King’s mark already on Phantoms

By Shawn Singleton

Published: May 20, 2008

FLORENCE — When Bennie King took the Florence Phantoms job in February, he wanted to build a team in his own image.

The same image that brought Lakeland the American Indoor Football Association championship last June

One of the first things King did was release former first-round pick Jamain Stephens. The former Pittsburgh Steeler was the first player Florence signed for the 2008 season.

“When I came here, Jamain was already here. He had a reputation for being lazy when he was in the NFL,” King said. “We had a scrimmage against Fayetteville (on March 1), and he didn’t perform the way we wanted him to and we parted ways.”

Continuing with the housecleaning, King brought along many of his staff from the Thunderbolts to Florence after Lakeland suspended operations for the 2008 season. Former Lakeland linebacker coach Tavares Bowens was named head coach three weeks before the Phantoms season opener.

King signed playmaker A.J. Bennett to anchor a lightning-fast receiving corps. Bennett caught 34 touchdown passes for the Thunderbolts last season. Other former Thunderbolts added to the Phantoms roster were offensive lineman Junior Louissaint and Al’Tariq Brown, defensive back Otheese Wells and linebacker Eric Potchney.

Larry Thompson picked off an indoor football-record 34 passes for Lakeland last year before arriving in Florence from Huntington. Former Lakeland quarterback Aso Pogi is now serving as Florence’s offensive coordinator, and Lamont Ransby is the defensive backs coach.

With all of the changes King has made, many AIFA fans as well as opposing newspapers have called this year’s Phantoms “Lakeland North.” But King said those roster moves were made toward one goal — to bring a championship to Florence.

“I can understand why people might call us ‘Lakeland North,’ but we won a championship there,” King said. “We want to win a championship here in Florence.
“We did things the right way (in Lakeland), and we want to change the culture of this team in Florence.”

In a small town like Florence, fans can grow attached to players quickly. But indoor football, like any other sport, is a business. And in that business, decisions have to be made that might make fans unhappy.

“We lost some guys who were fan favorites along the way because they didn’t fit into the system,” King said. “We’re very serious about the talent we wanted to bring here.”

For the remaining players who have bought into the system, the benefits could be an AIFA title.

“(Former South Florence standout) Torey Pettigrew is a perfect example of buying into our system,” King said. “In a situation where you have a lot of changeover, I thank guys like him for believing in me and what we can do here.”

As the Phantoms look to clinch a playoff spot on Friday at the Florence Civic Center against Erie, people can call them whatever they want. What they want to be called most is winners.

“If they want to call us the Lakeland Thunderbolts, let them call us that,” Bowens said. “I’ll take that with a smile.”