Mitch Tanney '06

MONMOUTH, Ill. — The professional football exploits of former Monmouth College great Mitch Tanney will continue in 2007, and this time, he won’t have to travel across the Atlantic to play.

Tanney is on the 35-man roster of the Birmingham Steeldogs, an arena football team that plays in the same af2 league as the Quad City Steamwheelers. He is one of three quarterbacks on the roster, which gets almost half of its players from Alabama universities. Another 10 players are from Mississippi or Tennessee.

Other quarterbacks on the team are Robert Kent (Jackson State) and Maurice Mullins (Jacksonville State). Kent, who has previously been on the rosters of the Tennessee Titans and the CFL’s Montreal Allouettes, threw for 1,361 yards and 24 touchdowns for the Steeldogs last season.

Seventeen of the Steeldogs, like Tanney, have former professional experience, while the other 18 are rookies. Tanney is a second-year pro, as he played for the Limhamn Griffins in Sweden last summer. He also had a workout for the Philadelphia Eagles last fall.

That Eagles workout came about in part because of a connection between Monmouth assistant coach Dave Ragone and Scott Cohen, the Eagles’ director of pro personnel. Ragone and Cohen attended high school together and then competed at rival colleges in Pennsylvania. Cohen, in turn, has connections with the Steeldogs’ head coach, Ron Selesky.

“He knew the head coach down there and he knew I was looking for a place to play,” said Tanney of Cohen.

It is not uncommon for talented Steeldog players to get a look from the Eagles, and that possibility factored into Tanney’s decision.

“I’m hoping,” Tanney replied, when asked if the NFL was still a possibility. “I had an opportunity to go overseas (France) again this summer, but I decided not to go. I think the best way to keep advancing is to stay in the States.”

Last year, the Steeldogs were 7-9 in the af2 and did not qualify for the postseason. Although they are scheduled to play the Steamwheelers this season, the game will be played in Birmingham. The road trip that will bring them closest to Tanney’s alma mater is a May 26 game against the Cincinnati Jungle Kats. Their 16-game regular season schedule starts March 30 and ends July 28. Tanney is scheduled to report on March 10, with practice beginning March 12.

Tanney’s head coach at Monmouth, Steve Bell, was asked what challenges the arena game will present for the talented quarterback.

“The quickness of the game,” was Bell’s reply. “It’s a shorter field and a more congested field. The ball’s got to come out of there faster. Mitch is going to have to get used to throwing to a spot on the field instead of a person. In arena ball, sometimes the play doesn’t look like it’s going to be there, but it will be.”

“Without question, it’s the speed of the game,” said Tanney of the major difference. “When you’ve got guys that big running around the field in close quarters, everything speeds up.”

To help prepare for the new experience, Tanney expects to receive some game films from the Steeldogs. He is also hoping that a hometown connection will give him a head start.

“Their offensive coordinator is Billy Dicken, who used to play for Purdue and for the Steamwheelers,” said Tanney. “He actually went to high school in Bloomington, which is only 15 miles from my home in Lexington, so I plan to get in contact with him and work with him before I go down there.”

In his brilliant Monmouth career, which included a 10-0 regular season in 2005 and the Scots’ first-ever appearance in the NCAA playoffs, Tanney set national game and season records for accuracy, going 21-of-23 for 405 yards against Knox and finishing the 2005 season 215-of-292 for 2,587 yards. His season completion percentage of 73.6 broke a 12-year-old Division III record, and he threw just three interceptions as a senior and just six in his two years with the Scots. He was named the Midwest Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year as a senior.

“This is a typical next step for him,” added Bell. “You don’t just jump directly from Division III to where you want to go. This is a chance for Mitch to see where he stacks up against other great athletes. It’s a nice bonus for someone from our program to have a shot at the professional level.”

Tanney’s former teammate, Ryan Bast, is also playing pro ball as a defensive back with the Springfield (Ill.) Stallions in the Continental Indoor Football League.

Released by the Office of College Communications
Barry McNamara, Associate Director of College Communications
Phone: 309-457-2117
Fax: 309-457-2330