By Nathan Boudreaux -- The coordinator carousel in the AFL continued in October as former Arizona offensive coordinator Skip Foster joined the Kansas City Brigade and former Utah Blaze and Arizona Rattlers head coach Danny White rejoined his old team in Phoenix as the club’s point man on offense.

White returns to the desert after resigning his post as head coach of the Utah Blaze at the end of last season. He had coached in Utah the past three seasons after a 13-year career as the head man in Arizona. White replaces veteran AFL coach and offensive coordinator Skip Foster, who led the Rattlers offense to 52.6 ppg. during his only season with the club in 2008.

Foster heads to Kansas City where he will replace Rickey Foggie as the Brigade’s offensive coordinator and inherits a unit that averaged just 47.0 points per game last season with QBs D. Bryant and Quincy Carter under center. Bryant is currently the only signal caller on the Brigade roster (Carter was released on Oct. 20), so look for Kansas City to be active in the free agent market, especially at the quarterback position. Former Arizona and Chicago veteran QB Sherderick Bonner and Philadelphia QB Tony Graziani have been rumored to be the lead candidates to take over in Kansas City.

Speaking of free agents, according to numerous reports the Rattlers will sign free agents QB Joe Germaine and WR J.J. McKelvey (both former Blaze players who played under White) to contracts once the free agent signing period begins.

San Jose’s A.J. Haglund Gets a Look by the Saints

The NFL’s New Orleans Saints brought in AFL Kicker of the Year A.J. Haglund for a workout last week but opted to ink a 22-year old undrafted rookie instead. The Saints have been Tim Marcum-like with their specialists this year going through a pair of place kickers in the first eight weeks of the season. Marcum once went through six kickers during an AFL season. The Saints, who also worked out NFL veterans Dave Rayner, Billy Cundiff and Aaron Elling, cut rookie Taylor Mehlaff last week after just three games.

To take a page from Mr. Marcum’s playbook, Saints coach Sean Payton has gone through two punters and five kickers in his last 40 regular season games.

Haglund has been the premier kicker in the AFL over the last two seasons and led the League in scoring (for kickers) last year with 179 points on 116-of-124 PATs and 21-of-25 field goal attempts.

Samuels Injured in Offseason Car Accident

Veteran AFL wide receiver/linebacker Lawrence Samuels was hospitalized in mid-October after his sport utility vehicle was struck by another vehicle and hit a tree outside of Tampa.

Samuels sustained injuries to his left leg and ribs and is scheduled to begin physical therapy according to recent reports.

“As a member of our Storm family, the primary concern for Lawrence right now is his health and speedy recovery,” Storm coach Tim Marcum said in a press release. “We will support him and his family in whatever way we can as they work with the Bayfront medical team through his recovery and the healing process.  As a player, he has been a key component to the success of the Storm for a long time. And in the future, should he look to come back to the field, we will work to keep him a part of the Storm organization.”

Samuels, 38, is the Arena Football League's all-time leading receiver. He has spent 14 of his 15 AFL seasons with the Storm, and has 1,020 career receptions for 11,708 yards, 168 touchdown catches and three championship rings.

Dallas Moves to the Southern Division for '09

With the absence of the New Orleans VooDoo, the Arena Football League has realigned its divisions for 2009, placing the two-time (2006-07) Eastern Division Champion Dallas Desperados in the Southern Division.

The Desperados spent the previous five seasons in the National Conference’s Eastern Division after spending their first two seasons in the American Conference.

“The South is widely regarded as the toughest division in the AFL,” Orlando Predators head coach Jay Gruden said of the Desperados addition to the Predators, Tampa Bay Storm and Georgia Force. “The addition of the Desperados just gave each team in this division two very tough games to prepare for and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”

Georgia head coach Doug Plank echoed Gruden when talking about the challenge of facing the Desperados twice next year.

“We really enjoyed playing Dallas (the last few years),” Plank said. “We’ve had some good competitive games with them. They’ve had a great record over the last few years and its going to make a tough Southern Division even more competitive.”

With Dallas moving to the South, each of the League’s four divisions now has four teams.

Rush Host Open Tryouts -- with a Twist

Every AFL team hosts some sort of open tryout in the off-season. They time players in the 40-yard dash and short shuttle run. They run the cone drill and compete in one-on-one drills. But, a tryout with the Chicago Rush is different.

The Rush coaching staff shows AFL film and takes the opportunity to “teach” aspiring players the indoor game. When it is all said and done, each participant receives a certified copy of their times and a written evaluation from the coaching staff.

“This is a unique opportunity for anyone that is attending,” Rush Vice President of Player Personnel, Assistant Head Coach, and Defensive Coordinator Brian Schwartze said in a recent interview with an AFL fan website. “They will get to see it, walk through it, and go through drills that teach the AFL game. It is a good quality chance for instruction from a staff that likes to teach the game of Arena Football.”

As an added benefit, the Rush mails a copy of all times, individual contact information and a copy of the filmed tryout to every CFL, af2, UIF and NIFL team, allowing players to market themselves to more than 60 professional indoor football teams by attending just one open tryout.

“This is our fourth year of sending out workout video,” Schwartze continued. “It has been a good thing for the players and the teams. Teams can find guys from these open tryouts with our assistance. These are hard working guys that want to play football.”

More Tryout News...Rattlers Make another Guarantee

Sticking to their “guarantee” mantra, the Arizona Rattlers, who last year guaranteed season ticket holders that they would make the playoffs or refund their money, recently added another guarantee to the list.

The club announced that one of the team’s 37 training camp roster spots would be guaranteed to one participant at the team’s annual open tryout which will be held on Saturday, December 13. The player signed through the open tryout will join the team when training camp begins in February and have a chance to make the team’s final roster.

Nathan Boudreaux has been working for arenafootball.com since 2002. He has been associated with the AFL since 1999 and has worked as media relations director for both the AFL's Florida Bobcats (1999) and Carolina Cobras (2000-02). He also spent four years (2002-05) in the media relations department of the NFL's Cleveland Browns before moving to his current post as manager of marketing and business development for USA Football (usafootball.com) -- the national governing body for America’s favorite sport leading the development of youth, high school, and international amateur football.