“Right now, minor-league football is kind of looked at as a bunch of guys just out there playing. There’s no real structure involved,” Lemuel said. “But the goal of the World Football League is to make minor-league football become more reputable.”
The Bulldogs have 45 players who come from as far as Killeen and San Marcos. They vary in age, experience and skill level. Lemuel said players must have knowledge of the game, be coachable and have finished high school. Tryouts were in March, but the team is still accepting players.
“Some guys still want to play the game. Some guys are trying to get to the next level as far as playing [in the National Indoor Football League] or even being looked at by a pro team. Last year, we had five guys that got picked up by the indoor teams.”
A Bastrop native, Lemuel played football at Bastrop High School and was a defensive end for Southwestern College in Kansas. After graduating in 1999, he returned to Central Texas and played for a year with the Austin Gamebreakers, also in the WFL. Then Lemuel decided to start his own minor-league football team, the Bastrop County Bulldogs, with a friend from college. They both played on and coached the team for two years, until Lemuel took over when his friend returned to school.
Lemuel coached the team in Bastrop until January 2007 when he relocated the Bulldogs to Hutto. “Hutto is a growing community,” he said. “It’s kind of quiet on a Saturday night during the summer. Yes, we’re competing with the Round Rock Express [for fans], but we give people an option.”
The team practices three times a week at Hutto’s Creekside Park, dropping down to twice a week when games start. Lemuel said he puts in about 20 hours a week for the Bulldogs, on top of his full-time job in child diversion and crisis intervention at Bluebonnet Trails Community MHMR in Round Rock.
“Most of the guys understand it’s working man’s football. They’re all willing to pay the extra money to get on the bus to go where we need to go,” Lemuel said. Lemuel said he hopes eventually to be able to have enough money for a scholarship fund. He wants to hold fund-raisers and possibly a youth camp. Other plans include offering specials at games, such as a free hot dog night at the season opener, and having the games aired on a local television station.
“If you love the game, this is a way to come out and enjoy it,” he said.
ROGERS - Derek Van Voast was told northwest Arkansas would be a hotbed for football.
He'll find out soon enough as the new Arkansas War Cats start their season today.
Based out of Rogers, the War Cats are one of nine teams in the resurrected World Football League.
The War Cats' home opener against the Texas Bulldogs on June 7 - at Rogers' Gates Stadium - is being touted as the first professional outdoor football game in Arkansas.
Tickets will be on sale today from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Gates Stadium for that opener and the War Cats will meet fans between 10 a.m. and noon before leaving for their season-opener against Tulsa's Oklahoma Thunder.
The first 50 fans to purchase season tickets receive a War Cats T-shirt.
"It can't get here fast enough," said Van Voast, the War Cats' general manager and quarterback, of the new season.
"(I was told ) the hotbeds for football right now are Las Angeles, Calif., and northwest Arkansas. Because they both have money, they both love football and there's no teams there."
Van Voast is no stranger to semi-professional football or northwest Arkansas.
After graduating from DeQueen, Van Voast was at the University of Arkansas during Houston Nutt's first season. He later transferred to Arkansas Tech before returning to the Razorbacks but finished his final year of eligibility as a backup to Ahmad "Batman"Carroll.
Van Voast then played minor league football for several years. He was named the North American Football League's athlete of the year and was inducted into the Minor League Football News Hall of Fame last year.
There are several more Razorbacks on the inaugural roster as well as on the sidelines - including War Cats' head coach Raymond House and assistant coaches Dahron Moss and Lucas Jackson.
Former Razorback running back Brandon Kennedy is part of the War Cats' powerful backfield.
Arkansas' Wes O'Neal will lead the linebackers while Stephen Agnew (University of Central Arkansas ) is a "force to be reckoned with"in the backfield, House said.
"We're still trying to get a feel for it and find the best combination as far as scheme," House said. "Things may change and we may put guys in different positions."
House is returning to football after taking a year off.
An All-State player at Little Rock McClellan, he played defensive tackle at Arkansas and signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Falcons in 2003. He made the roster at the end of that season but was released in 2004. He then played one year for the Ottowa Renegades in the Canadian Football League.
He was the head coach for the short-lived Arkansas Stars, an indoor football team based in Fayetteville that lasted only a season.
Moss, who played in the CFL and Arena 2 after college, is the War Cats' defensive coordinator and Jackson will coach the linebackers.
Shawn Bradford, who has experience coaching in the semi-pro level, is the offensive coordinator and Ken Peacock will assist him.
The War Cats hope a successful season - on the field and in building a fan base - this first season will help them remain in northwest Arkansas.
That goal is more important than making it to the league championship game - dubbed the World Bowl.
"I would be lying if I said we weren't shooting for that championship," Van Voast said. "But I do know as a GM my ultimate goal - I don't care if we're 0-10 - is to have a quality showing, good fan base and to be professional. That's what's going to survive.
"Our hope this year is to keep the stadium full and build a good fan base and keep it professional all the way around."
ROGERS - Chip Pierce is out to redeem the name of semi-pro football.
With more than 600 so-called semi-professional teams playing in more leagues than you can count across the country, that brand of football doesn't always have the best reputation. Pierce hopes the return of the World Football League can fix that.
"Out of those 600-some semipro teams, there are probably 50 that are good, well-run organizations," Pierce said. "The rest are just fly-bynight deals.
Our idea was to take the best of the best and put them on one platform and have it run professionally. "The original WFL folded in 1975 before finishing its second season and the name laid dormant until Demon Enterprises resurrected it. They had spent a couple of years working on building a solid semi-pro league and decided to buy the rights to the WFL in November. The league begins today with nine teams - including five in Demon Enterprises home state of Texas - but they expect that to expand in the future. "We have about 53 teams that want in right now," said Pierce, who is also co-owner and head coach of the Southeast Texas Demons as well as the WFL's CEO. "We're not taking any team. We're looking at organizations, who owns them, how they're run, the reputation."
There ultimate goal is to have between 34 and 40 teams in a nationwide, competitive league.
"We're going somewhere but it's going to take time," Pierce said. "It's not something that we want to happen overnight. We really want to make sure all of our steps are solid so we can put that quality product on the field."
One of the teams will be the revival of the Shreveport (La. ) Steamer - a team in the original WFL - that Pierce and Arkansas War Cats owner James Burkheart will own.
The WFL follows NFL rules on the field and off, including contracts, roster size and salary cap (currently around $ 50, 000 max per player ).
"These players get paid in this league but it's not NFLcaliber pay," Pierce said. "No matter how you look at it, it's semi-pro football. Our goal is to revamp that (image ) and bring a quality product and put it on the field. "
The WFL hopes to give players an opportunity to take a step towards professional football in the NFL, Canadian Football League or Arena Football League.
The WFL staff hopes support from the NFL will help legitimize the WFL. Mike Cofer, who kicked for Indianapolis, New Orleans and San Francisco, has thrown his support behind the WFL while former NFL player Robert Hubble and current NFL official Tommy Moore conduct referee clinics for the new league.
Former NFL and college players are scattered around the WFL's first set of teams.
Former Houston Oiler Eugene Seale coaches the Demons linebackers while former Tennessee Titan Anthony Decquire is on the roster.
Tulsa's Oklahoma Thunder has several Oklahoma and Oklahoma State players - including former Sooners running back Kejuan Jones.
Football fans do not have to wait until August to feed their hunger for competitive, hard-hitting, gridiron action. The Texas Bulldogs, coached by Hutto resident Jonathan Lemuel, is a minor-league football team that joined the 
