Four ex-Arizona Wildcats enter XFL draft
Four former Arizona Wildcats linemen are eligible for the XFL draft, which will be held Tuesday and Wednesday.
Offensive tackles Gerhard de Beer and Lene Maiava, center Steven Gurrola and defensive tackle Larry Tharpe Jr. are among about 1,000 players who accepted an invitation to be in the draft pool and passed a standard background check, the league said.
The eight teams will fill their 71-man rosters during next week's draft.
De Beer, who went undrafted in 2018, was in training camp with the Buffalo Bills in 2018 and with the Green Bay Packers this summer.
Maiava, probably one of the strongest offensive linemen to come through Arizona in the past decade or so, was with the Seattle Seahawks in the summer of 2016 before being released.
Gurrola has been playing for the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League, earning second-team All-IFL honors in 2018 and first-team recognition in 2019.
Tharpe left the Cats after the 2017 season to turn pro. He was in the New Orleans Saints rookie mini-camp in 2018.
The XFL, making a comeback after a failed attempt in 2001, will have a draft that is a bit different than the NFL version.
The teams will select players in five phases after being assigned one quarterback. The league will use a fantasy football-like "snake" format, with the team selecting first in the phase then picking eighth in the second round, followed by the first choice in the third round and so on.
Teams will choose a total of 40 players from the first four phases (offensive skill, offensive line, defensive front seven and secondary) before any player can be picked in the final phases.
The draft picks will be announced on the league's website and social media channels.
Games are set to begin Feb. 8.