Pro-Football Hopefuls Try Out For Soul

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Football players from all over the region converged on the Novacare Center in South Philadelphia Saturday for round two of open tryouts for the Soul.

Head Coach Mike Hohensee says five guys made it out of the first session and he's hoping one or two guys step up from round two.

Hohensee says, "Once we see that they can play football we go back and look at the other things, the 40 time the short shuttle, but the first thing we look at is can they play football. Period."

He says he always keeps low expectations for tryouts.

"We come into this thing saying nobody can play. Have to be a man amongst boys out here, because most of these guys probably don't belong out here."

Chris Dooley has played linebacker for most of his life and is chasing a dream to play pro ball.

"I played college ball for three years at Towson University about three years ago," Dooley says. "Just getting back into the swing of things, trying to make something happen here in Philly."

Big Juan Garnier played at NCAA powerhouse Ohio State. He says the most important thing is to get noticed.

Garnier says, "It's difficult, because there's a lot of players and they can only pick a certain few, so I just have to stand out, you know? Show the coaches that you can play."

At 6'4" and 350 lbs., standing out shouldn't be a problem.

Overall, 35 players will be invited to training camp. The first game is March 11th.

Reported by Mike Dougherty, KYW Newsradio 1060