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Gladiators Add Former Utes Star Viliseni Fauonuku

On Tuesday the Cleveland Gladiators added former Utah Utes defensive star Viliseni Fauonuku. Fauonuku, 23, will be getting his first taste of the Arena Football League, he was a starter in 2015, his senior season for the Utes. Fauonuku played in all 13 games in back to back seasons (2014 and 2015) for the Utes.

 

Fauonuku appeared in a total of 45 games during his college football career. In his senior season Fanonuku, had 38 tackles, 8.5 of them for negative yardage. Fauonuku also tied the school record for sacks in one game with four during a 20-14 victory over the University of Colorado, a game where the Buffaloes only averaged 1.5 yards per rush. The same season also came with wins over the University of Michigan in front of the largest crowd (47,825) for a home Utah game ever and a 42 point victory over the Oregon Ducks, a team only one season removed from an appearance in the College Football Playoff title game.

Fauonuku was the first in his family to graduate from high school, he grew up in Utah and spent some time in Texas, but he was born in Oahu Hawai’i.

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Gladiators Add Veteran Depth At Quarterback, Fill Out Rest Of Roster

The Cleveland Gladiators‘ had a lot of question marks after the first few weeks of the season in 2016 at quarterback, but now they have experience and skill at the position going into 2017. The Glads added a new passer from the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last season when they announced they had added veteran Shane Boyd. Boyd, 34, who was on the Arizona Rattlers the last two seasons, and lost in Arena Bowl XXIX to the Philadelphia Soul.

Boyd’s Rattlers knocked the Gladiators out a round earlier in the National Conference title game winning 82-41, so Cleveland has to be happy in adding someone who has been on the winning  side so often the last few seasons. Boyd has backed up the “Latin Laser” Nick Davila, one of the greatest to ever play on AFL turf.

However, Boyd was also a part of the winning ways when he got on the field, throwing for 581 yards and two scores, appearing in 11 games total over the last two seasons. Boyd has played for a total of four Arena Football League teams and he has also seen time with five National Football League teams.

The Glads also added Offensive Lineman Jaylen Hunter, the second lineman added to Cleveland’s roster in the last 48 hours, and they also added Defensive Back Paris Logan.

Hunter, 23, will be entering this rookie AFL season and brings a lot of talent with him. He was brought into camp by the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks before the start of their current season. Hunter was named first team All Conference USA in 2015 for his efforts while playing at Middle Tennessee State. In 2014, he led a line that helped his quarterback throw for over 3,000 yards and a running back go over 1,000 yards, which was the first time in school history that such a combo ever occurred for the Blue Raiders.

Logan, 24, is another rookie joining the red and black. Logan is a ball hawk that ranks third all time for his 33 pass break ups while playing his college ball at Northern Illinois, and he also racked up five interceptions in his time there.

The Gladiators have less than three months to put all the pieces together, as their season starts April 8 when they host the Tampa Bay Storm.

The Arena Football League Needs an All-Star Game

The NFL has the Pro Bowl. The MLB, NBA and NHL each have their own all-star games, too.

Even the Chinese Arena Football League, set to kick off their inaugural season in October, will have an all-star game on Nov. 12. The date is set for one week after the CAFL Championship Game on Nov. 5.

If the Chinese league has an all-star game, the Arena Football League should have one, too. The league, which just wrapped up its 29th season last Friday night, had come a long way since 1987.

They have games aired on big networks such as CBS Sports Network and the world wide leader in sports, ESPN. They also currently have partnerships with two famous companies in GEICO and Uber.

Not only that, but if there were an Arena Football League All-Star Game, fans would not be disappointed. Seven of the eight starting quarterbacks in the 2016 season could have been selected to the team of their prospected conference. There is also such great talent at the wide receiver and running back positions all across the league.

Defense is more of the same. Despite the top leader in sacks and top two leaders in interceptions all being members of the defending champion Philadelphia Soul, there is a lot more talent around the Arena Football League defensively.

The league will be entering its 30th season in 2017. Many things will be rethought to make it an amazing season. One thing that should be thought of is bringing an All-Star Game to the growing league.