Young NFL talent on way to Europe
January 27, 2006 - National Football League Europa (NFLE) News Release
THE countdown to the 2006 NFL Europe League season, the 14th in league history, has begun with the assignment of the first group of NFL allocated players.
DREW HENSON, who started for the Dallas Cowboys in 2004, is one of the quarterbacks allocated to the NFLEL for the season. He was placed on the Rhein Fire roster as part of the first stage of the annual allocation of NFL players.
More than 100 players have been assigned to teams by the NFLEL office. Later today (Friday) a second group of NFL players will be drafted by the NFLEL head coaches. Once kickers and punters have been added during training camp in the Tampa Bay area, the total of NFL-allocated players is expected to reach approximately 250.
Defending World Bowl champion Amsterdam Admirals welcome back a familiar face in GIBRAN HAMDAN, who is allocated by the Seattle Seahawks for his third season in Europe. He started the first four games of 2005 before suffering a season-ending injury. Also at the Admirals will
be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' JARED ALLEN, a four-year starter at Florida Atlantic, where he passed for 8,100 yards.
Berlin Thunder's quarterback allocation includes Cleveland Brown LANG CAMPBELL, who passed for 3,988 yards and 30 touchdown as a senior at William & Mary to win Atlantic-10 Offensive Player of the Year honors. The Cologne Centurions welcome KLIFF KINGSBURY, who saw action in two games for the New York Jets in the past season and has also spent two seasons with the New England Patriots. Buffalo Bills quarterback TORY WOODBURY also heads to Cologne, having appeared in 12 games for the Jets as a special teams player.
Competing for the starting position in Frankfurt will be CRAIG OCHS of the Bills, who was an All-Conference selection at Montana after passing for 3,807 yards as a senior and leading his team to the Division 1-AA title game, and San Francisco 49er BRYSON SPINNER.
BROCK BERLIN will arrive at the Hamburg Sea Devils on the back of extensive playing time for the Miami Dolphins in the 2005 NFL preseason. He passed for 5,099 yards and 34 touchdowns as a two-year starter at the University of Miami. He will be challenged by JAMES KILIAN, who ranks third in school history at Tulsa with 5,498 total yards.
Henson played three years at Michigan, earning All-Big 10 honors, before being drafted by baseball's New York Yankees, where he spent three years. The Cowboys signed him in 2004 and he has played in seven NFL games, including one start. The Fire will also feature Philadelphia Eagles' TIMMY CHANG, who re-wrote the record books at the University of Hawaii, with 17,072 yards and 117 touchdowns.
Additional quarterbacks are expected to be assigned at a later date.
The list of players assigned to NFLEL teams includes familiar names to fans in Europe. Running back LARRY CROOM is assigned to the Admirals from the San Diego Chargers after rushing for 303 yards and adding 18 catches for Hamburg last season. The Centurions welcome defensive tackle EDDIE FREEMAN, who recorded 28 tackles and 2.5 sacks for the Fire last year, while Berlin wide receiver ROBERT REDD caught 15 passes in four games for the team in 2005.
Among the running backs assigned to teams, Frankfurt's TERRY BUTLER rushed for 61 yards on 10 carries for the Jets in the past preseason and ended the season on their active roster. He rushed for 2,080 yards and caught 70 passes at Villanova.
Hamburg tight end WESLEY DUKE started in last weekend's AFC Championship game for the Denver Broncos against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played three games in the regular season, scoring one touchdown.
NFLEL Director of Football Operations MIKE CHAN said: "Once again, we are very pleased with the support that we have received from the NFL teams in the quality and quantity of players they have allocated to the league for the 2006 season. We have a group of very talented young players who are looking forward to getting to Europe to play for the World Bowl championship and to take their own careers to the next level.
"I think we can look forward to an outstanding season in Europe and I am sure that many of these players will go on to achieve great success in the NFL, following the path of so many of their predecessors."
The NFLEL season kicks off on March 18 and culminates in World Bowl XIV at Düsseldorf's LTU arena on Saturday May 27.
List of NFLEL team assignments of NFL-allocated players follows. Details of the Allocated Player Draft will be released later today (Friday)...
AMSTERDAM ADMIRALS
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jared Allen QB Florida Atlantic
Seattle Seahawks Gibran Hamdan QB Indiana
Oakland Raiders Reggie Robertson QB California
San Diego Chargers Larry Croom RB UNLV
San Francisco 49ers Trent Smith TE Oklahoma
Washington Redskins Antonio Brown WR West Virginia
Tennessee Titans O.J. Small WR Florida
New York Jets Marco Cavka T Sacramento State
Detroit Lions Clint Stickdorn T Cincinnati
Indianapolis Colts Mike Johnson C Kansas State
New York Giants Joe Iorio C Penn State
New York Jets Michael King G Northwestern State, La.
