Avengers Cut Six to Reach Roster Limit

Former USC wide receiver Mike Bastianelli and former Pasadena Muir High and Oregon standout Saladin McCullough were among the six players waived Monday by the Los Angeles Avengers as the Arena Football League expansion team pared its roster to the 24-man regular-season limit.

The team will open its season Saturday at Grand Rapids, Mich.

Also waived were wide receivers Greg Ainsworth Jr. and Ghalee Wadood, kicker Chris Arnce and defensive specialist William Yarborough.

Coach Stan Brock put five players--Carlos Brooks, Jason Fletcher, Cedric Jefferson, Kevin Johnson and Terrance Petty--on injured reserve. They cannot be activated for at least two weeks.

Justin Vedder, who lost out to Harry Leons for the third quarterback slot behind Scott Semptimphelter and Todd Marinovich, was put on a 24-hour recall waiver list.

“I want to make sure he goes where it’s best for him,” Brock said.

More roster activity seems likely.

“We’re always looking to get better,” Brock said from the team’s practice facility at West Los Angeles College. “We’ll bring players in and try them out. We’ll continue to have roster moves as the waiver wire comes across. If we see a player we like, we’ll go after them.

“We need some linemen right now. We lost two of them during Sunday’s game. Kevin Johnson injured a knee and Bruce Walker has a pulled hamstring. So we need some help there. And with a 24-man roster, you always need to know where people are so you can call on them.”

Letting McCullough go was one of the tougher decisions, Brock said. McCullough was a top running back for Oregon, rushing for 1,193 yards his senior year in 1997. He was trying to make the Avengers as a wide receiver and defensive back.

The Avengers finished the preseason with a 2-0 record after Sunday’s 54-48 victory over the Oklahoma Wranglers but Brock said the team has plenty to do this week.

“We have to correct the mistakes we made Sunday,” Brock said. “We got our quarterbacks hit too much, we had too many blown coverages and we have to get more pressure on [opposing] quarterbacks. We won’t add anything real new this week. We have the basics down on our offensive and defensive systems, and now we have to get better at what we do.”