26 former Pac-12 players selected in USFL Draft
A new professional football league means more opportunities. The Pac-12 was well represented at this week’s United States Football League Draft.
The United States football league finished their initial two-day draft on Wednesday. The eight teams drafted 280 players over 35 rounds. Of those 280, 26 came from Pac-12 schools. That’s almost 10 percent of the league.
Stanford and Cal were the only conference members without a player selected. All other schools had at least one player get drafted. The Oregon Ducks’ five selections led the way. They were followed by Arizona, Oregon State, and USC, who each had four players go in the draft.
Here is a breakdown by school.
Washington State Cougars (1)
Highlighted Player: Shalom Luani, S – New Jersey Generals
Shalom Luani made several stops in the NFL after leaving the Washington State Cougars. Originally a seventh-round pick by Oakland in 2017, he also played for Seattle and the Los Angeles Chargers. In total, Luani appeared in 31 NFL games, making 28 tackles.
Committed initially to Oregon after Junior College, Luani flipped to WSU. He played in 25 of 26 games his junior and senior year, making 8 interceptions and 157 tackles. Luani was even the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week one time.
Shalom Luani’s game-clinching interception in the 2015 Sun Bowl vs Miami pic.twitter.com/peMr5bbAtD
— Cougar Sports Network (@CougSportsNet) December 7, 2021
Washington Huskies (1)
Azeem Victor, LB – Houston Gamblers
A standout for the Washington Huskies from 2014-17. It looked like Azeem Victor was on his way to stardom in 2017. Going into the season, the Associated Press made him a preseason first-team All-American. Unfortunately, his senior season ended after nine games. Victor was arrested for a DUI, and head coach Chris Peterson kicked him off the team.
As a result, Victor slipped to Round 6 of the NFL Draft. The Raiders took him with the 216th overall pick. He never played a game for them or the other two teams he signed with Tampa and Seattle. Even with his career hanging by a thread, Victor drew a 10-game suspension from the NFL in April of 2019 for a violation of the league’s substance abuse policy.