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Lawrence Samuels Wide Receiver/Linebacker
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| Photo by Chris Arnold |
Height: 6-2
Weight: 200
Date of Birth: 5/1/70
College: Livingston (Ala.)
Year-by-Year:
1994:Signed as a free agent on June 29...Two days later, caught three passes for 48 yards at Orlando (7/1)...Was one of the few bright spots in the Storm's 48-21 thrashing at the hands of Arizona (7/30), scoring two touchdowns.1995: Scored two touchdowns and caught six passes for 75 yards, but made his major contributions on defense...Notched interceptions in three of the Storm's last four regular season games, including one each in both games with Orlando (7/14 and 7/29)...Scored a touchdown on a ten-yard interception return vs. Orlando (7/29)...Had a season-high six tackles in games against Miami (6/10) and Milwaukee (8/4)...Caught a 30-yard touchdown pass in semifinal win over Albany (8/18)...Made ten tackles in three playoff games.
1996: Received increased playing time and responded with a solid season on both sides of the ball, notching career highs in receptions (18), yards (237) and tackles (38)...Scored the clinching points in the Storm's 65-52 overtime win over Albany (7/12) when he stepped in front of a Mike Perez pass and returned it seven yards for a touchdown...Returned a fumble seven yards for a touchdown against Texas (5/11)...Led Storm in fumble recoveries with three...Notched his first career sack at Florida (7/6).
1997: Entered the season with 416 receiving yards in a three-year career; he had more than that in the first eight games of 1997 alone (459)...Saw his playing time increase and responded to the challenge, posting career highs in receptions (54), receiving yards (678) and touchdowns (six)...Was third on the Storm in total tackles (35), tied for second in receptions, was third in receiving yardage and third in receiving touchdowns...Recorded four tackles against Florida (5/10)...Had his first big game at Nashville (5/23), catching seven passes for 77 yards...One week later, had the first 100-yard receiving game of his career, catching seven passes for 114 yards and a 42-yard touchdown...Had two solid receiving games back-to-back in June, catching seven passes for 91 yards against New Jersey (6/14) and seven passes for 97 yards against New York (6/21)...Against New Jersey, he also was a party to the longest play of the season for the Storm, a 46-yard touchdown pass from Peter Tom Willis...Had four tackles in games at Orlando (6/27) and Texas (7/5)...Also had 51 yards on three catches against the Terror...Had his only interception of 1997 against Anaheim (7/12)...Closed the season strongly, filling in for an injured Stevie Thomas at San Jose (8/2)...Had eight catches for 89 yards and two touchdowns in the 58-34 win...Caught five passes for 74 yards and a 31-yard touchdown in the 52-49 playoff win at Nashville (8/10)...One week later in the semifinals at Arizona (8/16), he led the Storm with eight catches for 112 yards, including a 16-yard touchdown reception that gave his team a 26-21 third quarter lead...Finished the postseason with a Storm-high 186 receiving yards... He finished tied for the team lead in playoff catches with George LaFrance; both had 13 receptions.
1998: Finished second on the Storm in total tackles (43), first in defensive touchdowns (three) and third in receptions (55), receiving yardage (667) and receiving touchdowns (14) as he developed into one of the Storm's standout players...At San Jose (5/1), he caught five passes for 50 yards and a score...Added a tackle and broke up a pass on the defensive side of the ball...Against Nashville (5/9), he brought in two passes for 16 yards...Scored on an eight-yard pass in the third quarter, where he stretched the ball over the plane of the end zone to notch the touchdown...Made three tackles and an assist...In Week Three against Houston (5/16), he caught four passes for 58 yards, including a 22-yarder from Bryan Martin in the fourth quarter and broke up two passes...Named Ironman of the Game in the win over Florida (5/23) after a strong two-way performance...Led the Storm in receiving with six catches for 66 yards and a first quarter score...Made a tackle and an assist on defense...Went over the 100-catch mark for his career with his third reception of the night against the Bobcats...Did even better at New Jersey (5/30), as he was named the league's Tinactin Ironman of the Week; he recovered two fumbles, including one that he ran for a four-yard score in the fourth quarter, made two assists, intercepted an Aaron Garcia pass and caught three passes for 41 yards and two scores...In the first quarter, made his interception, returned it 22 yards, and then scored on a 19-yard pass from Peter Tom Willis on the next play...At home against New York (6/6), he recovered a fourth-quarter Charlie Davidson fumble, made three assists and caught five passes for 62 yards, including a 21-yard score from Ron Adams late in the fourth quarter...Caught three passes for 34 yards and led