The Green Bay Packers will have seven players performing on the fields of NFL Europe, headed by quarterback Craig Nall, when NFLE opens its 2003 season the weekend of April 4-5, director of pro personnel Reggie McKenzie announced Tuesday.
Nall, looking to acquire game experience in readying for his second season, is one of four Packers assigned to Scotland's Claymores, joining linebackers Isaac Keys and Jermaine Petty, and safety Bobby Jackson.
Two others, safety Jeremy Unertl, a former UW-La Crosse standout, and punter Tim Morgan, will be reporting to the Frankfurt Galaxy, and wide receiver Travis Williams to the Amsterdam Admirals.
Guard Bill Ferrario, originally assigned to the Berlin Thunder, is returning to Green Bay for personal reasons after getting in four weeks of workouts at the NFL Europe League's preseason camp in Tampa, Fla., just concluded.
Ferrario and quarterback Zak Kustok, who earlier had been assigned to Berlin but is returning to Green Bay, will be participating in the Packers' offseason workout program, which began Monday.
Five other players previously assigned to NFL Europe by the Packers for the upcoming season - linebacker Everick Rawls, kick returners Martin Dossett and Kenyatte Morgan, wide receiver Brian Haugabrook and return specialist/wide receiver Shawn Mills - have been released by their respective NFLE clubs but currently remain on the Packers' roster. Rawls, Dossett and Morgan are returning to Green Bay for secondary physical examinations, while Haugabrook and Mills, both of whom have hamstring injuries, are on the NFLE's injured reserve list and are undergoing rehabilitation and further evaluation at HealthSouth in Birmingham, Ala.
Ferrario, who had been working primarily at center in the Tampa camp to prepare himself for the possibility of backing up Mike Flanagan, described the month-long regimen as "a positive experience...I already feel much more comfortable at center. It's starting to be second nature. "
