Annual Titans Kickoff Event at Wildhorse

Jeff Fisher, Mike Keith and the Titans' rookies were the featured guests at the Sports Council's Annual Titans' Kickoff Lunch at the Wildhorse yesterday. A crowd of about 1,000 was on hand.

The Wildhorse was SRO for the event

Fisher showed why he is the most popular man in town- he was in typical form: personable, down-to-earth, funny, and as usual, very informative.

The main part of the program was Fisher introducing all the rookies, including those on the practice squad, and Keith briefly interviewing them. The rookie class includes: Rusty Smith, Alterran Verner, Robert Johnson, Rennie Curran, Patrick Trahan, Myron Rolle, Kevin Matthews (son of Bruce Matthews), Stafon Johnson, Mark Mariani and more.

The class indeed looks strong. Fisher had high praise for the rookies, such as Robert Johnson, was actually did not start out playing football in college but ended up starring at Utah.

Fisher and Keith 

Some of the interesting facts Fisher brought up:

1. Myron Rolle missed only one college start at Florida State- he had an interview for the Rhodes Scholarship, then made it late to the game and played from the 2nd quarter on.

2. Rusty Smith is Florida Atlantic's first NFL draftee. He threw for over 10,000 yards there and led them to Bowl games.

3. Stafon Johnson has dealt with some serious injuries, but Fisher plans for him to return and be a strong part of the team.

Rusty Smith, Paul Lyle and NFL
legend Ross Browner

4. Mark Mariani started his athletic career playing tennis, and the footwork in tennis has helped him a lot in football.

Stafon Johnson and Alterraun Verner both played
college ball in Los Angeles.