Soul Head Coach Dolezel: Team ‘Getting Better,’ Looks to ‘Stay Healthy’ Ahead of 14th Season

(Matt Rappa/SportsTalkPhilly.com)

By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor

Just 10 days remain until the Philadelphia Soul — one of six teams in the Arena Football League — begin their 14th season, home against the Atlantic City Blackjacks at the Wells Fargo Center.

This past Saturday morning, the team welcomed the newly established Blackjacks to its first AFL action against another team via a joint scrimmage, held at Virtua/Total Turf Experience in Pitman, New Jersey.

The Soul began the day banged up at the wide receiver position; entering the scrimmage, three of their six wide receivers — Bryce Wilkerson, Josh Holderfield and Aaron Wascha — had been placed on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list, leaving only seven-year veteran Darius "Money" Reynolds, four-year veteran Lonnie Outlaw and rookie DJ Myers as active.

Yet, the Soul made the most of the scrimmage, and to the delight of head coach Clint Dolezel, no further injuries were sustained.

"We've had so many injuries in training camp with our receivers and a few other positions, that I'm just pleased that no one came out of this really banged up," Dolezel said. "I think we showed some stuff in the 'big' area, which I was anxious to see how we do against somebody else. I think we did well."

Wilkerson, Holderfield and Wascha all remain on the PUP list entering Wednesday.

The Soul's health through the scrimmage, in part, was helped by their simplistic approach for the remaining healthy wide receivers.

"We kept it simple as far as receiving core. 'Money' is our only true star back from last year's team that's not hurt," Dolezel said. "We wanted to make sure he came out healthy; it looks like he did that. We'll get [Darius] Prince back soon. So, we're going to be fine. It's just one of those things we had to get through today."

The Soul indeed got Prince back, as he was assigned to the team that evening. In his rookie campaign last season with the Soul, Prince (Penn State) led the team in receptions (89), yards (1,076) and touchdowns (24). Prince impressed so much in Arena action, that the reigning Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles waived DT Adam Reth in late August to make room for him on the training camp roster. Prince was released on Sept. 1 — five days before the Eagles' season opener against the Atlanta Falcons.

One of the keys to success in the Arena League is health; Dolezel said that while the Soul take care of their players when at practice — as they did Saturday with their wide receivers — they still want to make sure they "get the work in." "We have to bring in waiver guys to keep our legs fresh, we do that," he said.

"So, it's just a matter … you need a little bit of luck on your side to stay healthy. We need to stay healthy."

Scrimmage Standouts

Dolezel mentioned rookie wide receiver BJ Bunn as one of the players that stood out to him the most at the scrimmage. "I thought [he] did well. We've liked him … he picked the game up fast," Dolezel said. 

Five-foot-11 out of UNC Pembroke, Bunn was described by Dolezel as "strong." He stressed Bunn's ability to stay healthy, adding, "you can have all the talent in the world, but if you can't stay on the field because you can't stay healthy, it doesn't do any good. He's done a good job."

Dolezel also praised the team's "bigs," saying that some of them "stepped up."

"We needed that. We got some veterans in there, but we don't have a lot of depth, so we need some guys to step up," Dolezel said.

Message to Rookies

The Soul had 20 rookies in camp entering the scrimmage, and to help get the roster closer to the required 24-man set-up for Week 1, five of them were placed on reassignment afterward — DL Donte Carey, OL Lawrence Keys, DL Jordan Page, OL Ondre Pipkins and LB Tyrell Robinson.

Dolezel said the message he regularly relays to Soul rookies is that "if they want to play football, and they can play, we're going to find a place for them."

The revitalized Arena Football League added two expansion teams this offseason, and according to Dolezel, it looks to add four teams, and maybe six, for the 2020 season. Dolezel said that maybe if their rookies do not make the 2019 squad, they still will have acquired "a taste of a little bit of experience [with] Arena Football."

"They go home and learn from it, and next year they come back better," Dolezel said. "With a lot of young guys comes a lot of mistakes. We've had that camp. We got a bunch of good veteran players that are coaches for us too, and that's why we kept those guys around."

'Getting Better'

As of scrimmage's end, Dolezel that, overall, the Soul are "getting better."

"We're not where we need to be, and we shouldn't be. It's the first week of camp. It's over," Dolezel said. "Twenty rookies, it's a work in progress."

Dolezel mentioned that it was not going to be easy coming in to camp "teaching everybody," but  the team thinks it has "done a good job."

"We got some good guys in camp. Not only do we do our homework, we do a good job of bringing quality people," he said.

Final 24-man rosters are due this Saturday.