Lehigh Valley Steelhawks 2018 Season Preview

Leigh Valley were the favorites to play in the inaugural NAL title game last season. They even held a 22-point lead over the Columbus Lions in the NAL semifinal. Unfortunately, they could not maintain that lead and didn’t get the opportunity to play in the title game.

Their road to the title this season will be a much tougher one. They will have to play their long-time rival Lions several times in both Columbus, GA and in Allentown, PA and will also have to play the defending champions Jacksonville Sharks twice – once in Jacksonville and once in Allentown, PA.

They will also face a third tough opponent in the expansion Carolina Cobras. They have several players from the Wichita Falls Nighthawks team, including 2016 and 2017 Indoor Football League MVP quarterback Charles McCullum and two receivers in Tyron Laughinghouse and Jordan Jolly. Carolina will also be coached by former Nighthawks head coach Billy Back.

Not only do their opponents propose a challenge. Their roster does, as well. Wide receiver Darius Prince, who was named ArenaBowl XXX MVP with the Philadelphia Soul, will remain with the Soul in 2018. Another star receiver in Warren Oliver Jr. signed with the Duke City Gladiators of Champions Indoor Football (CIF). On defense, Eddie Davis III, who recorded seven interceptions in four games, is with the Sharks.

The biggest blow of all comes at the quarterback position. 2017 NAL MVP and Steelhawks quarterback Warren Smith Jr is with the Washington Valor or the Arena Football League (AFL).

Not all is lost, however. They did sign a talented running back in Undra Hendrix II. In 2017 with the High Country Grizzlies, he rushed for 298 yards and 12 touchdowns, both second in the league behind Derrick Ross. Wide receiver Brandon Renford, who recorded 546 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2017,  will also be returning.

Lehigh Valley kicks off their season against the same team that ended their last, the Columbus Lions, on April 13 in Columbus, GA. Their first home game will be on April 21 when they host the expansion Maine Mammoths at the PPL Center in Allentown, PA.

Jacksonville Sharks Road to Repeat Not Easy

The Jacksonville Sharks won the inaugural National Arena League title in 2017. They will be looking to repeat as champions in 2018. However, their road to repeat won’t be as easy as it was last season.

They finished the regular season with just one loss, their regular season finale to the Monterrey Steel. This time around, there is more competition that the Sharks will face.

The Lehigh Valley Steelhawks lost a few players, but they can still be a threat to Jacksonville. Also, the Sharks will travel to Allentown this season as opposed to when they only played once down in Jacksonville last season.

The Columbus Lions will also be returning talent from last season, such as wide receiver Tristan Purifoy and linebacker Kyle Griswould. They also have two quarterbacks that would do well if they started in Mason Espinosa and Kyle Cool. They could be a bigger threat to Jacksonville in 2018.

No one can count out the three expansion teams, either. The Carolina Cobras have brought several players from the now defunct Wichita Falls Nighthawks, one of the most talented teams in the Indoor Football League (IFL). Players that have joined Carolina from Wichita Falls include 2016 and 2017 IFL MVP quarterback Charles McCullum, wide receivers Jordan Jolly and Tyron Laughinghouse and even head coach Billy Back.

Should the Cobras execute the same way the Nighthawks did, Jacksonville will have trouble to start the season. They travel to Greensboro to take on the Cobras in their season opener on April 7.

The Massachusetts Pirates have also made signings that could surprise not just Jacksonville, but the National Arena League as a whole. One of their big signings is quarterback Sean Brackett. He took over the Washington Valor of the Arena Football League last season after Erik Meyer was injured and later retired.

The Maine Mammoths also have a quarterback-wide reciever duo that could prove to be a challenge to all teams in the NAL. Jonathon Bane and Devin Wilson could be much trouble for any opposing defenses. That Jacksonville’s high-powered defense that has both Marvin Ross, 2016 Arena Football League Defensive Player of the Year and Eddie Davis III, who recorded seven interceptions in three games in 2017, in their secondary.

Jacksonville will begin their road to repeat on April 7 when they travel to Greensboro, NC to take on the Carolina Cobras. National Arena Bowl II, the name of the league’s championship game, is set to be played on Saturday, Aug. 25.

Lehigh Valley Steelhawks Down, But Not Out

As the upcoming 2018 season rapidly approaches, the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks will be playing without the aid of several key aspects. The Steelhawks have lost two wide receivers in Warren Oliver Jr and Darius Prince and defensive back Eddie Davis III this off-season.

The losses of those three players will affect the strength and aggressiveness of the Steelhawks moving toward the season’s beginning. Veteran Quarterback Warren Smith Jr. will be affected the most out of any player.

