2022 USFL Draft: Six From Mountain West Selected On Day One
Six former Mountain West football players were selected from the USFL draft pool, ahead of the fabled league’s revival.
Contact/Follow @MattK_FS & @MWCwire
Spring football is back once again.
The Mountain West was well-represented on the first day of the USFL Draft, an event which marked a big step in the revival of a league that, for a brief time in the 1980s, approached rivaling the NFL.
Six former players from the conference were selected in the first twelve rounds from an expansive draft pool, part of a process that, unlike the annual NFL Draft, operated in a “snake draft” fashion and saw each team select from the different position pools in each round (quarterbacks in the first round, edge defenders and defensive ends in the second, and so on). Interestingly, however, one particular team seemed to take a liking to Mountain West football athletes.
The Michigan Panthers, who won the first USFL championship game back in 1983 and are now coached by Jeff Fisher in their newest iteration, selected four players altogether.
We got ourselves a good one 😤
The Michigan Panthers select Adewale Adeoye in the #USFLDraft pic.twitter.com/vTggeWcxfy
— Michigan Panthers (@USFLPanthers) February 23, 2022
The pick is in!
The Panthers have selected Keith Williams 🙌 #USFLDraft pic.twitter.com/zqlaErcwcE— Michigan Panthers (@USFLPanthers) February 23, 2022
Welcome to the fam 🐾🙌
We've selected Teton Saltes with the 4th pick in the 6th round of the #USFLDraft pic.twitter.com/sWD4gU0uNo
— Michigan Panthers (@USFLPanthers) February 23, 2022
Our defense gets even better 😤
Welcome to the Panthers, Jalin Burrell! #USFLDraft #LetsHunt pic.twitter.com/ul9R7FlmRz
— Michigan Panthers (@USFLPanthers) February 23, 2022
Former Utah State defensive end Adewale Adeoye was the first of the Panthers quartet to be selected in the second round. Back in 2018, Adeoye earned an all-conference honorable mention nod by collecting 38 tackles, four tackles for loss and a sack, as well as recovering three fumbles.
The Panthers also built the foundation of their offensive line with Keith Williams, who made 13 starts for Colorado State from 2018 to 2020, and Teton Saltes, the New Mexico tackle who won the 2020 Wuerffel Trophy.
Lastly, Lobos defensive back Jalin Burrell joins the Panthers after spending 2019 with the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts.
Elsewhere, the New Jersey Generals selected former San Diego State offensive tackle Terry Poole. Since being selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL Draft, Poole has played in the NFL, the short-lived AAF, the XFL, and the CFL.
Josh Love, the former San Jose State quarterback who was the conference’s offensive player of the year in 2019, will join the Pittsburgh Maulers after brief stints with the Los Angeles Rams, Cleveland Browns, and Carolina Panthers. He joins first-round pick Kyle Lauletta on the Maulers roster.
Welcome to the Generals #InTheTrenches
New Jersey has selected Terry Poole in the #USFLDraft pic.twitter.com/nmAWzbdJep
— New Jersey Generals (@USFLGenerals) February 23, 2022
We LOVE to see it ⚒️ pic.twitter.com/Gx7Cqjfg5w
— Pittsburgh Maulers (@USFLMaulers) February 23, 2022
The second day of the USFL draft will cover rounds 13 to 35. Though it is not being broadcast, each pick can be seen on the league’s official Twitter account.
