Around the Wheelers

-- Wide receiver Jarrett Brooks will sit out this week's game to nurse a shoulder injury he incurred in training camp. Rookie Deonte Sharp will take his place on the roster. DBs Daron Brooker and Fletcher Terrell, who tweaked hamstring last week, will play.

-- Steamwheelers coach Troy Biladeau said reports out of Peoria that he nixed a done deal to send the Pirates backup fullback Jason Null on Monday were erroneous. He said the trade was never made because Null, who didn't dress last week, expressed a preference to remain with the Wheelers. "I'm not going to trade somebody who wants to be here,'' said the coach. "It's an entertaining newspaper to read,'' he said of the Peoria Journal-Star.

-- Steamwheelers general manager Shawn Brown said former Bears greats Richard Dent and Gale Sayers are scheduled to participate in future Q-C coin flips and then sign autographs for a fee on the i wireless Center concourse.

Around af2

-- A giant Plains snow storm couldn't stop the Tulsa Talons from opening in a new arena, the BOK Center, on Saturday. The same snowstorm caused Oklahoma City to postpone a Friday game until Sunday.

-- The Kentucky Horsemen have a horse for a quarterback this year. He is Jared Lorenzon, the 6-foot-4, 280-pound hulk who played collegiately for UK in Lexington and then won a Super Bowl ring as a third-stringer with the New York Giants in 2007.

-- Peoria's Bruce Cowdrey has released Martino Theus, the veteran receiver he signed on short notice after Theus was a late Q-C training camp cut. Cowdrey signed Theus as a replacement for Dante Ridgeway, a receiver with NFL pedigree who was nursing a leg injury.

Ridgeway is expected to be back in action when the Pirates return from a bye this weekend.

Free-wheelin'

Can Schmidt do that all year?

If Jesse Schmidt can replicate his season-opening numbers for 15 more games, he will nearly double the af2 single-season records for points (672) and receiving yards (3,728) and would best the receptions mark by 31.

Of course, Schmidt's not likely to ring up seven touchdowns, 233 receiving yards and 12 catches each game. Is he?

"If he stays consistent, anything is possible,'' offensive coordinator Shon King said of the pass-catching standout.

"Not too many teams are going to play the way Peoria did if they're smart about it,'' King added of the Pirates ill-advised man scheme. "But if he stays consistent, it's not like teams are going to lock him down. He's still going to get his numbers.''

Saturday's Game

Quad-Cities (1-0) at Tennessee Valley (0-1)

When/where: 7:30 p.m., Von Braun, Huntsville, Ala.

Radio: WXFN 1230-AM

TV: The game is available via Web cast at steamwheelers.com

Last week: Quad-Cities 72, Peoria 56; Green Bay 53, Tennessee Valley 40

About the Vipers

The defending ArenaCup champions fell on the road Saturday to the Wheelers potential rival as Midwest Division favorites, the Green Bay Blizzard. ... The Vipers turned the football over four times in Green Bay. ... Tennessee Valley coach Dean Kokinos welcomes back at least seven key members of the team that won seven of its last nine games last year, including an exciting overtime upset of heavily favored Spokane in the af2 title game. The Vipers finished a 10-6 regular season as the No. 4 seed in the American Conference. ... The Vipers easily handled the Steamwheelers, 55-35, at the i wireless Center on June 20 in last year's only meeting between the first two ArenaCup combatants. ... Along with Tulsa and Arkansas, the Wheelers and Vipers are among the only surviving members of the inaugural af2 season.