UFL News

Florida Tuskers Protected Players

The Florida Tuskers have protected 20 players who played for the team during the 2009 United Football League season as head coach Jay Gruden and his staff begins building a roster for the 2010 campaign.

Leading the way is 2009 United Football League Player of the Year Brooks Bollinger, who passed for a league-best 1,825 yards and 16 touchdowns in leading the Tuskers to an undefeated regular season.

Bollinger and the Tuskers will make the city of Orlando their home for all home games during the UFL’s second season in the fall of 2010.

Two of Bollinger’s favorite targets are also protected in wide receivers Marcus Maxwell, who finished second in the league with 21 receptions for 347 yards and 4 touchdowns and Jayson Foster, who snared 21 passes for 308 yards and 3 touchdowns.  The team’s second-leading rusher Michael Pittman, who gained 124 yards in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Super Bowl XXXVII triumph and carried the ball 77 times for 232 yards and 3 touchdowns last year, also returns.

“It is difficult to pick only 20 players when we had such a strong regular season last year,” said coach Gruden, who directed the league’s most potent offense as the Tuskers won all six games on the way to reaching the 2009 UFL Championship Game.

“In a team sport the fact that you have to narrow things down and not keep some players who have all contributed is very difficult.  We did it by position and focused on the positions that are hard to fill and our top performers.  They were tough decisions but somebody had to make them.”

This week the UFL is announcing a total of 60 players who have been protected by the head coaches of the Tuskers, Hartford Colonials and the yet to be named UFL team in Sacramento.  The reigning champion Las Vegas Locos will unveil their protected player list during April.

As a component of its overall digital media strategy, the United Football League is announcing the protected player lists to fans first through its team Facebook sites:

Colonials on Facebook
Mountain Lions on Facebook
Tuskers on Facebook 

The Tuskers have further loaded their offensive options with former New England Patriots Super Bowl XXVI winning tight end Jermaine Wiggins and receiver Chas Gessner, who was the team’s leading receiver through the first week of the season before suffering an injury.

Defensively the Tuskers have protected leading tacklers Tim McGarigle, who had 34.5 stops a sack, interception, forced fumble and fumble recovery last season, and Odell Thurman, who posted 34 tackles, 2 sacks, an interception fumble recovery and 2 forced fumbles.

The secondary will retain a look of familiarity with Jerome Carter, who claimed two interceptions in addition to making 19.5 tackles and Fakhir Brown, who also had an interception and 18.5 tackles.

The United Football League teams will build 70-player training camp squads and eventual 52-man rosters through free agency signing, player allocation, and invitational and open tryouts.

Orlando Protected Players:

Group and season tickets to Florida Tuskers games will go on sale in April and the team’s new uniforms will also be unveiled in the coming months.  Sports fans can call 407-545-8123 for more information about the Tuskers.

Social networking Tuskers fans eager to interact with fellow fans can do so at:
UFL on Facebook
UFL on Twitter
Tuskers on Twitter
Tuskers on Facebook