Smith lost two of his best wide receivers, who combined for a total of 1,270 receiving yards last season. The combined receiving yards of Oliver and Prince, made up 65 percent of Smith’s 1,953 passing yards in 2017.

As for the future careers of the three players, Oliver Jr. signed with the Duke City Gladiators of the Champions Indoor Football (CIF), Eddie Davis III signed with the Jacksonville Sharks, and Darius Prince told Inside the Arena back in  September that he will play with the Philadelphia Soul for 2018. 

“The future is with the Soul or higher,” he told Stephen Ur. “Lehigh [Valley] is a great organization, but it was a platform to get to a higher level such as the Soul or CFL/NFL.”

Warren Oliver Jr.

Warren Oliver Jr. will move on from the Steelhawks to continue his career with the Duke City Gladiators, members of the Champions Indoor Football league. He will leave the Steelhawks after having a solid 2017 campaign, appearing in all 10 of the team’s games last season.

He had a total of 552 receiving yards. He averaged 55.2 receiving yards per game and scored a total of 15 touchdowns.

Darius Prince

Prince left the Steelhawks to become a member of the Philadelphia Soul prior to ArenaBowl XXX. Prince had an incredible 2017 season with the Steelhawks, as he tacked on a total of 718 receiving yards. He compiled an average of 71.8 receiving yards per game, and had a season total of 20 touchdowns.

He also scored two touchdowns in ArenaBowl XXX for the Soul back on Aug. 26. Philadelphia won their second consecutive title and Prince was named the game’s MVP.

Eddie Davis III

Davis will move on to playing with the NAL’s Jacksonville Sharks, after only playing in four games for the Steelhawks in the 2017 season. Davis III compiled an impressive total of seven interceptions in four games with the team.

Where does the roster and team stand at now?

With the loss of Oliver, Prince, and Davis, the Steelhawks have some off-season work to complete. Even though they just lost three players, the team still has Warren Smith Jr., Brandon Renford, Tommy Dover, Rodney Hall and Undra Hendrix II.

Hendrix was signed this off-season, after he spent the  2017 season with the High Country Grizzlies, former NAL members. Hendrix played in all 10 games compiling an average of 29.8 yards a game. He also scored a total of 12 touchdowns.

Renford remains as the only star wide receiver on the Steelhawks team. He compiled a total of 552 receiving yards and a total of 14 touchdowns on the season. He averaged 55.4 receiving yards per game.

Smith will return to the team, as their veteran quarterback. Smith played in all 10 games, with 169 completed passing yards in 256 passing attempts. He had a total of eight interceptions within the 256 passing attempts. He passed for 1,953 yards, and compiled 56 touchdowns, and a bold average of 195.3 passing yards per game.

Dover and  Hall will both return to defense for the 2018 season. Hall  had seven interceptions,  two of which were returned for touchdowns, as he played all 10 games last season. Dover had eight sacks last season, and he also played in all 10 games, as well.

The Future of the Steelhawks

Even with the loss of significant leaders, including  head coach Chris Thompson, the Steelhawks could still manage to be successful. New head coach Bob Kohler has already began the search for new players to fill in the empty roster voids.

If the right signings are made, the team could get back on the path of success. The impact Davis, Prince, and Oliver made was huge, but the team will have to overcome the painful loss of those players.

Kohler will use his 40 plus years of coaching to bring in new and experienced players, and will also rely Smith Jr. to “fly” the Steelhawks to success.

The league schedule has yet to be released, but according to multiple sources, the season will begin in April and end in August. This is a different look from last season, when the season ran from March to July.

Jacksonville Sharks Sign Defensive Back Eddie Davis III

The Jacksonville Sharks have announced that they have signed defensive back Eddie Davis III. He spent the 2017 season, the National Arena League’s first, with the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks. Despite playing only four games, he recorded 14 tackles and an outstanding seven interceptions.

Davis now joins a Sharks team that relied on their defense to help them win the National Arena League title over the Jacksonville Sharks. After losing Marvin Ross to the Canadian Football League (CFL), the Sharks defense didn’t play as dominant. They found themselves winning much closer games and eventually losing their first game in the regular season finale.

Ross has since returned to the team. Should he make another move, however, at least they will have another star in Davis who has shown he knows how to read the quarterback’s eyes.

His top performance in 2017 was against the High Country Grizzlies. He recorded three interceptions in a blowout win.

The Sharks are the defending NAL champions. They defeated the Columbus Lions in the inaugural NAL title game back in July 10.

Davis is a big addition to this defense, but they aren’t the favorite to win the title in 2018. Columbus and Lehigh Valley continue to add talent to their teams, plus there are several new expansion teams on the way.