Blaze face familiar foe in Arizona homecoming

Danny White grew up in Arizona. He was a star quarterback at Arizona State. After a stellar NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys, he moved back to his home state and became the first-ever coach for the expansion Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League.

In 13 years, White led the Rattlers to five ArenaBowls, two AFL championships and 141 wins with just 65 losses. Then White and the Rattlers parted ways at season's end in 2004 — despite the fact he had just led them to a third straight ArenaBowl.

White is heading home for a Saturday night game, only this time he'll be coming out of the visitors' locker room at the U.S. Airways Center as the coach of the Utah Blaze.

He's not the only one in familiar, yet unfamiliar territory, either. Four of the Blaze's five coaches and nine players spent time in the Rattlers' organization as a player or coach. Nearly half of the Blaze players — a total of nine — are also former Rattlers.

Still, those ties are not nearly as important, say all involved, as trying to get back on track. The Rattlers are off to their worst-ever start at 0-3. The Blaze, after a season-opening win, are on a two-game losing streak with a pair of narrow home losses.

"We're going to Phoenix to try to get a win," said White. "That's what matters."

And despite the Blaze having a slightly better record, Utah players and coaches are taking the approach that they are the underdogs.

"Arizona is a better team than us — even at 0-3 — because they have veteran players who will get it together," said Blaze offensive coordinator Hunkie Cooper, who played 13 years with the Rattlers and holds many Arizona franchise records. "It's not about me going back. It's not about coach White. It's not about other players going back there. It's about going down there and executing and getting a win."

Utah quarterback Joe Germaine, who had 10 touchdown passes in last week's loss to the New York Dragons, was a backup with the Rattlers a year ago. Siaha Burley caught an AFL-high 45 touchdowns for Arizona last season. Both grew up in the Phoenix area, as did WR/LB Tom Pace, a former Arizona State star and Rattler. Other former Rattlers include WR/DB Orshawante Bryant, WR/DB Justin Taplin, WR/LB Ryan Dennard, defensive specialist Kelvin Hunter and linemen Bryan Henderson and Jason Andersen.

Because the Utah team raided the Rattlers' roster so much, it's less nostalgic returning to Phoenix than it might have been, according to Burley.

"I've got more teammates (from the Arizona days) playing here (with the Blaze) than I do over there," said Burley. "I know they are trying to get a win desperately and so are we, so this is all business."