Fever itch to start 2016 Indoor Football League season

Rodrick Gladney, the Tri-Cities Fever’s big offensive lineman who is also one of the team’s vocal leaders, knows it’s time for the 2016 Indoor Football League season to start.

“I am tired of touching teammates. I want to hit someone else,” Gladney said Thursday at the Toyota Center.

Gladney and his Fever teammates will get that chance Saturday night, when the Fever host the Spokane Empire at the Toyota Center. Kickoff is at 7:05 p.m.

This game brings plenty of storylines.

For starters, it’ll mark the return of Ryan Lingenfelder, the former Tri-Cities defensive coordinator who is now the team’s head coach.

“I don’t really feel this is my first game as Fever head coach,” Lingenfelder said. “We have a great staff. It’s awesome. Let’s go. I don’t feel any pressure.”

Lingenfelder will face Adam Shackleford, who, after six seasons as the Fever’s head coach, left last summer to take the helm in Spokane.

He left Tri-Cities on good terms.

He and his wife have two young sons, and they maintained a family home in Spokane Valley for the six seasons he was with the Fever. Shackleford spent many Sunday afternoons over the years driving to Ritzville and spending a few hours with his wife and kids.

Shackleford returned to Spokane after a previous stint as head coach of the Shock. After he was fired by the Shock in 2009, the Fever named him their head coach when Pat O’Hara was hired by Orlando of the Arena Football League.

“I expect to be booed on Saturday,” Shackleford said. “I would expect nothing less from the Tri-Cities crowd. I spent six wonderful years down there. If I wasn’t given another opportunity in the Tri-Cities, I wouldn’t be back in Spokane with my family. I am thankful to (Fever owners) Teri and J.R. Carr for that.”

But both coaches, who are longtime friends, know this game is much more than about them.

“We don’t have any film of them, so it comes down to the players,” said Lingenfelder, who named veteran Hunter Wanket as his starting quarterback.

The Fever have a strong receiving corps in Dejuan Miller, DeJay Lester and Akeem Foster.

The Fever roster, for the most part, is young.

“Offensively, we’re going to throw the football and score touchdowns,” Lingenfelder said. “Defensively, our goal is three stops a half and six in a game. And we want to secure the ball on special teams.”

Shackleford, meanwhile, inherited a franchise that dropped from the AFL after the 2015 season. All players on that roster were released, and the franchise lost the Shock nickname to the AFL, thus the name Spokane Empire.

Shackleford got the Spokane ownership to pay other teams for the rights to sign some veterans.

He has at least five players from last season’s Cedar Rapids Titans, including linebacker Nick Haag and the entire Titans secondary. The Empire cut former Cedar Rapids running back Washaun Ealey on Thursday.

“We have tons of experienced athletes on defense,” Shackleford said. “Offensively, we’ve got veteran guys in spots.”

They include Charles Dowdell, a 6-foot quarterback who has played for Sioux City of the Champions Indoor Football league, as well as Wenatchee and Green Bay in the IFL.

“He reminds me of Vernon Adams (the former Eastern Washington University and Oregon quarterback),” Shackleford said.

Saturday’s contest will be the first of four meetings between the two teams, setting them up for a great regional rivalry.

“I want the IFL in Eastern Washington to be the cornerstone of greatness in professional football, and I want some attention in the Northwest,” Lingenfelder said. “This is going to be an intense rivalry.”

Shackleford agrees.

“It’s a nice rivalry,” he said. “We’ll have two buses of fans coming down, and I think another 150-plus fans driving down.”

Lingenfelder’s ready to get the new 16-game season going.

“I can’t wait to see what my defense does,” he said. “I want to see our guys come together as a team. I want to see 21 guys rally for 21 guys. Of course, we want to win. But win, lose or draw, if the guys buy into our program, I’ll be happy.”

And Gladney has a tip for his younger teammates who will play in their first indoor professional football game.

“My advice is to take a deep breath,” he said. “Then start flying around.”

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 6:09 PM with the headline "Fever itch to start 2016 Indoor Football League season."