Two Former Illini Players Make 2020 XFL Rosters
Two former Illinois players have found themselves on rosters for the inaugural season of the relaunch of the XFL coming this spring.
Defensive back Jaylen Dunlap and defensive end/linebacker Gimel President made the final cuts when XFL rosters were announced Monday.
Illinois defensive back Jaylen Dunlap addresses the media during the Big Ten football media day at Hyatt Regency McCormick Place.
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Dunlap, who will be playing on the Los Angeles Wildcats, is a Chicago native who played in 37 games in his five-year collegiate career with the Illini. By his senior season, Dunlap was an All-Big Ten honorable mention selection after getting nine starts at cornerback in a 2017 season that included 29 tackles (19 solo), 0.5 tackles for loss, one interception and five pass breakups. Dunlap had his first career forced fumbles at Purdue and first career interception against Indiana in that senior season. Two years after being granted a medical hardship waiver by the NCAA for missing most of the 2014 season, Dunlap started all 12 games at cornerback as a fourth-year junior and finished the 2016 campaign fourth on the team with 63 tackles. He also accounted for 11 pass breakups in 2016, which tied for the 10th most by an Illini player in a single season.
Dunlap comes from a Chicago football family as his older brother, Steven Dunlap Jr., played football in college at Bowling Green from 2008-11 and is currently director of athletics at Catalyst Maria High School in Chicago and his uncle, Keith Otis, played football for Northern Illinois from 2007-11.
Los Angeles, which has former Green Bay Packers assistant Winston Moss as its head coach, will begin its season Saturday, Feb. 8 at Houston with a 4 p.m. CST kickoff on Fox at TDECU Stadium on the campus of the University of Houston. Los Angeles’ home opener, at Dignity Health Sports Park on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, California, the home of the MLS’ Los Angeles Galaxy, will be Sunday, Feb. 16 at 2 p.m. CST against Dallas on ABC.
Illinois Fighting Illini defensive lineman Gimel President (14) sacks Western Michigan Broncos quarterback Zach Terrell (11) during the third quarter at Memorial Stadium. Western Michigan beat Illinois 34-10.
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President, who was a graduate transfer from Auburn, played in all 12 games for the Illini in the 2016 season, with one start on the defensive line. President had 40 tackles (19 solo), 4.5 sacks and was third on the team in 2016 with 12.5 tackles for loss. President hit career-high marks in tackles for loss (3.0) and sacks (2.0) in games against Murray State and Northwestern.
In 25 games for Auburn from 2012-15, President earned 10 starts, 45 tackles, seven tackles for loss and three sacks during his career with the Tigers. The former three-star prospect from South Carolina was signed by the Houston Texans as an undrafted free agent in 2017, was on the active roster for four games and finished that season with three tackles before being waived the following offseason. President was then claimed by the Tennessee Titans in 2018 but never played for that franchise.
Houston Texans outside linebacker Gimel President (53) hits a blocking sled during the 2017 training camp at The Greenbrier.
Michael Shroyer/USA TODAY Sports
President, who is listed as a defensive end, was taken in the seventh round of the XFL’s defensive front draft in October by the St. Louis Battlehawks. St. Louis’s head coach will be former Cincinnati Bengals assistant coach Jonathan Hayes. The Battlehawks will open the season with a 4 p.m. CST kickoff Sunday, Feb. 9 at Dallas on ESPN. The Week 3 matchup vs. New York on Feb. 23 (2 p.m. CST, ESPN) will be the first professional football game inside The Dome at America's Center since the Rams left St. Louis for Los Angeles after the 2015 NFL season.
The XFL originally ran for a single season in 2001, as a joint venture between World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon and former NBC executive Dick Ebersol. On January 25, 2018, McMahon announced a new incarnation of the XFL, which would begin with a 10-week inaugural season in 2020. On June 5, 2018, Oliver Luck, a former NCAA executive vice president, and former athletics director at West Virginia, was named the league's commissioner and chief executive officer. Doug Whaley, a former general manager of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, was hired as the league's senior vice president of football operations. Jeffrey Pollack, a former chief marketing and strategy officer and special advisor for the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers, was named the president and chief operating officer.
The XFL confirmed last May a three-year deal on the broadcast rights to its regular-season games to be split between ABC, Fox, ESPN, and Fox Sports 1. ESPN will have the broadcast rights to the XFL championship game.