Firecats camp winds down, cuts continue
And then there were 30.
That is the number that Florida Firecats coach Kevin Bouis had to trim his roster down to prior to Saturday’s scrimmage at Estero high school.
Overall, Bouis liked what he saw out of all of the remaining players in training camp.
“We are coming together good,” says Bouis, “We have a nice mix of returning guys, along with some players we brought in from other teams and the rookies trying out for their first time. The guys were flying around out there pretty good, it was a good day. We saw some good things from both the offense and defense.”
Chris Wallace, who returns at starting quarterback, also liked what he saw from the teams first scrimmage.
“We are going to be good,” he said. “There are a lot of new faces, but it was interesting to see how we played in the trenches, which is where the game is won, on the offensive and defensive fronts.”
Among the new faces on this year’s team is the new voice of the Firecats, Adam Mendelson.
Mendelson, a native of Chicago, provided color commentary for Dave Parks, for all of Florida’s home games last year.
However, due to health reasons, Parks is unable to travel with the team this year and will switch roles with Mendelson, who cherishes the opportunity.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to do play-by-play for any sport, and for (my first opportunity) to be football is fantastic,” says the 27-year-old who also provided the sideline reporting for last year’s televised games. “I’m really looking forward to it, but as I tell everyone, Dave (Parks) is the voice of the Firecats. As I’ve told him and everyone else that, because of his health issues, this is not how I envisioned filling his shoes. I see myself as just keeping his seat warm until he comes back, which I’m sure he will.”
Despite the circumstances which Mendelson is taking over as the voice of the Firecats, whether temporary or not, the Northwestern University grad hopes to entertain the fans as much as Parks did during his two years as the play-by-play commentator.
“This is a great opportunity for me, but I only hope that I can keep the fans entertained as well as Dave did. I’m a guy who likes to have fun, and (the team) likes to have fun too and I’m sure the fans will be able to see that.”
The Firecats still have another week left of training camp, and Bouis still has to settle on his offensive line and defensive secondary starters before he must trim down his final roster to 22 players when training camp ends after next weekend.
The Firecats first home game of the season is April 12 when they face Tennessee Valley.