The Portland Thunder season starts on March 27 against rival LA Kiss. After their inaugural season in the AFL, they hope to improve on last year’s record when they finished 5-13.
The Thunder were hoping to get back First Team All-Arena defensive back Varmah Sonie, who played the final two weeks in the NFL for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but he ended up signing with the Cleveland Browns.
They have been busy in the offseason, adding veteran and former All-Arena wide receiver Aaron Leuse, which gives the Thunder a deep threat and depth to their receiving core. The Thunder have re-signed quarterback Danny Southwick, who played eight games for them last season. It will be interesting to see if they use a two quarterback set, which saw Darron Thomas play mostly in the goal line formation. Southwick will be competing for the starting quarterback position along with Thomas and Kyle Rowley.
More additions to the team are rookies Ty Gieser, an offensive lineman who is a Beaverton native and played college football for Western Oregon. They added defensive back Andre Martin, who played for FCS national champions North Dakota State. Also, they acquired another wide receiver in rookie Perez Ashford, who has bounced around the NFL and CFL before landing in Portland.
The team has made a big personnel change in hiring new head coach Mike Hohensee. Hohensee is in his 25th year of coaching. He joins the Thunder after coaching the Iowa Barnstormers for the past three seasons.
The Thunder, who had a disappointing inaugural season when they finished with a losing record, hope that the changes and additions they made to the team will help lead to a much better second season in the AFL. They will also have to figure out their quarterback situation and the new style of play they have to adopt from coach. We hope the team can come together and gel quickly for the new season. It is an exciting time for Thunder football; we can’t wait for the start of football in Portland!
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