Team needs home, players, equipment

The first-year New Mexico Outlawz of the Professional Developmental Football League are racing against the clock to be ready for the 2013 outdoor season that’s scheduled to start in May.

The clock, though, has built such a substantial lead it might be hard to catch up.

Team owner Anthoni Garcia already has pushed the start of training camp back from March to this Saturday and postponed the team’s first exhibition by four weeks. It originally was set to be a “home” game April 13. (More on the “home” reference later.)

A key reason the Outlawz have been slow out of the gate this spring is that they don’t have enough players, with an estimated 20 secured as of Tuesday. Two months ago, Garcia said he wanted to take 50 players to camp.

Some other league teams, meanwhile, started drills more than two weeks ago.

“What I’ve been doing lately is having our players bring a person they know (to tryouts) and spread word that way,” said Garcia, whose first recruiting effort, two months ago, attracted only five hopefuls at Cibola High School.

Then again, this player shortage could be a moot point if the team doesn’t have any gear.

“Everything’s been ordered,” Garcia said of the equipment. On Tuesday he said he was still awaiting its arrival.

Garcia’s voice mail box was full Wednesday, and he didn’t respond to a email query for a status update.

And even if the equipment does arrive in time and there are 50 guys ready to mix it up, there’s the issue of where the team is going to play its home games. Despite months of searching, the Outlawz still don’t have a field to play on.

Early on, Garcia couldn’t land a deal to use any of the suitable football facilities in Albuquerque or Rio Rancho. That’s caused him to explore options across New Mexico.

“We’re working with Clovis and working with Farmington(/Shiprock) on trying to play two games apiece there,” Garcia said.

Thus, fans surfing on the league website (www.thepdfl.com) should disregard the schedule information that says the Outlawz will be playing their games in Santa Fe.

“That didn’t work out,” Garcia said. “I’m getting that changed. At the times I need to play they have things going on.”

At least the Outlawz have a coach.

Back in late January, the team’s first, Lance Heron of British Columbia, Canada, abruptly resigned the night of the first tryout camp. Garcia said Heron decided he didn’t want to take a chance on a long-distance move to join an unproven franchise.

Now in the saddle is Drew Burkhart. Burkhart and Garcia made contact through Facebook.

“I know (Burkhart) worked with the New Mexico Wildcats,” Garcia said regarding a Rio Rancho indoor pro team that discontinued operations after the 2009 season. “Last year he was with the (indoor New Mexico) Stars. I can’t remember off top of my head what he did. He was in the front office.”

However, Garcia says Burkhart doesn’t want to talk to the media.

Burkhart was the game-day operations assistant with the Stars during last year’s spring season. Last fall, he was an assistant coach at Mancos (Colo.) High School, which has a student enrollment listed at a little more than 100.

He got high marks from the head coach there, though.

“He’s very knowledgeable,” Adam Priestley said of Burkhart. “The players learned a lot of great, valuable skills. He’s very personable and all-around good guy. I’m glad to see he has a chance to keep building on that.”

But isn’t that a huge leap for Burkhart to go from position coach at a tiny high school to pro head coach?

“Yeah,” said Priestley, “I have to agree.”

No matter, at least the Outlawz have a pulse.

In recent weeks, the names of two PDFL franchises quietly disappeared from the league website — the Carolina Knights and Columbia (S.C.) Enforcers. That leaves an eight-team league, with five teams, including the Outlawz, out West, and three in the Southeast. The two sides aren’t scheduled to mingle until the postseason.

League Commissioner Theo Hall is confident, though, the Outlawz aren’t following the same path as the Knights and Enforcers.

“There are no similarities,” he said recently.

He also said that although New Mexico doesn’t appear to be on the fast track to success, his worry meter isn’t red-lining.

“It always could be faster,” he said of the franchise’s progress.
— This article appeared on page D2 of the Albuquerque Journal