ORLANDO, FL – Wednesday, March 24, 2010 – 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:

http://www.facebook.com/HartfordColonials

http://www.facebook.com/CaliforniaRedwoods

http://www.facebook.com/FloridaTuskers

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:

Pos
Name
College

QB
Brooks Bollinger
Wisconsin

DT
McKinley Boykin
Ole Miss

CB
Fakhir Brown
Grambling

DB
Jerome Carter
Florida State

DE
Patrick Chukwurah
Wyoming

OT
Anthony Davis
Virginia Tech

WR
Jayson Foster
Georgia Southern

WR
Chas Gessner
Brown

TE
Keith Heinrich
Sam Houston State

C
Enoka Lucas
Oregon

WR
Marcus Maxwell
Oregon

LB
Tim McGarigle
Northwestern

LB
Terrance Melton
Rice

FB
Andrew Pinnock
South Carolina

RB
Michael Pittman
Fresno State

NT
Darrion Scott
Ohio State

LB
Odell Thurman
Georgia

T
Seth Wand
NW Missouri State

TE
Jermaine Wiggins
Georgia

NT
Claude Wroten
LSU

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:

http://www.facebook.com/UnitedFootballLeague

http://www.twitter.com/theUFL

http://www.twitter.com/FLTuskers

http://www.facebook.com/FloridaTuskers

About The UFL: The UFL was developed to fulfill the needs of football fans in major markets currently under served by professional football by providing a high quality traditional football league comprised of world class professional football players. The UFL will serve the communities with pride, dedication and passion, and uphold a leadership role in the development of football worldwide. The UFL will provide every fan with an affordable, accessible, exciting and entertaining game experience. The United Football League debuted in October 2009 with four teams in Las Vegas, New York, Orlando and San Francisco for its “Premiere” season. The UFL offices are in New York, N.Y. and Jacksonville, Fla. The UFL is led by Commissioner Michael Huyghue and is being funded by a consortium of private investors. For more information on the UFL and how to purchase tickets for the 2010 UFL season, please visit www.ufl-football.com.

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Kurt Fraschetti / ProFootballinsight.net

Kurt@profootballinsight.net