Indoor Football League: Roughnecks expect defense to turn around
ANDREWS The West Texas Roughnecks are starting over from a scratch.
The franchise has a new owner, a new logo, an altered name and a new site for training camp.
But the changes that might make the most difference are to the roster. When West Texas opens its season at 7 tonight against the Abilene Ruff Riders at the Taylor County Expo Center in Abilene, the Roughnecks will trot out an entirely new defense.
“I think we’re pretty stacked,” Roughnecks linebacker Eric Henri said. “We’ve been putting in a lot of work, because this is a whole new group.”
No starters return from the defense that ranked near the bottom of the Indoor Football League a year ago, although defensive tackle Ahmad Childress enters the season on the injured list.
But other than the presence of Childress, who hasn’t set a timetable for his return, the Roughnecks have shed most of the players who played on an injury-plagued unit last season.
“I’m not making excuses, but we got hit so hard with injuries last year,” Roughnecks head coach Chris Williams. “Arthur Harris was our best linebacker, and he’d never played the position before.”
Right away, the Roughnecks started sending players to the injured list. Defensive lineman Steven Kennedy tore his ACL in the season-opener.
Three more defensive ends went down before the season ended.
Unable to keep a consistent unit on the field, the Roughnecks’ defensive production suffered.
Indoor football might seem like it’s worlds away from the 11-man game, but the key to the defense is still the same.
Communication is key.
“We just have to get on the same page,” Roughnecks cornerback Jerek Hewitt said. “We’ve been having meetings on our own, after practice, so we can learn each other’s tendencies.”
Two key additions should help the Roughnecks’ young defensive players make the transiton from the outdoor game to the indoor game.
Looking to bring back a winning attitude to a team that missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, Williams signed defensive lineman Jermaine Blakely and safety Johnny Anderson, a pair that played for the Roughnecks’ Intense Football League title team in 2006.
Blakely, who played for El Paso a year ago, is one of the first players the Roughnecks ever signed. And Anderson has spent the last four years spearheading the defense for Corpus Christi.
As a tandem, Blakely and Anderson give the youngsters somebody to lean on for advice.
“We’re young, but we have good athletes,” Blakely said. “We might have some growing pains, but by midseason, I think we’ll be one of the top defenses in the league.”
Right now, the Roughnecks’ defense is an unproven commodity.
But they have a chance to start building a reputation tonight.
>> THE BASICS
Season opener: at Abilene Ruff Riders, 7 p.m. Saturday, Taylor County Coliseum.
>> Home opener: vs. Amarillo Venom, 7:11 p.m., March 13, Ector County Coliseum.
>> Radio: FM-95.1.
