National Arena League (NAL) football is finally returning this Saturday, April 13, 2019 for a new season! With new seasons come new teams. Two teams are making their league debut, and the Orlando Predators happen to be one of them as they host the NAL Runner-Up, Columbus Lions.
NAL: Orlando and Columbus gear up for first Jungle War
Who: Columbus Lions @ Orlando Predators
When: Saturday, April 13, 2019 at 7:00 pm (E.T.)
Where: Amway Center, Orlando, FL
The Predators’ Resurrection
The Orlando Predators are being revived by former Predators star player, Kenny McIntyre.
The team has been in arena football since almost the beginning of arena football history, and two seasons was far too long to not have a team in Orlando.
The first game back just so happens to be against the Columbus Lions, who also claim their home arena as “The Jungle”. This game could be the deciding factor on who really owns the true “Jungle”.
The Predators may be the new ones in town, but they sure do have a talented roster, grabbing the Rob Brown and Robert Brown from the Maine Mammoths after their hiatus.
Their roster has tons of arena talent and local talent, but how well will they do as they work together as a team? Hopefully, for them, Defensive Back Dallas Jackson did very well in Jacksonville last season for the Sharks.
Other names that have previous NAL experience include WR Keith DeVeaux, FB Desmond Maxwell, and OL Justin Cook.
At Quarterback, the Predators have Kyle Israel, a local player who played and started for the University of Central Florida. Division I talent is great in the NAL because players have that drive in them to keep pushing themselves and learn from each other.
Columbus Lions Comeback
The Columbus Lions are looking to bounce back from their past two championship losses. Before the season already started, they lost some key players to their offense.
Players like Quarterback Mason Espinosa went to the Albany Empire to compete with Tommy Grady for the starting job.
Fullback Quayvon Hicks went to the Massachusetts Pirates powerful offense.
Wide Receivers Durron Neal and Jarmon Fortson both moved down to Jacksonville to play for the Sharks this season.
That is a solid four out of the seven key starters on the Lions offense that won’t return for the 2019 season.
They are, however, acquiring A.J. Harmon, who was on the championship roster for the Sharks in 2017.
Not only did they add Harmon, they received WR Bones Bagaunte from the Pirates. It may look like a trade to get rid of Hicks and get Bagaunte, but it was definitely not a trade.
Their QB situation sure sounds like a mess, but we shall see if Espinosa is able to return, pending the Empire training camp and whether he makes it or not.
Switching over to the defensive side of the ball, players like LB Greg Halls Jr., Shattle Fenteg, Kyle Griswould, and Kendrick Washington are returning to the team, which gives them a major boost.
Another notable loss for the Lions team is DB Chris Pickett who also ended up with the Sharks. With this core group of players on the defense, they should be able to stop the Predators unknown offense in the first game.
Closing Thoughts
While nobody knows what the Predators have in store, almost everybody has a sense of how well the Lions will do this season.
Sure, the Lions have had some grusome losses, but at the same time, they have almost made up for every single one of those losses by picking up some of the best in the league last year.
The Predators should be a good team this year, but the Lions should be able to go back home with a 1-0 record.
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