AF1 Week 0 Preview: Nashville Kats at Southwest Kansas Storm
Image via Instagram @swstormfootball
The time has finally arrived for the brand new AF1 as the league kicks off with a Week 0 matchup between the Nashville Kats and the Southwest Kansas Storm.
Nashville sneaked into the AFL playoffs last year with a 3-4 record as they upset the Orlando Predators in the first round. The Kats fell to the eventual AFL champions Billings Outlaws 35-32 in the next round.
Southwest Kansas ended the season with a losing record of 4-5 in the AFL, but the Storm entered the playoffs as the fourth seed. They lost to Salina Liberty 41-35 in the first round of the postseason.
Both teams did not face each other during the AFL season, so this will be the Storm's and Kats' first meeting.
Getting to Know the Nashville Kats
The Kats are led by head coach Darren Arbet, a veteran of arena football who was the head coach for the San Jose SaberCats for 15 seasons. Arbet has won 169 games and three Arena Bowl championships but has only missed the postseason twice.
Nashville’s quarterback situation in training camp has been quite the battle between Kory Curtis and Jake Dunniway. Curtis played in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks and Dunniway was with the Ottawa Redblacks of the CFL. No starter has been named before the game.
In a recent article on AF1, coach Arbet told Andrew Pettit to watch out for linebacker Calvin Fance as a top player. Arbet praised his receiving core, which includes Isaiah McKoy, Jordan Gandy, Tre Long, and Rob Jones.
Getting to Know the Southwest Kansas Storm
Gary Thomas is the head coach of the Storm, entering his second season. He was also the head coach of Dodge City Community College, where he went 31-34 from 2013 through 2018.
Former Birmingham Stallions quarterback Jalen Morton is projected to be the starting quarterback a couple of weeks ago as he beat out Montell Cozart for the job. Jarius Grissom will serve as Morton's backup.
Logan Wright won the battle for the running back position. Coach Thomas also praised his offensive line during training camp for significantly improving.
Keys to Victory for Kats and Storm
Nashville is well coached, and Arbet knows what it takes to build a winning roster. It’ll be interesting to see how the quarterbacks will be used and who gets more playing time between the two. Finding the right guy and getting into rhythm will be key, especially since they weren’t planning on playing in Kansas before this week,
The Storm hope to improve their defense after allowing 36 points a game last year, which was fourth worst in the AFL. Morton has a chance to shine in the league in his debut in indoor football as he is athletic in throwing and running when needed. Utilizing Morton’s skill set will open the offense.
