ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 The Orlando Pirates are Orlando\u2019s newest football team, playing in the Indoor Football League.<\/p>\n
Head coach Rod Windsor started the year as the Pirates\u2019 offensive coordinator. After a coaching change, he was elevated to head coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a transition for me, and I\u2019ve accepted the challenge. For the most part, these guys, they\u2019ve been responsive. They’re pros, they come in, you know, they come on time. They do what they\u2019re supposed to do,\u201d\u00a0Windsor said.<\/p>\n
The IFL is 8 vs. 8 football with two players in motion before the snap. It\u2019s a momentum game with crazy point swings. The Pirates have gotten off to a good start on the year, averaging over 50 points a game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely rewarding. I think it leans on, like, the hard work I\u2019ve been putting in, you know, the offseason preparing for this. But it also just shows what we have on this team,\u201d Pirates starting quarterback Paxton\u00a0DeLaurent said.<\/p>\n
DeLaurent was thrust into the starting role just hours before the season opener. He\u2019s performed well so far this season, throwing for 21 touchdowns in six games.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoach Windsor, I mean he\u2019s an OC guru in this league and he\u2019s helping me out. Every week I feel like I\u2019m getting better and learning more from him. So a lot of it deals with them. And then, obviously, you know, you have to prepare and work hard and want it,\u201d\u00a0DeLaurent said.<\/p>\n
Orlando native Nyquan Murray has been one of the main targets on offense. He is getting to play professional football in his hometown.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese last couple of months been amazing. It\u2019s like I\u2019ve been a promoter for the team. I\u2019ve been promoting so much. Just getting as many people as I can to the game and whoever\u2019s supporting me, just getting them tickets. You know, no charge. And just come watch some good football,\u201d Murray said.<\/p>\n
Murray went to Oakridge where he was a star. He then played his college ball at Florida State. He\u2019s spent time with the Seahawks and other arena teams. Now he\u2019s home and living out his dream.<\/p>\n
The Pirates play a 20-week regular season schedule that runs through July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 The Orlando Pirates are Orlando\u2019s newest football team, playing in the Indoor Football League. Head…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1011,1238,274,1236,1190,115,139,141,140,1746,278,835],"class_list":["post-277463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-app-human-interest","tag-app-sports","tag-app-top-stories","tag-florida-sports","tag-human-interest","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-thomas-cook","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}