ORLANDO Fla.
Rudy Griffin’s college football career ended two years ago when he graduated from Alabama, but the desire to play still hasn’t left him.
So he drove 300 miles from Albany, Ga., to Orlando this week for a chance to get back in the game.
Griffin was among about 300 former college football players invited to the first tryouts for the All-American Football League, an upstart that hopes to begin playing in April 2008. The players ran 40-yard dashes and through agility drills, were weighed and measured and tested at their positions.
Some are recent college standouts who lasted a few years in the NFL, arena football or elsewhere. Others haven’t played in years.
“This league right here is a chance for me to experience that whole college atmosphere again,” said Griffin, who coaches a high school team. “Put the uniform on and actually run out there. I’m still around the game of football. I love the game of football; that’s my passion.”
The AAFL hopes to tap into a “pent-up demand” during the NFL offseason by tying it into college sports. Teams will be located in high-profile markets like Alabama, Florida and Tennessee, and feature former players for those schools and others. In many cases, the games would be held at college stadiums, and even the uniforms would have similar color schemes as the college.
