2014 has been good to Andre Hardy Jr on his way to making a spot on the team of the Arizona Cardinals. Andre picked up many accolades in his time with the SeaTac Cobras, making Hardy JR a go-to Tight End. 

"Andre is one of those guys that have the whole package. He has always been professional in his dealings with the team, he has incredible hands, and Andre is seriously strong." With impressions of Hardy Jr so high it's no wonder he is continuing to do well.

Mike Bell learned to deal with adversity while he was a star running back at the University of Arizona, and he's used that experience ever since.

Bell, the third all-time rushing leader for the Wildcats, went through three different head coaches and four different position coaches while he was at the school in Tucson, Ariz.

"It was crazy," said Bell, an NFL-type talent who signed last week with the Seattle-Tacoma Cobras. "There was so much change over time, such a different environment. When coaches leave, some coaches come in with different personalities."

Different offensive systems, different playbooks, different philosophies.

The one constant was Bell's on-field production. He rushed for more than 900 yards in three straight seasons and totaled 3,157 yards and 17 touchdowns during his four-year Arizona career.

Statistically speaking, the 952 yards during Bell's senior year in 2005 was his best, although he was so sick before the start of the season that he was forced to stay in a hospital for a week, and doctors initially didn't know what was wrong.

"I had pneumonia in the summer time, in Tucson, in the heat of the summer," Bell said. "I couldn't regulate my temperature for four days, and they almost put me in the ICU."

A range of potential diagnoses included tuberculosis. Despite losing a lot of weight, Bell pulled through and got back on the football field.

"You have to fight through those dark times," he said. "That's a testament in my life I'm pretty much going through now."

Not many high school football players can say they were teammates with both Reggie Bush and Alex Smith.

Ken Cornist, who signed with the Sea-Tac Cobras on Monday, is on that list.

The San Diego-area native was in the same backfield as Bush, the former Heisman Trophy winner at USC and No. 2 overall NFL Draft pick who currently plays for the Miami Dolphins. And Cornist said he was the go-to guy for Smith, who wound up leading the Utah Utes to a BCS bowl and was selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the draft by the San Francisco 49ers.

Needless to say, it was a talented football pool at Helix High School, which won back-to-back Division II California state championships in 2000 and ’01. Cornist  was a sophomore varsity player on the second title-winning team, and he looked up to both future NFL impact players, particularly Bush.

“It was good to watch and to learn from him because of his character and his leadership,” Cornist said. “He’s a very humble guy, and it was very cool to watch him go about his business. He didn’t say too much, just went out and performed on Friday nights.”

Kyle Abrom is tired of flying under the radar. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound athlete needs an opportunity to prove himself, and he’s likely going to get it this spring with the Seattle-Tacoma Cobras.

"All my life, I’ve been a hard worker," Abrom said. "My brother Nate, he always told me, ‘I believe in you. No matter what, you’re going to play professional football somewhere.’ "

Coming from a series of small schools, it’s been a dream clouded by reality.

To this day, Abrom hasn’t settled into a specific position. He played youth football in the same league in Fort Wayne, Ind., as NFL Hall of Famer Rod Woodson and Baltimore Ravens safety Bernard Pollard. He grew up playing all three linebacker positions and also was a big, strong cornerback — one who could bench press 300 pounds by the time he was a high school sophomore.

At Paul Harding High under head coach Sherwood Haydock, Abrom thrived at middle linebacker, particularly during his senior season, when he helped the Hawks win their only Class 2A state championship.

Elkin has the experience to solidify the Cobras’ special teams. As a fifth-year senior at Boise State in 2011, he was the Broncos’ starter and finished tied for 12th in the nation with 25 punts inside opponents’ 20-yard line. He also ripped off a career-long 61-yard punt against Nevada that year.

Elkin credited Boise State’s offense with his prowess for pinning other teams in their own territory.

"Between Kellen (Moore) and Doug Martin, we didn’t get stuck in our end too much," he said.

Moore went 50-3 in his career as the Broncos’ starting quarterback, the best in major college history, and he signed as an undrafted free agent with the Detroit Lions. Martin, a running back, was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ first-round draft pick last year and had a couple of breakout games during the 2012 NFL season.

Elkin received all-conference honorable mention in 2011, even though he attempted about half the number of punts as some of the top talent in the Mountain West.

The Seattle-Tacoma Cobras are building another die-hard team for the 2013 season.  One of the latest is 22-year-old Jauhem Byrd, Wide Receiver.  Originally, from Minneapolis, MN he played for the Wayzata High School as a Wide Receiver and Running Back.  Because of his fast and agile nature, he was skilled at eluding tacklers and many saw him as a Scatback.  In 2007, and he was the team MVP, and helped to lead them to win a conference.  In 2008, he played Wide Receiver for the Rochester Community & Technical College, where he led the 2008 Southern Division Tri-Champs in Kick Returns.

For the 2013 PDFL season, the Sea-Tac Cobras are hoping to lead the league with wins and yardage with a time tested old strategy.  Get somebody who has done it before.  If at all possible get a guy that can take them to another PDFL Championship.

That’s why for the 2013 season the Seattle-Tacoma Cobras have re-signed the league’s all-time leading rusher, Marcus Reed (RB).  During the 2009 and 2010 seasons Reed played with the Cobras as a Running Back, during their back-to-back PDFL Championship winning seasons.

Life isn’t always a straight line.  At some point, you come to realize that there is a difference between walking the path and knowing the path.  For Jarrell “The Phlea” Patterson (WR), coming back to the Seattle-Tacoma Cobras for the 2013 PDFL season is part of the path that he knows he has to walk.  Patterson or “The Phlea” as he is called is the 2010 PDFL MVP, the 2010 All PDFL Receiver, and the 2010 PDFL CO-Rookie of the Year. All of this is due to his “never give up” attitude and way of looking at the world