Richard Obert

azcentral sports

Darron Thomas felt like he was back in college during the Rattlers' first practice in their new venture, playing in the Indoor Football League, where quarterbacks have to run.

"I get to run the ball here," the former University of Oregon quarterback said. "I feel way better, running zone read, play-action and fake. It's more football.

"When we were in Arena, we played a different game. This is more the game we played coming up as a little kid."

Coach Kevin Guy still is in charge of figuring out whom to keep, which plays to call and how to transition from the Arena Football League that was the Rattlers' game since 1992.

The coach and general manager greeted 40 players on Tuesday in Maricopa at the fields at Copper Sky Recreation Center. Only five players in camp have a Rattlers history: Defensive backs Allen "Bubba" Chapman, receiver/kick returner Anthony Amos, defensive back Demar Dorsey, offensive lineman Lamar Mady and quarterback Jon Wolf.

Defense end Damien Borel, still going through rehab from the injury that knocked him out of last season's ArenaBowl against Philadelphia early in the game, watched Tuesday's first workout from the side.

Guy wouldn't say whether Borel would join the team.

Guy has until Feb. 15, two days before the season opener in Sioux Falls, to cut his roster down to 25.

Thomas figures to the man behind the wheel for the Rattlers in a new kind of indoor game that Guy compares to "playing a video game."

There can be two guys in forward motion in the 10-team IFL, as opposed to one in the AFL.

Defenses are less restricted in the IFL with blitzing packages, making offenses become more creative with mobile quarterbacks who can run and pass.

There is much more strategy involved on both sides of the ball.

Thomas never really fit in with Portland of the AFL, which was more for the pure pocket passer. He put up 1,451 yards and 27 TDs with 15 interceptions and ran for 10 TDs, from 2013-16 with Portland.

This is his game, just on a 50-yard field, making for quicker decisions with his feet and arm. He led the Oregon Ducks to the national championship game in the 2011 season, passing for 2,761 yards and 33 touchdowns and running for 206 yards and three scores.

"It's more like the college game in a sense that you've got to have an athletic quarterback," Guy said. "You've seen some of the NFL teams go to that, as well. Really, the NFL doesn't have any other choice, because that's all that's coming out of college now.

"This is something I've been saying for years in the Arena Football League. The pocket quarterback is a dying breed. It's hard to find. The ones that are pretty good in the pocket are signing to play on Sundays. I think it's a great changeup for us."

Guy said he figures this should be "natural fit" for Thomas, because he ran this kind of offense, but on a 100-yard field, at Oregon.

"The quarterbacks are learning the kinds of coverages they're going to see," Guy said. "I think all three quarterbacks are doing a good job right now."

Former Phoenix Desert Vista and Scottsdale Community College quarterback Cody Sokol and ex-Minnesota State-Mankato quarterback Wolf also are competing for the starting job.

Nick Davila, who had been the Rattlers' quarterback since 2010, leading them to three consecutive ArenaBowl championships and five title games, is now the quarterbacks coach.

In the IFL, Thomas can take advantage of two-on-one situations, become the playmaker he felt he was born to be.

"It's quicker windows," Thomas said. "You have to make a quick read and get it out. ... One thing about going outside, you have to wait a little bit longer. But in this game, you have to make quick decisions."

"A lot of gadgets. You've got keep learning. Once you get to the game, it's going to be fine."

Suggest human interest stories to Richard Obert atrichard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him at twitter.com/azc_obert.