The USFL draft has been completed and the Birmingham Stallions selected 10 players. Some of the draftees are from Alabama so they will be playing professional football in front of the home crowd. Check out Jamie Malloy’s article here on the Stallions 2023 schedule. As per this article here on Fox Sports, players rights are getting drafted here by the USFL. Some of the players the Stallions drafted have elected to be in the NFL draft and could end up signing with a team. But, as with the OG USFL guys, they could opt for a better opportunity with the USFL. Let’s meet the newest members of the USFL Champion Birmingham Stallions football club.
Kadeem Telfort, OT, University of Alabama-Birmingham
His Twitter handle is Telly Telfort but to me he is “The Anchor.” Kadeem is from my hometown, Miami, FL. A member of the storied football program at Booker T. Washington High School. Birmingham is his adopted hometown and he will become one of the Stallions team leaders.
Quentin Barrow, OT, Grand Valley State
There’s nothing better than having your draft and selecting “bookend tackles.” Quinton Barrow is at the East-West Shrine game and Pro Football Network’s write up on him here highlights his footwork and movement for a man his size. He has 40 starts for Grand Valley and earned All-Conference honors every season. PFN analyst Tony Pauline says he has “…excellent awareness and blocking vision. Always looking for someone to hit.”
Malik Cunningham, QB, Louisville
He’s fast. Very, very fast. He was the starting quarterback at the University of Louisville and he’s a native son of Alabama. As per his bio here on the University of Louisville website, he is the eighth player in NCAA history to pass for over 8,000 yards and run for 3,000.
Derius Davis, WR, TCU
Davis and Cunningham will probably be the fastest men in the USFL this season. Per NFL Draft Buzz in their write up on Davis here, he times out at 4.29 in the 40. On his Instagram page, he declared for the NFL draft so he may not report to the Stallions but I will keep watch and inform.
Zeke Vandenborough, LB, Illinois State
This guy is the leader and heart of the defensive squad. From the Illinois State website here, he had 14 sacks last year, 21 tackles for loss and 51 solo tackles. I’ll take that guy on my team any time. He is the Missouri Valley Conference Defensive POY and a scholar-athlete of the year. Per an article from the Illinois State University news page here, he is hoping to receive an invitation to the NFL combine.
Colby Sorsdal, OT, William & Mary
Another selection of durability and reliability for the Stallions. This player went to the East-West Shrine game and showed out, based on this article here from Gavino Borquez on Chargerswire. He shut down Power 5 school defenders during practices.
Look at this video from a tweet by Cam Mellor, Senior Director of the College Football Network:
Offensive, defensive line standouts from East-West Shrine Bowl: Day 2
Grant Dubose, WR, Charlotte
Second team All-Conference USA and in his last two years, scored more than five touchdowns and had a combined 1879 yards receiving. He is a native son of Alabama, born in Montgomery. He has stated on his Instagram page that he has declared for the NFL draft but playing in front of the home crowd and sharpening his chops against equal talent in the USFL is a pretty good fallback plan.
Mark Evans, OG, Arkansas
This young man has accepted an invite to the NFL combine as per the site HBCU Gameday here. As per the article, he played 521 snaps and graded out at 93%, allowing only two sacks the entire season. He also went to the East-West Shrine Bowl and was named a first-team FCS All-American by the sites StatsPerform and BlueBloods.
B.J. Thompson, DE, Stephen F. Austin University
B.J. Thompson played 560 snaps in his senior season at Stephen F. Austin as per his profile here on the NFL DraftBuzz site. He had 30 quarterback pressures and his 4.5 40 speed is one of the reasons why. Look at Brett Kollman’s video tweet on Brandon when he drops into coverage. Kollman is the creator/analyst/host of “the Film Room” on Youtube.
Meet B.J. Thompson, the 6'5", 240lb Edge from @SFA_Football who runs 4.4 in the forty, jumps 40 inches, and has an 11'3" broad jump.
Oh, and here is the raw video I shot of what it looks like when he drops in coverage.
Doesn't have a combine invite….yet. pic.twitter.com/b5Dg2BGknq
— Brett Kollmann (@BrettKollmann) February 1, 2023
Starling Thomas V, CB, Univ of Alabama-Birmingham
A native son of Birmingham, Alabama. As per his bio on the UAB website, he had a team high 15 pass breakups last season together with 30 tackles. On his twitter page, he shows that Pro Football Focus lists him as an NFL draft sleeper.
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