CRUSH HOLD ADDITIONAL INVITED COMBINE

Along with the announcement of the 2009 Dispersal Draft and Free Agent signing period, the Colorado Crush held another invited workout on Monday. The combine-style workout was held in Maryland, close to the home of head coach Mike Dailey, and saw almost 40 athletes participate. 

It is the second invited tryout the Crush has held so far this offseason and will be holding an open tryout for all interested athletes in January. Check out ColoradoCrush.com for more details on the open tryout. 

“It was a very positive and productive workout for us,” Dailey said. “We were able to hone in on some decisions going forward.”

 

The workout gave coach Dailey and his new assistants something more to think about going into the free agency period. Among the nearly 40 athletes was QB Brandon Kirsch. Kirsch tore his ACL last season in a game at Cleveland and sat out the rest of the 2008 campaign. The two-year Crush quarterback performed for coach Dailey in a series of workouts after being cleared by team doctors last week.

“Brandon lives about two hours away so we wanted to bring him out and see his progress,” Dailey said. “After evaluating him it looks like he has little to no adverse effects from the injury and we were pleased with his effort.”  

The Crush currently has 16 players under contract for the 2009 season and will remain busy in the coming weeks with the shortened signing period. 

With the holiday coming up the Crush and coach Dailey would like to thank all of the Crush fans for their continued support and offer our most sincere “Happy Thanksgiving.”  Stayed tuned for much more in the coming weeks and GO CRUSH!

AFL ANNOUNCES DISPERSAL DRAFT AND FREE AGENT SIGNING PERIOD DATES

The Colorado Crush hold the fifth overall pick in the 2009 AFL Dispersal Draft to be held on Tuesday, December 2 at 11 a.m. MST, the league announced Monday. All 16 teams will have a chance to acquire key former New Orleans Voodoo players such as 2008 All-Rookie and All-Arena Second Team selection LB NORMAN LEJEUNE, as well as proven AFL veterans DL HENRY BRYANT and WR DERRICK LEWIS.

The Dispersal Draft will be conducted via telephone conference and will consist of an unlimited number of rounds until all eligible players are selected or all teams in a round pass. The Columbus Destroyers will have the first overall pick. A maximum of five minutes per selection is allowed in each round. If the time limit expires, the pick is forfeited. Trades between teams may occur at any time prior to or during the draft. All undrafted players will become free agents.

The free-agent signing period begins at 12:01 a.m. ET on Thursday, December 4 with a healthy crop of 172 veteran free agents. It is expected to be an entertaining signing period highlighted by athletes including QB Matt D’Orazio(Philadelphia in 2008) and WR Mark Grieb(San Jose in 2008). The Crush has 16 returning players and will look to begin training camp in late January with as many as 37 athletes. 

CRUSH HOLD COMBINE AS FREE AGENCY PERIOD CONTINUES

It is bound to be a busy offseason for the Colorado Crush and on Monday things finally got underway in Denver.

Head Coach Mike Dailey welcomed around 30 athletes to participate in an invite-only tryout/combine workout with the team. Dailey and his newly appointed assistant coaches got their first real look at the newest batch of talent that could help Colorado in the 2009 season.

Several current AFL free agents and former NFL players were among the group as they were tested in combine-style workouts at Crush headquarters.

"We had a real good group of athletes out there today," Dailey said. "Everybody who showed was really professional and we were pleased with the effort."

With the AFL free agency signing period temporarily put on hold, teams and coaches are biding their time by actively pursuing potential leads with these types of tryouts. The Crush will hold another invite-only tryout in Maryland later this month before their annual open combine/tryout on January 18th of next year.

Dailey, who enters his 13th season as a head coach in the AFL (sixth in Colorado), said the delay feels reminiscent of recruiting in the college game because of the ongoing enticement of players.

"All of us are kind of used to having a set schedule when it comes to the signing period, so having it pushed back puts us into a position where we are calling guys all the time," Dailey said.

"It puts us all on a level playing field, but we are prepared to make the move on our targeted athletes as soon as the league lets us know."

The tryout also saw the debut of new Crush assistant coaches Tommy Johnson and Chris MacKeown. Johnson will take over the defensive coordinator position and MacKeown will take his shot with the offense in 2009.

"I was really impressed with the way each of the coaches carried themselves today," Dailey said. "Both coach Johnson and coach MacKeown have head coaching experience and you could tell that they have a firm grasp of instruction and discipline."