B.J. Coleman leaves Rattlers for opportunity outside of football

The Rattlers' season took another wild turn late in the bye week, when quarterback B.J. Coleman informed the team he was quitting to take an opportunity outside of football, coach and General Manager Kevin Guy said on Thursday.

This took Guy and the Rattlers (6-2) off guard.

Guy felt Coleman had made strides in the three games he started since Nick Davila suffered a toe injury on his pivot foot April 25 against the LA Kiss. Coleman was voted by the fans as the Arena Football League MVP during Week 7, then threw for seven touchdowns, completing 20 of 34 passes, in the Rattlers' last game, a 60-42 victory over the Las Vegas Outlaws on May 16.

"We appreciate his short contribution while was here, and we wish him the best and now we move on with Rattler football," Guy said.

Shane Boyd, who nearly led San Antonio to a win against the Rattlers last season in Phoenix (a 69-59 Rattlers victory), will take over the offensive reigns Saturday night in Spokane, where the Rattlers (6-2) have only won once in the Arena Football League rivalry.

Boyd, 6-foot-1, 220 pounds, who had a short stint with the Arizona Cardinals in the mid-2000s, will be surrounded by much better talent than he did last season in San Antonio, when the Talons won only three games and he completed just 54.2 percent of his passes, throwing 38 touchdown passes with 23 interceptions.

"We're going to rally behind him, and we're going to go win," Guy said.

Guy said Coleman was working during the day by phone on a job and figured his commitment to the team was good. He said he wishes he would have been given earlier notice in the bye week.

"I don't have mental telepathy," Guy said. "Once I hear that they're out, I just move on. That's the way this business is. When you hear it, you have to move forward and make a decision."

Davila, who led the Rattlers to the past three ArenaBowl championships, is out of the walking boot but he didn't take any snaps at practice this week and won't be taken off injured reserve yet.

The Rattlers brought in Jon Wolf, 6-4, 220, to back up Boyd in Spokane. Wolf was in the Orlando Predators' camp in preseason. In 2013, he was the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Offensive Player of the Year for Minnesota State-Mankato, where he threw for 2,054 yards and 17 touchdowns and ran for 1,150 yards and 15 TDs.

Last week, the Rattlers cut ties with quarterback Jason Murrietta, who backed up Davila on the three straight championship teams. Murrietta had not practiced with the Rattlers all season.

"It's next-man-up mentality and we're going to develop players," Guy said. "Shane has been here. He has backed up B.J. for three or four weeks. So he's ready. I love his attitude. He works hard. He's totally bought in."

Boyd believes he can thrive in the Rattlers' system.

"Nick is the guy, it's his team, I'm here to help transition until he gets better," Boyd said. "I've been in this league. I'm going on my fourth year. You start to get a rapport on knowing how to play this game. If you look at the Rattlers' success that they've had, they do it right.

"I'm just here to step in and execute. They're not asking me to do anything special, just execute and get the ball into the playmakers' hands."

One of the Rattlers' top playmakers, receiver Kerry Reed, is back after missing the last 2 1/2 games with a hamstring injury.

Reed helps shore up a receiving corps that appears to finally be at its healthiest this season with Rod Windsor's 17 TD catches, Markee White's red-zone presence and Darrin Moore's emergence the past two games.