USFL: Every team's most intriguing player from the supplemental draft
By RJ Young
FOX Sports Writer
The United States Football League held its inaugural supplemental draft on Thursday, adding 10 players to each of the league’s eight teams.
The teams each have 45 players rostered, and 38 will make the game-day rosters for Week 1, beginning on April 16 when the New Jersey Generals play the Birmingham Stallions.
Among the nearly 600 players in the supplemental draft pool, only 80 were selected. Here is one from each team USFL fans should know.
New Jersey Generals: Tyshun Render, DE, Middle Tennessee
Render burst into view after New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick skipped the 2020 NFL Combine to personally evaluate Render instead in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
As a redshirt senior in 2019, he recorded 49 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, three-and-a-half sacks, five pass breakups, two forced fumbles and an interception. At 6-foot-4, 256 pounds, Render could become a dominant defensive end in the USFL.
Michigan Panthers: Cameron Scarlett, RB, Stanford
The former Stanford running back joins former Indiana running back Stevie Scott III and Illinois running back Reggie Corbin in one of the most formidable running-back rooms in the league.
Scarlett earned team MVP honors as a fifth-year senior on David Shaw’s 2019 Cardinal team. He started in all 12 games that season and finished as the 18th-leading rusher all-time at Stanford.
New Orleans Breakers: T.J. Logan, RB, North Carolina
Logan boasts 4.37 speed in the 40-yard dash and was selected in the fifth round of the NFL Draft in 2017. In 2016, as a senior at North Carolina, he averaged 5.4 yards per carry on 120 carries for Breakers coach Larry Fedora, when Fedora was head coach at UNC. Logan led the 2016 Tar Heels in all-purpose yards with 1,584 and was first in the Atlantic Coast Conference — third nationally — in kickoff return average with 32.6 yards per attempt.
Logan rushed for 3,146 yards and 47 TDs as a prep senior at Northern Guilford High School in Greensboro, North Carolina. He was named North Carolina AP Player of the Year and a MaxPreps First Team All-American.
Houston Gamblers: Micah Abernathy, CB, Tennessee
A descendant of civil rights activist and preacher Ralph David Abernathy, Sr., who mentored and was a close friend of Martin Luther King Jr., Micah Abernathy played in 30 games at Tennessee, made 197 career tackles and started every game he appeared in as a senior in 2018 for the Vols.
Birmingham Stallions: Sage Surratt, TE, Wake Forest
In 2019, Surratt caught 66 passes for 1,001 receiving yards — in just nine games at Wake Forest. As a high school senior, he was the best offensive player in the state of North Carolina, with 129 receptions for 2,104 receiving yards as a prep senior at Lincolnton (North Carolina) High School.
Surratt opted out of the 2020 season, but still received a Senior Bowl invitation. At 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, he’s an intriguing option at tight end after spending his college and the beginning of his professional career as a wide receiver.
Philadelphia Stars: Gabriel Sewell, LB, Nevada
In four seasons at Nevada, Sewell earned a reputation for putting ball-carriers on the ground with 281 tackles over four years, including 92 as a redshirt junior in 2018. At 6-foot, 245 pounds, he possesses the size and sideline-to-sideline speed that could allow him to be one of the better inside linebackers in the USFL.
Tampa Bay Bandits: Travis Feeney, OLB, Washington
An intriguing, long, outside linebacker, the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Feeney brings the kind of presence on the edge that could prove invaluable for the Bandits.
He was drafted in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers after a breakout year in 2015, when the former Washington Husky notched 56 tackles, including 17.5 for loss, eight sacks and three forced fumbles.
Pittsburgh Maulers: Max Duffy, P, Kentucky
In round No. 9 of 10, the Maulers managed to pick up a 2019 First Team All-American in Duffy. The former Kentucky specialist left Lexington as the all-time career leader in punt average (46.0) and served as a team captain on Mark Stoops’ 2020 Wildcats team.
RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the podcast "The No. 1 Ranked Show with RJ Young." Follow him on Twitter at @RJ_Young, and subscribe to "The RJ Young Show" on YouTube. He is not on a StepMill.
