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<p>Shakir Soto has been waiting a long time for what&#8217;s in store Saturday night.</p><p>The GAR grad hasn&#8217;t played in a meaningful football game since his days at Pitt. More specifically, since the 2016 Pinstripe Bowl, when he registered three tackles and a sack in a 31-24 loss to Northwestern.</p><p>That all changes 8 p.m. Saturday when Soto suits up with his San Diego Fleet teammates in the first-ever regular-season game for the brand new Alliance of American Football league. The Fleet travel to San Antonio to take on the Commanders in the Alamodome.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m very excited about Saturday &#8212; to go out there and play in a game that really counts,&#8221; Soto told the Times Leader. &#8220;It&#8217;s going to be an exciting moment for me and the rest of my teammates.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a blessing that I have this opportunity. I&#8217;m really excited about this new league that they&#8217;ve started. It&#8217;s all about the players &#8212; like not for the present or future &#8212; who are in similar situations that I am in today.&#8221;</p><p>The last month and change has been a grind for Soto.</p><p>He said the whole month of January was &#8220;pretty much training camp&#8221; for the Fleet. And participating in a new league, Soto had to get used to a brand new set of coaches and teammates. That meant he had to learn a new playbook and the playing styles of his fellow defensive linemen because the 24-year-old defensive tackle is expected to see game action on Saturday.</p><p>Defensive coordinator Larry Marmie and defensive line coach Vince Amey plan to rotate defensive linemen, keeping everyone fresh.</p><p>&#8220;We were grinding, working every day,&#8221; Soto said. &#8220;Just coming together as a team and working hard together. It&#8217;s been a process, but it&#8217;s been great. We&#8217;ve made our strides. We&#8217;ve come together as a team, ever since we first started.&#8221;</p><p>There has also been a slight adjustment period for Soto as well.</p><p>The AAF is a little different than what Soto has been used to each of the last two summers, playing with the Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders in training camp and the preseason.</p><p>There are no kickoffs. Teams will start their possessions at the 25. If a team wants to attempt an onside kick, they instead start from their own 28 and attempt to convert a fourth-and-12. Point after attempts are gone, too. All teams must go for two after they score a touchdown. And the play clock has been trimmed down to 30 seconds.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s different,&#8221; Soto said. &#8220;It&#8217;s kind of weird on kickoffs, not having kickoff returns. Honestly, that makes a difference in the game because big plays are bound to happen on special teams &#8212; on kickoff returns. It&#8217;s something different, but nothing major to get adjusted to. We had to take out a couple things and add a couple things.&#8221;</p><p>Oh, and remember the controversial no-call in the NFC Championship Game? The AAF hopes to avoid that.</p><p>The league has implemented a sky judge, who, from the press box, will have the ability to correct pass interference errors inside the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter and player safety concerns at any point in the game.</p><p>&#8220;The idea that you don&#8217;t have an official that&#8217;s capable of seeing what the viewer sees on TV is bizarre,&#8221; AAF co-founder Charlie Ebersol told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. &#8220;And the NFC Championship Game was a big factor that brought it into focus. So adding this eighth judge to catch egregious calls, to me, sounds like a natural solution.&#8221;</p><p>At the end of the day, the AAF is the next step Soto has to take to achieve his dream of making an active NFL roster. And it presents the perfect opportunity to do just that.</p><p>Soto is playing for ex-St. Louis Rams head coach Mike Martz, all of his games are nationally televised &#8212; between CBS, TNT, NFL Network and CBS Sports Network &#8212; and he&#8217;s facing former NFL players on a weekly basis.</p><p>In fact, he already plays alongside Damontre Moore, who was selected in the third round of the 2013 NFL draft by the New York Giants, on the defensive line. Former Buffalo Bills linebacker AJ Tarpley and Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Ron Brooks are sprinkled into the defense behind him.</p><p>It also helps that the NFL itself has become an investor in the league.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s pretty much going to be like a minor leagues for the NFL,&#8221; Soto said. &#8220;Guys like coach Martz, who have coached in the NFL, was a part of the NFL and know guys in the NFL. It&#8217;s a great league to start. I&#8217;m surprised it didn&#8217;t start years ago, but I&#8217;m glad it&#8217;s here now. I think it&#8217;s going to be very successful.&#8221;</p><p>But before Soto can think about the NFL, he has to handle the task at hand: the Commanders.</p><p>And to do that, he&#8217;s keeping it simple. Asked what his expectations for Saturday were, Soto replied, &#8220;To win.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">GAR grad Shakir Soto makes his return to the gridiron Saturday night when he and his San Diego Fleet teammates travel to San Antonio to take on the Commanders. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_Shakir-Soto-AAF-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>GAR grad Shakir Soto makes his return to the gridiron Saturday night when he and his San Diego Fleet teammates travel to San Antonio to take on the Commanders. </caption0><photoCredit0>San Diego Fleet </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta></subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By DJ Eberle</p><p>djeberle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>AAF WEEK 1 SCHEDULE</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Saturday</strong></p><p><strong>8:30 p.m.</strong></p><p>CBS &#8212; San Diego Fleet at San Antonio Commanders</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Sunday</strong></p><p><strong>4 p.m.</strong></p><p>CBSSN &#8212; Memphis Express at Birmingham Iron</p><p><strong>8 p.m.</strong></p><p>NFL &#8212; Salt Lake Stallions at Arizona Hotshots</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach DJ Eberle at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @ByDJEberle</p></shirttailMeta></div>

GAR grad Shakir Soto returns to gridiron Saturday for national TV debut of new league