The XFL announced the quarterback assignments for the eight XFL teams on Tuesday ahead of the newly-reformed league’s Draft Day which begins Wednesday.
Head coach Bob Stoops of the Arlington Renegades told The Dallas Express that he is excited about the draft process and working with the two quarterbacks assigned to the team.
“To have a good team, you have to have good players everywhere, so all of it, I’m looking forward to,” Stoops said in a telephone call.
The Arlington Renegades received quarterbacks Drew Plitt and Kyle Sloter. Plitt starred at Ball State where he threw for 9,061 yards and had 68 touchdowns against 30 interceptions. Plitt was on the Cincinnati Bengals roster in the preseason but was waived during reductions.
Sloter has much less experience, tallying only five games in two years at Northern Colorado as a hybrid tight end/quarterback. He has bounced around to a number of NFL practice squads, most recently with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Sloter had success playing with the New Orleans Breakers of the USFL, leading the team to a semi-final appearance.
Stoops said that the two players will compete for the top job.
“We will let them all have a chance and see where it goes,” Stoops said.
Stoops was formerly the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners, a role he performed for 18 seasons. He had a 190-48 record as the head coach, making him the winningest OU coach in history. He is still the only coach in the BCS era to win the Rose Bowl, the Orange Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl, and the Sugar Bowl. He led the Sooners to National Championship games four times.
One of the qualities that gave Stoops a winning edge at OU was his ability to adapt to the players and situations he had available. At times, the Sooners were a pass-heavy offense, while other times they leaned on key players at running back to get wins in big games. That trait alone will be vital for Stoops as he begins to work to assemble a Renegades team that is starting from scratch.
In 2020, the XFL burst into the spring football slot with wrestling promoter Vince McMahon at the head of the operation. Unfortunately for the fledgling league, the COVID-19 pandemic forced play to stop mid-season. The stoppage was unavoidable, but also the final blow that forced the league into bankruptcy.
A new ownership group purchased the rights last year led by actor Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson and executive Dany Garcia. The group has been working for the past year to get the XFL back into action and after assigning coaches and announcing teams, the teams will select players this week.
The league’s grand-re-opening will begin on February 18, 2023. Arlington is joined by seven other inaugural teams and will play a 10-game season. The full schedule and conference assignments for the eight teams have yet to be released by the league.
“Right off the bat, we want to be a powerful force in the Arlington community, to put a fun product to support and a bunch of players out in the community who are easy to support,” Stoops said. “We want to give everybody a fun product to watch and root for.”
The remainder of the players will be chosen using a snaking-type selection process with each team changing to a different order and each round being for different skill position players.
