The joy of a championship always comes with a companion — the pressure to defend it the next year.
The Las Vegas Locomotives, the United Football League’s inaugural champions, are becoming familiar with that as the league inches toward the start of its second season in September.
“Everyone is trying to close the gap on us,” said Amp Lee, Locomotives running backs coach. “So, we’re trying to improve, and we’ve got to continue to get our roster and our personnel better.”
Las Vegas hopes it took a positive step in that direction after holding a five-hour open tryout Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium. More than 200 players showed up from across the country to run the 40-yard dash and take part in drills with the coaching staff, sans head coach Jim Fassel who had a speaking engagement at Fullerton College in California.
“I always appreciate guys giving effort and showing up for this,” Lee said. “I commend young guys who are trying to find their way.”
The most notable attendees included Kenny Irons, a former running back and All-American candidate at Auburn, and Brett Engemann, former BYU quarterback. Long snapper Kamu Kapanui represented UNLV at the tryout.
Locomotives coaches guaranteed no one a closer look immediately after the tryout, but a handful of players will be invited to a private workout Sunday at Sam Boyd.
“It’s hard. It’s a process of elimination,” Irons said. “You wait it out. It’s just like draft day, when you’re waiting for your name to get called and it might not get called. It’s just one of those things.”
Irons hopes his fate with the Locomotives is similar to his draft day experience. He didn’t have to wait very long at the 2007 NFL Draft.
The Cincinnati Bengals selected Irons in the second round, but he never appeared in a game. Irons tore his ACL in the preseason of his rookie year and complications from the injury kept him off the field for two more years.
“Coach Fassel called me last year and tried to bring me out, but I knew mentally and physically I wasn’t ready,” Irons said. “There were some things I needed to do to compete. But I wanted to stay loyal because he called me. So I wanted to come back here and give him an opportunity to check me out.”
The success of friend and former Bengals teammate DeDe Dorsey also pushed Irons toward Las Vegas.
Dorsey, the MVP of last year’s UFL Championship Game as the Locomotives featured back, used his success in the league to score a free agent contract with the Detroit Lions.
“Me and DeDe are the exact same running backs,” Irons said. “DeDe said he loved it out here and killed it. So I said I’m going to try to do the same thing.”
If Irons doesn’t catch on with the Locomotives, he said, he would likely work out for the Florida Tuskers.
Lee said Irons, who ran a 4.5-second 40-yard dash Saturday, had a good shot to make an impact in the UFL.
“Obviously, he’s coming off of an injury that set him back, but he’s trying to battle back,” Lee said. “I did like what I saw today.”
Irons hopes he has an opportunity to fill the vacant role left by Dorsey’s departure and thrill Sam Boyd crowds this fall.
“I’d love to come out here and put on a Locos uniform,” Irons said. “It would be crazy to just catch those pitches again and take it through the tackles.”
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