The Roster Report: Breaking Down the 20

The Storm released its official roster Monday. Wide receiver is obviously the strongest position, followed by defensive line.

Here's a breakdown of the numbers:

One way players: 9

Two way players: 8

Kickers/QBs: 3

Quarterbacks: Two (Stoney Case, John Kaleo)

Wide receivers: Five (Lawrence Samuels, Demetris Bendross, T.T. Toliver, Terrill Shaw, Leroy Smith)

Running backs: 2 (Jarrod Penright, Rodney Filer)

Offensive linemen: 5 (Ernest Certain, Tom Kaleita, Dwayne Morgan, Marcus Owen, Rod Williams)

Defensive linemen: 4 (Tom Briggs, Ernest Certain, Rod Williams, Mark Word)

Linebackers: 4 (Rodney Filer, Torrance Marshall, Jarrod Penright, Lawrence Samuels)

Defensive backs: 5 (Demetris Bendross, Lynarise Elpheage, Jareoid Johnson, Terrill Shaw, Leroy Smith)

Don't read too much into the one-way and two-way players, other than to assume that there will be a lot of specialization on this year's team now that the free substitution era has begun. For example: Marcus Owen, a free agent signee from New York, is listed on the team's official roster as an offensive lineman. But I talked to him early in training camp and he said he was brought in primarily to play defense. In reality, he'll likely see time at both positions.

The season opener is Friday vs. Orlando.

Barry Wagner Still Wants to Play

MONDAY UPDATE: 4:46 p.m.

I caught up with Barry Wagner via cell phone this afternoon, and he had nothing but nice things to say about the Storm, which released him Friday. But the Arena League superstar had harsh words for the AFL's new substitution rules, which he says are going to drive older, two-way players like himself out of the game.

"You ain’t going to have a two-way guy like myself," said Wagner, who was named one of the top 20 players in Arena League history. "(Teams) are going to get a younger guy that runs faster and plays just one way."

Non-arena die-hards should know two things: 1) The old substitution rules forced most players to play both offense and defense (if a player left the field, he wasn't allowed to return for the rest of the quarter); now, teams are allowed to substitute freely 2) Wagner is considered the Michael Jordan of the AFL, a 15-year veteran who recorded seven straight seasons of at least 1,000 yards receiving from 1993-99 and was an equally dangerous force at linebacker.

Wagner's production has obviously dropped off -- he's had fewer than 50 catches and 500 receiving yards in each of the last three seasons while playing for the San Jose SaberCats -- but the Storm signed him this offseason and gave him a chance this training camp. With incumbents Lawrence Samuels (1,306 yards last season) and Demetris Bendross (765 yards) and newcomers Terrill Shaw (1,498 yards for Dallas last year) and T.T. Toliver (1,273 yards for Nashville), there simply wasn't room.

Wagner said he still thinks he can play in the AFL. He said he will return to his Orlando home this week, wait to clear waivers, and then see if he can hook on somewhere else. He said he hasn't heard from any teams, and he acknowledges that it is probably a long shot that he'll end up playing this season. He has two sons -- five years old and 15 years old -- at home and would be reluctant to leave them.

"I feel like I have something left after last year," said Wagner, who caught 29 passes for 273 yards and two touchdowns for San Jose in 2006. "But, playing two ways, it’s free substitution (now) so you don’t have to have a guy like me or Lawrence (Samuels) in there at all points in time. That kind of hurts the league."

Stay tuned to StormSurge later in the week and we'll try to keep you updated on Wagner.

Also, I'll likely have an update on the blog tonight and in the St. Pete Times tomorrow on the team's final roster, which should be unveiled this evening.