Meet Michigan's ties to the XFL's reboot, from Chuck Long to Detroit King's 'Big Ham'

While metro Detroit prepares for the April return of the Michigan Panthers in Year 2 of the USFL’s reboot — now with games at Ford Field! — there’s another league revving up a reboot beginning next weekend.

It’s time for the XFL, Version 3.0, which kicks off Feb. 18 in Arlington, Texas (and elsewhere). The eight-team league has a flashy owner — Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson — plus a few carryover cities from 2020’s version 2.0 (Houston, Seattle, St. Louis and Washington) and some high-profile opening-week TV slots on ABC, ESPN and FX.

What it doesn’t have, of course, is a team remotely near Detroit. So what team should we root for?

Despite the league’s mostly Southern locations, including three teams in Texas, there are plenty of players and coaches with ties to the Mitten State. Here’s a brief rundown of them, from a former Lions first-rounder to a pair of Spartan brothers to Detroit King’s own “Big Ham.”

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Arlington Renegades

CB Shakur Brown, Michigan State/Lions

A Detroit native who went to high school in Georgia, Brown was a ball-hawk for the Spartans in 2020, picking off five passes in seven games before declaring early for the NFL draft. Undrafted, he spent time on practice squads with the Steelers, Chiefs, Lions and Titans, as well as a stint with the Pittsburgh Maulers of the USFL last spring.

QB Kyle Sloter, Lions

The Northern Colorado alumnus had a brief stint on the Lions’ practice squad in 2019; last season, he was one of the USFL’s more effective quarterbacks, passing for 1,798 yards (albeit with only nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions) in nine games with the New Orleans Breakers.

RB De’Veon Smith, Michigan

Smith rushed for 2,235 yards over four seasons with the Wolverines; he’s on his sixth football league now — if we count two iterations of the XFL separately — after runs in the NFL, CFL, AAF and USFL. That last one didn’t last long, as Smith was quickly cut by the Maulers over — no kidding — wanting pizza instead of chicken salad.

Co-OC Chuck Long, Lions

One of a long line of Honolulu Blue QB busts, Long was drafted by the Lions with the No. 12 overall pick in 1986 and appeared in 23 games with the franchise over five seasons. Long went on to a, well, long coaching career, including a stint as head coach at San Diego State (2006-08).

DC Defenders

DE Jacub Panasiuk, Michigan State

The Illinois native put up 15 sacks and 30 tackles-for-loss over five seasons with the Spartans, including a second-team All-Big Ten nod in 2021. Undrafted, he spent the 2022 preseason with the NFL’s Washington Commanders — does a Commander outrank a Defender, or the other way around? — but was cut just before the season began.

Houston Roughnecks

QB Kaleb Eleby, Western Michigan

Eleby passed for 6,084 yards, 35 touchdowns and 11 interceptions over parts of three seasons for the Broncos, including a second-team All-MAC nod in 2021, before declaring for the 2022 NFL draft with two seasons of eligibility remaining.

Orlando Guardians

QB Quinten Dormady, Central Michigan

A college nomad who spent time with Tennessee (2015-17), Houston (2018) and finally the Chips (2019), Dormady completed 64.6% of his pass attempts for 2,312 yards, 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions in leading CMU to an 8-4 record in coach Jim McElwain’s first season in Mount Pleasant.

G Jordan Ighofose, Detroit King

An honorable mention All-Detroit pick by the Free Press in 2015, Ighofose went to Davenport, then an Oklahoma junior college before landing at Grambling in 2019. He’s in Orlando, but his heart is still in Detroit; Friday night saw “Big Ham” tweeting his excitement over Jalen Duren’s 30-point performance against the Spurs.

QB Paxton Lynch, Michigan Panthers

A former first-round NFL draft pick, the Memphis alumnus started last season as Shea Patterson’s backup in the USFL. Lynch’s lasting contribution came in the season finale, when he completed 22 of 30 passes for 275 yards, three touchdowns and an interception to lead the Panthers to a victory that clinched the No. 1 pick in this season’s draft (which is still to come).

