Burn Announce Seven More Roster Slots Filled

Head Coach Brent Winter today announced the signing of seven players for the 2009 Boise Burn af2 season. Fred Amano, Samuel Bentley, De?Angelo Bryant, Marcus Lawrence, Joe Lemma, Leo Sullivan, and Chris White have been assigned to the team by the af2 office. The signings bring the Burn?s 2009 training camp roster to 24. Amano (6-1, 255 lbs.), who started his college career at Southeast Missouri State as a defensive tackle, transferred to San Diego State where he switched to the offensive line. He was named the Aztecs? Scout Team Player of the Year after transferring in 2005. He competed in football, track and field, and soccer in high school (Rancho Bernardo HS, San Diego). Amano graduated from SDSU with a degree in criminal justice and earned the scholar-athlete award four times during his college career.Samuel Bentley (6-4, 330) joins the Burn out of Tennessee-Chattanooga, where he was a four-year letterwinner (2004-05-06-07) while playing both left and right tackle. He started all 11 games his sophomore season (2005), and was third on the team with 77 pancake blocks. He tied for team lead in the squat lift with 645 pounds his senior season. Wake Forest product De?Angelo Bryant (6-0, 240) joins the Burn as a FB/LB. In his senior season with the Deamon Deacons, he was fourth-leading scorer on a 9-4 team that won the Meineke Car Care Bowl. For his career, Bryant rushed for 583 yards and 7 touchdowns. An outstanding athlete, he led his high school team (Silver Bluff HS, Aiken, SC) to a 51-5 record and two state titles in four years, playing quarterback his junior and senior seasons. He was named All-State in both football and baseball. He had two cousins play in the NFL - Cory Chavous, (Minnesota) and Raymond Chavous (Tampa Bay). Marcus Lawrence joins the Burn as a 6-3, 255-pound FB/LB. He transferred to South Carolina from Butler (KS) Community College, where he was a Junior College All-American in 2002. As a senior at South Carolina (2004), he was fourth on the team in tackles with 57. His junior season, he was second with 99 total tackles. In 2005, he signed a free agent contract with the Carolina Panthers of the NFL, and was on the New York Giants practice squad and was in camp with the Minnesota Vikings. He attended the same high school (Silver Bluff, Aiken, SC) as new teammate De?Angelo Bryant.Joe Lemma (6-4, 255) made 31 consecutive starts at DE for Oregon State University. He was a four-year letterwinner for the Beavers (2003-04-05-06) and played on three bowl-winning teams: Las Vegas (2003), Insight (2004) and Sun (2006). For his career, the Stockton, CA native recorded 67 total tackles, including 7 sacks.Offensive lineman Leo Sullivan will enter his third af2 season. He previously played for Bakersfield (2007) and Albany (2008). The 6-4, 315-pound Bellmore, New York native was a four-year starter at left guard at Stony Brook University, and was named to the Mid-Major All-American first team in 2005 and earned first-team All-Northeast Conference honors. Chris White (6-3, 275) signs with the Burn as a DL/FB. He earned first-team All-Great West Football Conference honors as a junior and senior nose tackle at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. White also was named to the American Football Coaches Association?s Division I-AA All-America Team, the Football Gazette All-American second team, Associated Press All-American third team and College Sporting News Fabulous Fifty All-American squad. The Bakersfield, CA native finished his college career with 108 tackles - 55 of them solo - and was credited with 36.5 tackles for lost yardage. He signed with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League, but was released due to an injury.The Burn open their third af2 season this spring on Friday, March 27 at Tri-Cities. The Burn will host its West Division rival and defending National Conference Champion Spokane Shock for its home opener on Saturday, Apr. 18 at Qwest Arena. Season tickets are currently on sale. Call the front office at 208.383.0080 or check online at www.boiseburn.com for more information.About af2With its 10th anniversary season set to begin in the spring of 2009, af2 serves as a vehicle to bring Arena Football to small-to-midsize cities and as a developmental league with an unmatched history of sending players, coaches and officials to major professional football leagues each year. af2 operates under the same Mission Statement and Fans? Bill of Rights as the Arena Football League, which finished its 22nd season in July. Log on to www.af2.com for more information.- www.boiseburn.com -