Inside The Huskies

Azeem Victor Still Chasing His Football Dream, Drafted by USFL

The Houston Gamblers select the former UW linebacker.
Dan Raley|
Azeem Victor Still Chasing His Football Dream, Drafted by USFL
Azeem Victor Still Chasing His Football Dream, Drafted by USFL

Azeem Victor, still chasing a pro football dream that has proven elusive to him, on Wednesday was drafted by the Houston Gamblers of the new USFL.

The former University of Washington standout and first-team All-Pac-12 selection went to the Texas team in the 29th round as an outside linebacker after playing the inside position for the Huskies. 

The 6-foot-3, 240-pound Victor is remembered as a hard-luck player who was as good as they come at the UW until he broke his tibia in a 2016 game against USC. 

He later would miss out on the Huskies' only appearance in the College Football Playoff, which recently rejected expanding from a four-team format.

Projected the following season as an Associated Press first-team preseason All-American and a possible first-round NFL draft pick, Victor was never able to recover his football form following his injury and even reclaim his starting job.

Greatly disappointed by this, the Compton, California, product had his UW career abruptly end in 2017 with his in-season dismissal handed down by coach Chris Petersen following a DUI charge.

Victor, 26, was drafted in the sixth round by the Oakland Raiders in 2018, but bounced around practice squads for the Raiders, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Seattle Seahawks before leaving the league.

In recent years, he has pursued careers with the Orlando Apollos of the Alliance of American Football and the Alphas of The Spring League.

Another familiar name taken in the USFL draft was that of Jeremiah Pharms Jr. going to the Pittsburgh Maulers. 

He's not the one who played inside and outside linebacker for the UW, started 37 games from 1997 to 2000 and would be 43 now, rather he's his son, formerly a small-college defensive tackle.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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