San Antonio Brahmas

DE Drew Beesley, Michigan State

The former Warren De La Salle standout finished his six-year Spartans career with 10 sacks and 17 TFLs over 31 games, including an All-Big Ten honorable mention campaign in 2020.

C Luke Juriga, Western Michigan

After making first-team All-MAC in 2018 and 2019, Juriga went undrafted before making the Philadelphia Eagles in 2020. The son of an NFL offensive lineman, the Illinois native appeared in 13 games, though that involved just 14 snaps on offense and 34 on special teams.

WR Darece Roberson Jr., Wayne State

Over 43 games for the Warriors over four seasons (2016-19), Roberson had 92 receptions for 1,767 yards and 24 touchdowns. Undrafted, he played for the Seahawks in the 2020 preseason and signed with the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts in January 2022, though he didn’t make the Argos’ roster. The former Muskegon Mona Shores star was drafted by the XFL’s Roughnecks and traded to San Antonio last month.

Seattle Sea Dragons

OC June Jones, Lions

Jones’ ties to the Lions date back to the franchise’s run-and-shoot days in the late 1980s and early 1990s; he served as the quarterbacks and wide receivers coach in 1989-90 under offensive coordinator Mouse Davis, though he’s better known these days as the former coach of Hawaii and SMU.

QB Steven Montez, Lions

The former Colorado quarterback spent approximately eight months — from September 2021 to May 2022 — on the Lions’ practice squad though he never got into a game for the franchise.

St. Louis Battlehawks

C Juwann Bushell-Beatty, Michigan

A New Jersey native, Bushell-Beatty played 35 games for the Wolverines from 2014-18, finishing his time in Ann Arbor with an All-Big Ten honorable mention. Undrafted, Bushell-Beatty had stints with Washington, the Dallas Cowboys and the Carolina Panthers, as well as the 2020 iteration of the Battlehawks in the XFL. He also spent the 2021 season with Ottawa of the XFL and 2022 with Tampa Bay of the USFL.

DL Lavert Hill, Michigan

The Detroit King star had six interceptions over four seasons with the Wolverines (2016-19) and made three All-Big Ten teams, but went undrafted. (Perhaps teams were put off by his flipping off of Penn State fans in 2017.) Still, he spent time on five NFL practice squads, though he never made a 53-man roster.

OL Mike Panasiuk, Michigan State

Jacub’s older brother spent his four seasons in East Lansing in the middle of the line, though that didn’t stop him from getting a career highlight in his finale; the 300-pounder hauled in a tipped pass in MSU’s Pinstripe Bowl victory at Yankee Stadium, then rumbled 14 yards for a TD. Undrafted, Panasiuk landed on the Carolina Panthers’ practice squad, where he split time between the offensive and defensive lines. (The Panasiuks are set to meet on the gridiron on March 5, when the Battlehawks visit Washington, and then again on March 18 when the Defenders visit St. Louis.)

TE Jake Sutherland, Ortonville

The 6-5, 261-pounder missed almost all of his senior year in high school with an elbow injury, but landed at FCS-level Morehead State, where he caught 52 passes for 507 yards in 43 games (2014-17).

RB Kareem Walker, Michigan

Walker’s time in Ann Arbor was short, with just 20 carries for 68 yards and a touchdown over five games as a sophomore in 2017. The New Jersey product transferred first to a Kansas JUCO for 2018, then to Mississippi State (2019-20) and finally to South Alabama (2021), where had 86 carries for 295 yards and four TDs.

Vegas Vipers

WR Matthew Sexton, Eastern Michigan

A member of the first EMU team to finish with a winning record in more than 20 years (7-6, 2016), Sexton caught 100 passes for 1,335 yards and nine touchdowns over four seasons (2016-19) in Ypsilanti. Undrafted, the Clinton standout kept his career going with some eye-opening returns for the Aviators of The Spring League in 2021, earning time in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ and Kansas City Chiefs’ training camps later that year.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Meet Michigan's ties to XFL's 2023 reboot