Buffalo Bills LaWaylon Brown DT Oklahoma State
Carolina Panthers Tony Brown DT Memphis
Philadelphia Eagles Darrell Lee DE Florida
Chicago Bears Jeremy Cain LB Massachusetts
Green Bay Packers Atari Bigby S Central Florida
Kansas City Chiefs Justin Perkins CB Connecticut
BERLIN THUNDER
Cleveland Browns Lang Campbell QB William & Mary
Chicago Bears B.J. Symons QB Texas Tech
Green Bay Packers Brian Wrobel QB Winona State
Jacksonville Jaguars Lee Webb RBF USC
San Diego Chargers Derek Farmer RB Stephen F. Austin
Atlanta Falcons Jason Randall TE Michigan State
New Orleans Saints Lance Moore WR Toledo
Atlanta Falcons Robert Redd WR Bowling Green
San Francisco 49ers Patrick Estes T Virginia
Miami Dolphins Orrin Thompson T Duke
Tennessee Titans Joel Rodriguez C Miami
Carolina Panthers Chad Beasley G/T Virginia Tech
Atlanta Falcons Toby Cecil C Texas Tech
Detroit Lions Kevin Carberry DT Ohio
Houston Texans Jason Davis DT West Virginia
Jacksonville Jaguars Elton Patterson DE Central Florida
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jermaine Taylor LB Bridgewater, Va.
Houston Texans Anthony Floyd S Louisville
Baltimore Ravens Duvol Thompson CB Pennsylvania
COLOGNE CENTURIONS
New York Jets Kliff Kingsbury QB Texas Tech
Buffalo Bills Tory Woodbury QB Winston-Salem
St. Louis Rams Fred Russell RB Iowa
Washington Redskins Calen Powell TE Duke
Cincinnati Bengals Jamall Broussard WR San Jose State
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jonathan Carter WR Troy
Kansas City Chiefs Jeremy Parquet T S. Mississippi
Denver Broncos Erik Pears T Colorado State
Detroit Lions Dave Pearson C Michigan
Arizona Cardinals Kyle Schmidtt C Maryland
Detroit Lions Levi Newton G South Florida
Kansas City Chiefs Arrion Dixon DT Arkansas
Kansas City Chiefs Eddie Freeman DT UAB
Carolina Panthers Otis Grigsby DE Kentucky
Detroit Lions Matt Grootegoed LB USC
New England Patriots Raymond Ventrone S Villanova
Seattle Seahawks Lance Frazier CB West Virginia
FRANKFURT GALAXY
Buffalo Bills Craig Ochs QB Montana
Arizona Cardinals Jeff Otis QB Columbia
San Francisco 49ers Bryson Spinner QB Richmond
New York Jets Terry Butler RB Villanova
Detroit Lions Sean McHugh TE Penn State
St. Louis Rams Jeremy Carter WR W. Carolina
Dallas Cowboys Tom Crowder WR Arkansas
Chicago Bears Qasim Mitchell T North Carolina A&T
Kansas City Chiefs Will Svitek T Stanford
New York Jets Charles Missant C W. Michigan
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jason Nerys G Delaware
New York Jets Isaac Snell G North Dakota State
Washington Redskins Aki Jones DT Fordham
Houston Texans Elliott Harris DE/DT Arkansas
Green Bay Packers Jerome Nichols DE Wake Forest
Tennessee Titans Jared Newberry LBO Stanford
Buffalo Bills Rob Lee S N. Illinois
Dallas Cowboys Lenny Williams CB Southern
HAMBURG SEA DEVILS
Miami Dolphins Brock Berlin QB Miami
Kansas City Chiefs James Kilian QB Tulsa
New England Patriots Chad Mortensen QB San Diego
Oakland Raiders DeJuan Green RB South Florida
Denver Broncos Wesley Duke TE Mercer
Washington Redskins Richard Smith WR Arkansas
New York Jets Jovan Witherspoon WR Central Michigan
Oakland Raiders Brad Lekkerkerker T Cal-Davis
Buffalo Bills Dylan McFarland T Montana
New Orleans Saints Augie Hoffman C Boston College
Cincinnati Bengals Kyle Takavitz G Cincinnati
Cincinnati Bengals Steven Vieira G UCLA
Philadelphia Eagles Keyonta Marshall DT Grand Valley State
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Keith Wright DT Missouri
San Francisco 49ers Scott Scharff DE Stanford
Kansas City Chiefs Kris Griffin LB Indiana (PA)
New York Giants Jason Shivers S Arizona State
Green Bay Packers Jerron Wishom CB Louisiana Tech
RHEIN FIRE
Dallas Cowboys Drew Henson QB Michigan
Philadelphia Eagles Timothy Chang QB Hawaii
New York Giants Greg Hanoian RBF Syracuse
San Francisco 49ers DeCori Birmingham RB Arkansas
Houston Texans Aaron Halterman TE Indiana
Tennessee Titans Jason Anderson WR Wake Forest
Indianapolis Colts Roscoe Crosby WR Clemson
San Francisco 49ers Harvey Dahl T Nevada
Baltimore Ravens Mike Kracalik T San Diego State
Oakland Raiders Vince Carter C Oklahoma
Denver Broncos Rob Hunt C North Dakota State
San Francisco 49ers Tony Wragge G New Mexico State
Atlanta Falcons Brook Miller DT San Diego State
Jacksonville Jaguars Walter Curry DE Albany State, Ga.
Kansas City Chiefs Zach Ville DE Missouri
New York Giants Tyson Smith LB Iowa State
Miami Dolphins Siddeeq Shabazz S New Mexico State
Green Bay Packers Therrian Fontenot CB Fresno State
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National Football League Europa Stories from January 27, 2006
- Familiar faces return in NFLEL free agent draft - NFLE
- Cardinals DE King picked first in NFLEL Allocation Draft - NFLE
- Young NFL talent on way to Europe - NFLE
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