Title Is the Only Goal for the Avengers

The Avengers’ expectations for their fifth Arena Football League season are much like the building in which they are conducting part of training camp.

Huge.

“Anything less than a championship will be a disappointment,” Avenger quarterback Tony Graziani said Tuesday during a practice break at the enormous Spruce Goose Hangar in Playa Vista. “We have to win the whole thing for [the season] to be a success.”

Graziani, offensive specialist Chris Jackson and receiver/linebacker Greg Hopkins return from a team that lost to Arizona in the quarterfinals last season and finished 11-6.

The Avengers open the season Feb. 8 at Arizona, but their push to win their first AFL title began during the off-season when they signed several new linemen who are expected to add a stronger physical presence.

“People have always thought we’ve been a skill team, a finesse team, with our three stars,” said Kevin Demoff, the Avengers’ director of football operations. “We really need to change that image.”

Among the newcomers are Al Lucas, a 6-foot-1, 300-pound lineman who played two seasons in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers and played last season for AFL champion Tampa Bay.

“We wanted a guy who could change the game at the line of scrimmage,” Demoff said.

Jeremy Staat, a 6-5, 300-pound lineman who was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the second round of the 1998 NFL draft and played two games for the St. Louis Rams this season, also is a new addition along with Arnold Miller (6-3, 275), Silas Demary (6-3, 285) and Jonathan Taylor (6-3, 270). Former UCLA lineman Ken Kocher (6-3, 315) and former USC linemen Ryan Nielsen (6-5, 290) and Faaesea Mailo (6-3, 325) also are among the 37 players in camp.

The Avengers must trim their roster to 24 by Feb. 2.

Third-year Coach Ed Hodgkiss said the Avengers would not be content with winning a playoff game for the first time.

“We definitely have the guys to get it done and win the whole thing,” Hodgkiss said.