A year ago, Danny White welcomed a couple hundred professional football hopefuls to an open tryout. Many clearly didn't belong on the Utah Blaze roster while a half dozen or so eventually earned a contract with the AFL expansion team.
Saturday, White was back in Salt Lake City as about 60 athletes worked out for the Blaze coaching staff, hoping to earn an invitation to training camp and a spot on the roster when Utah enters its second AFL season this winter.
"The talent level is pretty much the same," the Blaze coach said. "The numbers aren't as high, but the talent is right there. There are probably seven or eight guys that we'll bring back for another look."
White said the Blaze are hoping to acquire a handful of free agents in key positions for next season. Of highest priority are linemen and defensive backs — two positions Utah was weakest at in its expansion season.
The guy who caught White's eye most, however, was a quarterback.
Scott Rislov, a former San Jose State player, impressed the Blaze coaching staff and observers with his pinpoint passing during Saturday's workout. Rislov just completed the season for the af2's Central Valley Coyotes, where he led the Fresno-based team to a 12-4 record.
More impressive than the record, though, were his league-high 106 touchdown passes.
"We wanted to see him," White said. "He was the best quarterback in af2 this year, so we wanted to bring him in and get a good look at him."
Rislov probably got a good recommendation from Blaze squad member Emmitt White, who also played for the Coyotes this year. The former Utah State star was at the tryout in street clothes observing the action.
White said the Blaze are busy evaluating talent and waiting for the free-agent signing period to begin sometime in September. An annual league meeting will be held prior to that time where the signing date will be determined, as well as decisions made on a variety of other issues affecting the league. Among those issues are a new television contract, scheduling concerns and how to allocate players when the New Orleans VooDoo returns to the league after a Hurricane Katrina-related hiatus.
"Those things always seem to be up in the air until that meeting is over," White said. "Once that's done, it'll be full speed ahead."
At Saturday's tryout, White watched players from each of the Utah colleges as well as a few dozen from around the country with varying degrees of experience.
He hopes to find a diamond in the rough either at the tryout or in the free-agent talent pool. Stockpiling linemen is a must.
"We need to get it up to six or seven really high-quality linemen," White said. "Last year, we were playing only three or four guys, and we wore down a little bit."
E-mail: jeborn@desnews.com