Atlanta Havoc Sign Quarterback Damien Fleming

The Atlanta Havoc have signed veteran quarterback Damien Fleming. Fleming started for the Jacksonville Sharks in place of injured quarterback Tommy Grady in 2017.

He also played for the Colorado Crush in the Indoor Football League (IFL) in 2016. He threw for 2,745 yards and 57 touchdowns that season. His 196.1 passing yards per game was good enough for second in the IFL last season.

With the Jacksonville Sharks last season, Fleming threw for 1,047 yards and 18 touchdowns in place of Grady. Jacksonville finished the season with Judy one loss – their regular season finale loss to the Monterrey Steel – and went on to defeat the Columbus Lions in the inaugural National Arena League title game.

Fleming had signed with the Nebraska Danger earlier in the off-season, but has now taken his talents to the ATL and a new league in the American Arena League. He will be joining what already looks like an offensive superteam with wide receivers Thyron Lewis and Ryan McDaniel also part of that team.

Atlanta kicks off their inaugural season on March 17 when they host the Florida Tarpons. They will be looking to complete against three former champions in the Richmond Roughriders, Cape Fear Heroes and Vermont Bucks and win the first ever American Arena League title. That game is set to be played on Saturday, June 30.

Ranking the ArenaBowls, #3: ArenaBowl XIX

Denver football is once again on top.

Instead of the Broncos, it was the Colorado Crush of the AFL, owned by John Elway. Clay Rush made a 19 yard field goal at the buzzer to lead the Crush over the Georgia Force 51-48 in ArenaBowl XIX.

Willis Marshall set the stage with three rushing touchdowns in the first half, giving the Crush a 31-20 lead at halftime. But the Force didn’t go away, rallying back thanks to Matt Naggy. Naggy threw three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to help the Force tie the game at 48 with just 18 seconds to go. Even that was too much time as the Rush calmly nailed the field goal to win the game as time expired.

Sharks WR Joe Hills Named Offensive Player of the Year

On the eve of ArenaBowl XXIX, the Arena Football League handed out a few awards to go along with typical Media Day ceremonies. Joe Hills had his name called as Under Armour Offensive Player of the Year to go along with being named Cutters Wide Receiver of the Year and All-Arena First Team just one week earlier.

Hills, arguably the brightest spot of the Jacksonville Sharks offense, capped off one of the best seasons at his position in league history, which made him only the second ever Shark to win the Offensive Player of the Year award (the other being Aaron Garcia in the 2011 championship season).

Hills had already notched a spot on the All-Arena First Team and recognition as the Cutters Wide Receiver of the Year after putting together one of the best individual seasons by a receiver in the history of the League.

Coming over from the Tampa Bay Storm, Hills’ impact was felt day one, winning the receiving Triple Crown in leading the league in catches (161, 16 ahead of Rod Windsor, who will be in the ArenaBowl), yards (2,020, 353 ahead of Windsor), and touchdowns (58, 10 more than, you guessed it, Windsor). In the process, Hills crushed through Jomo Wilson‘s franchise record of 44 touchdowns set in 2011 (in perspective, that record would have tied for the league lead in 2015), and breaking his own single-season record. He also joined Tiger Jones as the only receivers with 2,000-yard seasons in Jacksonville history.

In what became one of the more talked about records as the season progressed, Hills continued his long-standing streak of catching a touchdown pass in every game, bringing his total to 72 in the regular season, six shy of Hall of Fame receiver Damian Harrell (78 games with the Colorado Crush and Chicago Rush). Along the way, Hills only had one game without multiple touchdowns, 12 three-score games, and 11 100-yard games, enough to finish seventh in all-purpose yards when you add his mere 16 yards rushing and three via kick returns.

Hills’ phenomenal performance reached its highest heights during the Sharks’ Week 9 victory over the Orlando Predators. In that game, Hills racked up 15 receptions for 173 yards and eight touchdowns, becoming the first player in franchise history to score more than six touchdowns in a single game and coming just one touchdown shy of tying the all-time single-game AFL record.

Hills shined just as bright in the playoffs, leading the team with 24 catches for 269 yards and seven touchdowns in the two-game run against the Predators and Philadelphia Soul.

Needless to say, this will merit, and possibly require, a fantastic encore in 2017.