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Arizona Hotshots AAF Betting
Introduced as a charter member of the eight-team Alliance of American Football on May 18, 2018, the Arizona Hotshots became the second team in the upstart league based in a city that already hosts a National Football League franchise. The Hotshots will play their home games at Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State University and compete in the Western Conference with franchises based in San Antonio, Tex., Salt Lake City, Utah, and San Diego, Calif.
Keeping in line with nicknames that identify with the city and area they play in, Arizona’s team name and logo were revealed on September 25, 2018. The name Hotshots is a tribute to the areas elite firefighters who are nicknamed ‘hotshots.’ On March 3, 2019, the franchise retired the No. 19 to honor the number of Granite Mountain Hotshots killed in a devastating fire near Yarnell, Ariz., in 2013.
A former quarterback and coach in the college and professional ranks, Rick Neuheisel was introduced as the first head coach in Hotshots history. Neuheisel grew up in Tempe and was a standout at McClintock High School before attending UCLA. There, he led the Bruins to the 1983 Pac-10 championship and a 45-9 upset victory over Illinois in the Rose Bowl, Following an uneventful professional career that included stops with the United States Football League’s San Antonio Gunslingers and the NFL’s San Diego Chargers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Neuheisel entered the coaching ranks as a grad assistant at his alma mater.
In 1995 at the age of 34, Neuheisel succeeded Bill McCartney as head coach at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He also had head coaching stints with the University of Washington and UCLA compiling an 87-59 record. Nueheisel was on the Baltimore Ravens’ staff for three years, the last as offensive coordinator. He spent the last few years as a college football studio analyst for CBS and Pac-12 Network.
Each AAF team controls the rights to players from different college programs that are located nearby to help stock their rosters. Arizona’s territorial collegiate programs include: UCLA, Oregon State, Arizona, Arizona State, Illinois, Texas Tech, Washington State, Nevada, Northern Arizona, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Northwestern and UTEP. The NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears and Baltimore Ravens, along with the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos are the professional feeder teams.
The most recognizable player on the Hotshots first-year roster is probably former Arizona Wildcats kicker Nick Folk, who spent seven years with the NFL’s New York Jets amassing 729 points to rank second on the team’s career list. Folk’s 53-yard field goal in the Week 1 win over Salt Lake is the longest in the AAF.
The Hotshots play their home games at 53,599-seat Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe. Home to the ASU program since 1958, the stadium also served as home to the NFL’s Cardinals for 18 seasons following their move from St. Louis. The Arizona Wranglers/Outlaws of the USFL called the venue home and the Cactus Bowl plays at the site.
In their very first game the Hotshots beat Salt Lake, 38-22, before an announced crowd of 11,751 at Sun Devil Stadium. John Wolford tossed four touchdown passes in the game to earn the initial AAF Offensive Player of the Week award.
2019 Arizona Hotshots Schedule
Week 1: vs. Salt Lake Stallions, Sunday, February 10th
Week 2: at Memphis Express, Saturday, February 16th
Week 3: at Salt Lake Stallions, Saturday, February 23rd
Week 4: vs. Atlanta Legends, Sunday, March 3rd
Week 5: vs. San Antonio Commanders, Sunday, March 10th
Week 6: at Orlando Apollos, Saturday, March 16th
Week 7: vs. San Diego Fleet, Sunday, March 24, 4 p.m. ET (CBSSN)
Week 8: at San Antonio Commanders, Sunday, March 31, 8 p.m. ET (NFLN)
Week 9: vs. Birmingham Iron, Sunday, April 7, 8 p.m. ET (NFLN)
Week 10: at San Diego Fleet, Sunday, April 14, 8 p.m. ET (NFLN)
2019 Alliance of American Football Teams
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