We won an ArenaBowl and we were one game away from winning it again.”

Three other teams (Arizona, Grand Rapids and Kansas City) will also be starting this season with a quarterback that is either new to the team or was with the team for less than half of the 2007 season. Arizona and Grand Rapids had quarterbacks battle it out for the right to be starters, while Kansas City coaxed a former QB out of retirement to play again.

ARIZONA RATTLERS: Without Bonner’s wealth of playing experience and leadership, the Rattlers will rely on two second-year QBs: Lang Campbell (Austin) who they picked in the dispersal draft and Jeff Smoker (Nashville) who was signed in free agency. Statistically, Smoker had a better rookie year (3,447 yards with 57 TDs). Campbell had 2,277 yards with 41 scores and completed 66.3% of his passes. After a stronger training camp, Campbell was named the starter on Monday and will lead the Rattlers’ in their opener against Utah.

"The biggest thing is you can't try to be Sherdrick [Bonner]," said Campbell. "He's one of the best players in Arena history, I think he set the bar pretty high, so I'm striving to reach that."

With a QB that has little AFL experience, a new coaching staff and just five returning players from 2007, the team has made a guarantee that it will reach the playoffs this season or they will give a full and complete refund to each season ticket holder.

“We are putting millions of dollars on the line,” said Rattlers managing partner Brett Bouchy. “However, we have full confidence in our new coaching staff, and look forward to returning to the playoffs in 2008.”

GRAND RAPIDS RAMPAGE: Including this season, the Rampage has had a different QB start the season in each of the past six seasons. In comparison, San Jose, which has won two titles in four years, has had just one starting QB for that timeframe. Grand Rapids has Adrian McPherson, who was 0-3 in games he started for the club last season, and James MacPherson, who was with new head coach Steve Thonn when the pair were in Georgia in 2007. Like the Rattlers, both quarterbacks came into training camp as 1A and 1B on the depth chart.

MacPherson forced this early QB controversy, despite being under center for little more than one quarter of one game in his entire AFL career, because he already knows Thonn’s offensive system after spending a year with him in Georgia. There, MacPherson served as back up to Chris Greisen, who also had very little experience before joining Thonn, but went on to set a new league record with 117 passing touchdowns. Greisen had arguably the best trio of receivers in the AFL last season, the Rampage’s top receiver for this year had a fraction of the stats that Chris Jackson, Derek Lee or Troy Bergeron racked up in 2007.

Since the Rampage does not play until Week Two, the team has not officially named its starter (as of Thursday, February 28th), but my fellow ArenaFan colleagues Randy Snow and Chip Burch have stated that McPherson will be Grand Rapids’ starting QB against San Jose. However, in the team’s lone scrimmage, McPherson wasn’t even mentioned in the Rampage’s press release about the 48-25 “win” over Cleveland, even though he started the scrimmage. He's also showcased on the team’s website with a huge action photo on the homepage that's been there since before training camp started.

If McPherson gets the nod, note that his career completion percentage is 60%, while Thonn’s QBs in Georgia last season connected on 75% of their passes. So, if McPherson struggles or isn’t effective in a system that MacPherson is already familiar with, the Rampage could be ending the season with a different field general than it started with - for the fifth-straight year.

KANSAS CITY BRIGADE: Without Philyaw, the team signed AFL journeyman John Fitzgerald, who was the head coach of the af2’s Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz in 2007 and hasn’t played since 2006 when he was with the Austin Wranglers. As a head coach, Fitzgerald led the Yard Dawgz to a 7-9 record, but lost in the first round to eventual ArenaCup champion Tulsa Talons.

“I got some history with John (Fitzgerald),” said Brigade head coach Kevin Porter. “He was the quarterback in New Orleans when (I was the defensive coordinator with the VooDoo). He had a great year and led an expansion team to the playoffs.”

As a player, Fitzgerald has played for the Houston ThunderBears, Carolina Cobras, Dallas Desperados, New Orleans VooDoo and Austin Wranglers. His best season was in 2005 when he led the Wranglers to their lone playoff appearance after tossing 73 TDs and passing for 3,961 yards. In his career, he’s led three different teams to the postseason (Carolina, New Orleans and Austin).

“I stayed in touch with him when he was coaching and knew he wanted to continue to play,” Porter added. “The situation in Austin wasn’t a good one for him, so he took the coaching opportunity and I think it was good for him. He got a year of banging off his body. Coaching is a different dynamic than being a player. It has helped him out a great deal.”