January 18, 2001
While Birminghams scrimmage against Orlando was closed by
the XFL and played largely to an empty house at the Citrus
Bowl Wednesday, the same couldnt be said for the Thunderbolts
training room that night. Bolts athletic trainers Dave Gable
and Dan Stockman played to a full house Wednesday evening
and Thursday morning, and some say they pulled off a minor
miracle in time for Thursdays practice. Thirty-one players,
exactly half of Birminghams current roster, reported to the
training room for treatment and rehab of various injuries
following the scrimmage. All but five practiced Thursday afternoon.
Tight ends Nicky Savoie (concussion) and Scott Thompson (knee)
were held out, as well as safety Fred White (knee) and offensive
linemen Justin Burroughs (back) and Ryan Thomassie (knee).
Theyre young. Well fix them, Gable quipped Thursday afternoon.
What may be even more impressive is that at this point in
camp we only had two players not dressed for the scrimmage,
and one of those is a surgery case (Thomassie).
The Thunderbolts and the XFL continue to make news nationally.
Reporters and video crews working on stories from Birminghams
training camp Thursday included the FOX News Channel in New
York and KPRC-TV in Houston, as well as phone interviews from
the Star Tribune in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Reporters from the
Toronto Star and WKBD-TV in Detroit, Mich., neither of which
fields an XFL team, are among others who have done recent
stories from Bolts camp.
Thursday was a light day at camp, with the Bolts practicing
85 minutes in shorts and helmets. The bulk of the workout
was devoted to the kicking game and correcting mistakes from
Wednesdays scrimmage. There was some three-quarter speed
seven-on-seven and team drills. The Bolts return to two-a-day
workouts Friday.
All four quarterbacks on Birminghams roster got work at Thursdays
practice. Casey Weldon continued to work with the first unit.
Also getting reps were Graham Leigh, Jay Barker and Mark Washington.
Washington is the only one of the four who didnt play in
the scrimmage against Orlando.
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