all Storm players with four unassisted tackles in the win at Orlando (6/12)...Recovered an onside kick by David Cool with 36 seconds left in the game....Named the Tinactin Ironman of the Game against Albany (6/20) after catching five passes for 53 yards and adding two unassisted tackles on defense...Hauled in one touchdown, an eight- yard pass from Peter Tom Willis in the fourth quarter that pushed the Storm's lead to 53-35...Made his longest reception of the year, catching a 36-yard pass from Peter Tom Willis deep down the left side of the field for a score that gave the Storm the lead for good over Orlando (6/27), by a 12-7 count with 2:40 left in the first quarter...Made three assists on defense...Finished second on the Storm in receptions for the game with six and third in yardage with 74...At Houston (7/2), he caught three passes for 50 yards, punctuated by a 33-yard touchdown catch from Peter Tom Willis that pulled the Storm within 17-14 halfway through the second quarter...Recorded one tackle on defense...Named ESPN's Ironman of the Game against Florida (7/12)...Led the Storm in receptions with six, receiving yardage (60) and touchdowns (three)...Forced two fourth-quarter fumbles on consecutive Bobcat kickoff returns; the first led to a scoring catch for Samuels from Ron Adams, while the second bounced in the end zone and was recovered by Tony Woods for the score...Also made two unassisted tackles...At Nashville (7/17), he caught three passes for 31 yards...Scored on an 11-yard reception with 59 seconds left in the game...Defensively, he logged one unassisted tackle...Recorded a team-leading four assisted tackles, to go along with his two solo stops against Iowa (7/25)...Caught two passes for 25 yards...Scored two consecutive Storm touchdowns to close out the first half...The first score came on a 16-yard interception return off of an Aaron Garcia pass...The second came on a 17-yard pass from his own quarterback, Peter Tom Willis, with 21 seconds remaining in the half...Named Ironman of the Game for his efforts against the Barnstormers...Closed the season by catching two passes for 47 yards at Grand Rapids (8/1)...Tallied six total tackles...Intercepted a pass on the last play of the game; he returned it 20 yards for a touchdown on the last play of the regular season....Finished fourth on the Storm in postseason receiving, catching seven passes for 96 yards and a score...Scored on a 19-yard touchdown reception against New Jersey (8/14); the touchdown gave the Storm a 35-23 lead...Caught five passes for 63 yards in ArenaBowl XII (8/23); both figures were good for second on the Storm.
1999: Caught a career-high 11 passes for 114 yards and a score in the opening night loss to Albany (4/24)...Defensively, he broke up a pass, made two solo tackles and added six assists...Had another Ironman-worthy performance at Milwaukee (4/29), catching four passes for 66 yards and a 35-yard touchdown; the score came on the first snap of the game...Defensively, he posted a third quarter interception of Todd Hammel; he leapt up for the ball from his jill linebacker position and snared Hammel's rifle shot across the middle, returning it 20 yards...Had a quieter offensive outing against Florida (5/15), catching just one pass for eight yards...Notched five total tackles against the Bobcats, including three solo stops, good for second on the team in both categories.
AFL Statistics
1999 GAME-BY-GAME RECEIVING Date Opponent REC YDS AVG LG TD ---------------------------------------------- 4/24 Albany 11 114 10.4 16 1 4/29 Milwaukee 4 66 16.5 35 1 5/15 Florida 1 8 8.0 8 0 ---------------------------------------------- SEASON TOTALS 16 188 11.8 35 2 DEFENSE Date Opponent TKL AST SKS YDS FF-FR INT YDS TD ------------------------------------------------------------- 4/24 Albany 2 4 0 0 0-0 0 0 0 4/29 Milwaukee 1 0 0 0 0-0 1 13 0 5/15 Florida 3 2 0 0 0-0 0 0 0 ------------------------------------------------------------- SEASON TOTALS 6 6 0 0 0-0 1 13 0 CAREER RECEIVING Year Team REC YDS AVG LG TD ---------------------------------------------- 1994 Tampa Bay 10 104 10.4 22 0 1995 Tampa Bay 6 75 12.5 22 2 1996 Tampa Bay 18 237 13.2 29 1 1997 Tampa Bay 54 678 12.6 46 6 1998 Tampa Bay 55 667 12.1 36 14 1999 Tampa Bay 16 188 11.8 35 2 ---------------------------------------------- CAREER TOTALS 159 1949 12.3 46 25 RUSHING Year Team RUSH YDS AVG LG TD ---------------------------------------------- 1994 Tampa Bay 3 8 2.7 5 2 1995 Tampa Bay 0 0 0.0 0 0 1996 Tampa Bay 0 0 0.0 0 0 1997 Tampa Bay 0 0 0.0 0 0 1998 Tampa Bay 0 0 0.0 0 0 1999 Tampa Bay 0 0 0.0 0 0 ---------------------------------------------- CAREER TOTALS 3 8 2.7 5 2 DEFENSE Year Team TKL AST SKS YDS FF-FR INT YDS TD ------------------------------------------------------------- 1994 Tampa Bay 9 1 0 0 0-0 0 0 0 1995 Tampa Bay 27 10 0 0 2-2 3 33 1 1996 Tampa Bay 38 9 1 7 2-2 2 18 2 1997 Tampa Bay 27 8 0 0 0-2 1 6 0 1998 Tampa Bay 23 20 0 0 2-3 3 59 3 1999 Tampa Bay 6 2 0 0 0-0 1 13 0 ------------------------------------------------------------- CAREER TOTALS 130 54 1 7 5-9 10 129 6