Two questions - Companies and teams for new drivers (sort of)

Let me get you some background info first...I attended a 160 hour training course back in '07 (got CDL A with all endorsements) and drove for a year (most local/regional) and got out and went to work off the road. I always said I would get back in to the truck if I found the right circumstance. A good friend of mine at my current job for the last 4 years was talking about getting his CDL and trying driving and doing OTR long enough at least to open up some local jobs for him (3mo/6mo/1yr?) or maybe stay out longer if he liked it. So we got to talking and decided to explore running team for a while.

He is getting set up to attend to same school I attended. Background checks/driving records/UA's are of no concern, both of us are good to go. I talked to two companies who recruit from my school and in my area (Roehl and Hill Bros) and found out I will need at least a 40 hour refresher for Hill bros but full 160 hour for Roehl. So Roehl is out for me, I wont send that money again out of my pocket when other companies won't require it.

So my questions are...what companies should we be looking at to get in with to meet out short term goal of 6 months teaming but may be worthwhile to stay with for a longer period. And of those companies, they usually advertise teams get the newest units in the fleet and have a few different models available. So if we had a choice to pick from, which trucks are the most team friendly?

Some of the companies we are looking at (most of these have not been contacted directly as of yet)

Hill Bros (already contacted)
Schneider (waiting to hear back)
Werner (not so sure about this one yet)
Crete (will call, but says they won't take 160 hour grads)
Con-Way (heard good things, but not sure yet if they take 160H grads)

So any suggestions, recommendations, comments, ideas, etc...lets hear them.
Thanks.

 

Adding US Express to the list. So apparently no one has a comment? I am not so concerned about the company part of the question but more wanted some input on the model of trucks that work well for teams. I tried no make it not sound like the typical "what company should I start with" questions.