Miracle Workers Play to Full House
News Courtesy of the Birmingham Thunderbolts

ORLANDO - (18 January 2001) - While Birmingham's scrimmage against Orlando was closed by the XFL and played largely to an empty house at the Citrus Bowl Wednesday, the same couldn't 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 Thursday's practice.

Thirty-one players, exactly half of Birmingham's 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).

"They're young. We'll 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)."

Making News Nationally
The Thunderbolts and the XFL continue to make news nationally. Reporters and video crews working on stories from Birmingham's 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.

Light Day
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 Wednesday's scrimmage. There was some three-quarter speed seven-on-seven and team drills. The Bolts return to two-a-day workouts Friday.

Work for Four
All four quarterbacks on Birmingham's roster got work at Thursday's 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 didn't play in the scrimmage against Orlando.