Ex-Firecat Dudley tries to bring title to Orlando

Chris Wallace got a good look at Javarus Dudley last year, when the Fordham product spent five games catching Wallace's passes for the Florida Firecats in the af2.

Today, the view is different.

Dudley will take the field for the Orlando Predators in ArenaBowl XX, hoping to help Jay Gruden's team run by the Chicago Rush on NBC.

Wallace will be watching.

"The thing I remember about him," the Florida quarterback said, "is that he got better each day he was with us."

With the Predators, too.

Dudley was still an AFL unknown for the first part of the 2006 season, a rookie wide receiver/linebacker who was inactive for four of Orlando's first five games.

But he took off from there, finishing the year with 78 catches for 1,035 yards and 14 touchdowns. He was one of two Orlando players to make the All-Rookie team.

His production has continued in the playoffs, where he has emerged as quarterback Joe Hamilton's go-to target. Dudley had six catches for 112 yards and two scores in the National Conference final, earning Offensive Player of the Game recognition.

Wallace, for one, isn't surprised. He sees Dudley, the first Firecats alum to participate in an ArenaBowl, as someone he will be watching on TV for years to come, perhaps in the uniform of an NFL team.

"We knew he shouldn't have been here," Wallace said of Dudley's time with the Firecats. "I don't even know if ArenaOne can hold him. He might be playing for the other Gruden one day — with a much larger bank account."

But he can always look back at Estero as the place where he got his start. He had 16 catches for 171 yards and two touchdowns with Florida in five games last season, then left to play for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League.

He was picked up by Orlando in October, becoming the eighth former Firecat to sign with an AFL team.

"I think it speaks volumes of the talent level in the af2," said Firecats president Chris Vallozzi. "We're very excited to have one of our own in the ArenaBowl."