Nashville Kats Playbook: Week 1

The Nashville Kats fell to the Southwest Kansas Storm 40-26 this past Saturday in Dodge City. The inaugural AF1 game which streamed exclusively on EvergreenNOW, featured a hotly contested matchup that was closer than what the final score indicated. We chatted with Kats Head Coach Darren Arbet following the tough loss.

injuries

Nashville came away relatively unscathed following their Week 0 game against the Storm. The only injury of note was Defensive Back, Derrick "DJ" Maxwell. After an injury to his lower body during the 4th quarter in Week 0, Coach Arbet was pleased with Maxwell’s recovery to this point: “[Maxwell has] been with the trainer the last couple of days. Everything is on track.”

Outside of Maxwell, Coach Arbet noted that the rest of his team is healthy. “A couple of guys have some bumps and bruises coming out of the game.  But we’re good.”

week zero stars

Coach Arbet gave praise to his entire team for their play in Week 0. Highlighting Wide Receiver Trevante Long, who finished the game with eight receptions for 78 yards, plus a rushing touchdown, Arbet said “Tre is a good football player. A veteran who understands the game. He’s one of our team leaders.”

Nashville’s defensive unit played well, too. Despite a great night from Southwest Kansas’ Quarterback Jalen Morton and company, Coach Arbet spoke on his defense as a whole saying “[The defense] played really well. Proud of the way they played. I think they did a great job.”

qb1 battle rages on

The big question for Nashville coming out of their week 0 game is who the starting Quarterback will be moving forward. With Quarterback Kory Curtis starting the game, and Quarterback Jake Dunniway taking all the snaps in the second half, Coach Arbet noted that Dunniway’s play dictated that decision.  “We just made the decision to do that based off of play. We put Jake out there for the 2nd half.” Moving forward, however, the QB1 job is open for the taking according to Coach Arbet. “We have two more weeks.  All positions are open and it’s going to be like camp again.  It’s going to be fun for try players to compete. It’s going to be fun for the coaches who want to see competition.” 

With Nashville set to face Albany in Week 3 on March 29, Arbet’s message to his team has been simple. With a long season ahead, one game will not define the 2025 season. Coach Arbet added “We have two weeks before we even get to the Albany practice week.  Stay the course. We practice hard.  We got hard in meetings.  We take care of our bodies, and we get ready to play football”