Lions kick off new season in new league at home

The Columbus Lions have been waiting more than eight months for tomorrow.

Since their undefeated run in American Indoor Football last year, the Lions have found a new home in the National Arena League, which kicks off tomorrow at the Columbus Civic Center as the Lions face the Jacksonville Sharks, a former Arena Football League team with a decorated history.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Lions head coach Jason Gibson was asked if he was ever this excited for a season opener.

“Not really, with the excitement built around the premiere of the league,” he replied. “It’s like kicking off NASCAR with the Daytona 500. I kind of like it.”

The Lions face an immediate litmus test with the Sharks, who bring back decorated quarterback Tommy Grady from the AFL. Gibson knows from experience the value and necessity of having a top-notch quarterback in the high-scoring, up-tempo world of arena football.

“You look at stuff on film and see what their weaknesses are; of course, with Tommy, there’s not a lot of them,” Gibson said. “You look at what they like to do and you try to take it away and force them to do something else.

“Some of the leagues we’ve been playing in before don’t have top-tier quarterbacks or coaching. You can come out there with a good defensive scheme and win. But now, we’re playing in a league where seven of the eight quarterbacks can start here. That changes everything. If you slip up, you lose.”

On the opposite side of the football, the Lions will be starting four new players at defensive back and linebacker. Kyle Griswould, the former Shaw standout who played wide receiver for the Lions last year, has moved back to DB, joined by returning player Chris Smith and former Harris County and Western Kentucky product Derrius Brooks.

“I asked my quarterback tonight if we’re really good on defense or if we’re just not playing well on offense,” Gibson said. “Typically, if the defense is ahead of the offense at this point, it’s a good sign. If the offense is running the defense up and down the field, there’s problems. You’re looking at two brand-new guys at linebacker, two brand-new guys at safety; that’s a lot, half your defense starting for the first time. But athletically, they’re some of the best in the country. There’s just a learning curve.”

At the offensive skill positions, quarterback Mason Espinosa returns to the team after playing one game last season in Columbus then taking a starting role in the Indoor Football League with Billings. Byron Dickerson, Jarmon Fortson, and Michael Reeve return at wide receiver, flanked by newcomers Durron Neal from Oklahoma and Tristan Purifoy, who terrorized the Lions last year with the Florida Tarpons.

“Offensively, I can start any combination of three receivers,” Gibson said. “Neal isn’t playing because of a quad (injury), but he’ll play soon once he gets healthy. You have Byron Dickerson, Jarmon Fortson, and Michael Reeve, and then Tristan Purifoy from Florida who torched us last year and has been tearing it up in camp. Those guys get after it.”

The team is expecting a huge crowd tomorrow for Friday night football in “The Jungle,” as Lions fans affectionately call their home field.

“We’ve been bragging about it,” Gibson said. “Jacksonville has a great crowd, they pack it in, and they really have a history of doing it right, and I’m looking forward to playing there. But there’s something about our little Civic Center, that’s why I took the job 11 years ago. We’ve built that reputation. We’ve got people tailgating tomorrow, getting off work at 1 or 2 o’clock to get down there early to get the party started. That’s fun.

“I have a lot of respect for the fact that people will take their disposable hard-earned income and spend it down at the Civic Center with the Columbus Lions. I’m a family guy with kids, and to see families do that makes you feel good. It puts a little pressure on you to put out a good product. People work hard in Columbus and Phenix City, and that’s what’s good about this area. To spend that hard-earned money with you is flattering.”

This story was originally published March 16, 2017 at 8:39 PM with the headline "Lions kick off new season in new league at home."