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In approximately I don’t actually know or care how many days, the Alliance of American Football kicks off in various shitty cities across mostly the Sun Belt. It’ll be televised on CBS, because apparently that’s a thing, and I’m not sure what the point of it is besides to further monetize our insatiable demand for watching people paid to get CTE, but I don’t think this is the one that’s basically a reaction to the super racist and shitty parts of American society that like to yell at people for...
...well, yeah. Let’s leave it at that, shall we?
Anyway, after seeing a tweet from Scott Dochterman that had Iowa RB Akrum Wadley forgoing what I’m sure would be a lucrative career in the CFL (joining Hawks like Drew Tate and...well, probably others? Northwestern product Tyrell Sutton is still there, too!) to sign with the Atlanta Tough Guys* of the AAF, I wondered just how many Big Ten guys there were playing in The League The Other League No, the Other One.
*Completely made-up, will not be fact-checked.
Looking at each team roster and Ctrl-F’ing (not as fun as it sounds) to find players of every team, I took a fun little walk down memory lane and learned a little in the provcess. There are players (plural!) from Northwest Missouri State, but none from Northwestern. David Cobb is no longer in the NFL, apparently, but it’s nice to see All-Namers Tracy Sprinkle and Chunky Clements getting a second shot. Really, there’s something here for everyone!
Here is your list of B1G players in the AAF, as of 11:20am on Wednesday:
Name | Pos. | College | AAF Team |
Hugh Thornton | G | Illinois | Arizona |
Chunky Clements | DT | Illinois | Arizona |
Darius Latham | DT | Indiana | Arizona |
Marcus Oliver | LB | Indiana | Atlanta |
Chase Dutra | DB | Indiana | San Antonio |
Andrew McDonald | OL | Indiana | San Antonio |
Dexter McDougle | DB | Maryland | Arizona |
Michael Dunn | T | Maryland | Birmingham |
Amba Etta-Tawo | WR | Maryland | Birmingham |
Nick Novak | K | Maryland | Birmingham |
Brandon Ross | RB | Maryland | Birmingham |
Denard Robinson | RB | Michigan | Atlanta |
Ty Isaac | RB | Michigan | Birmingham |
Channing Stribling | CB | Michigan | Memphis |
De'Veon Smith | RB | Michigan | Orlando |
Matt Godin | DL | Michigan | San Antonio |
Henry Poggi | RB | Michigan | San Antonio |
Kurtis Drummond | DB | Michigan State | San Antonio |
Garrison Wright | G | Minnesota | Birmingham |
David Cobb | RB | Minnesota | San Antonio |
Andrew Stelter | DT | Minnesota | San Diego |
Kieron Williams | DB | Nebraska | Arizona |
Josh Banderas | LB | Nebraska | Salt Lake |
Kenny Bell | WR | Nebraska | Salt Lake |
Tyler Hoppes | TE | Nebraska | Salt Lake |
Terrell Newby | RB | Nebraska | Salt Lake |
DeMornay Pierson-El | WR | Nebraska | Salt Lake |
Chase Farris | OL | Ohio State | Atlanta |
Doran Grant | CB | Ohio State | Atlanta |
Tracy Sprinkle | DT | Ohio State | Atlanta |
Jalin Marshall | WR | Ohio State | Orlando |
Keon Willis | CB | Ohio State | Salt Lake |
Marcus Baugh | TE | Ohio State | San Diego |
Christian Hackenberg | QB | Penn State | Memphis |
Tyrell Chavis | DT | Penn State | Orlando |
Deion Barnes | DL | Penn State | San Antonio |
Akeem Hunt | RB | Purdue | Orlando |
Eddy Wilson | DL | Purdue | Salt Lake |
Danny Ezechukwu | LB | Purdue | San Antonio |
Ra'Zahn Howard | DL | Purdue | San Antonio |
Austin Larkin | LB | Purdue | San Antonio |
Gelen Robinson | DT | Purdue | San Diego |
Steve Beauharnais | LB | Rutgers | Arizona |
Quentin Gause | LB | Rutgers | Memphis |
Darius Hamilton | DL | Rutgers | Salt Lake |
Paul James | RB | Rutgers | San Diego |
Myles Nash | DE | Rutgers | San Diego |
Darius Hillary | DB | wisconsin | Arizona |
Austin Traylor | TE | wisconsin | Salt Lake |
I know you’re wondering things like...
- Why are there so many Nebraska Cornhuskers on Salt Lake?
- What good is a kicker in leagues where a TD is an automatic 7 points; or, Nick Novak was a Maryland Terrapin?
- lol this is what it’s come to for Denard Robinson and Christian Hackenberg
And, reader, you’d be right to wonder all those things and more. Would it help you to know that some head coaches in the AAF have Big Ten ties?
- Kevin Coyle (Atlanta HC): Maryland DC, 1994-1996
- Tim Lewis (Birmingham HC): He wasn’t in the Big Ten, I just want to note that after flaming out of the NFL as a DBs coach with the Falcons (2010-2014) and 49ers (2015), Lewis resurfaced as the DC for Pinecrest Academy (not even looking it up) in 2018 before taking this job. A Very Professional League!
- Mike Singletary (Memphis HC): Again, not B1G, but just posting it so I don’t get what-abouted in the comments.
- Steve Spurrier (Orlando HC): THE OL’ HEAD BALL COACH RIDES AGAIN
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- Rick Neuheisel (Arizona HC): lololol wait what really
- Dennis Erickson (Salt Lake HC): I don’t really give a shit about what Erickson did at Miami; what he did at Idaho remains his most impressive accomplishment. I’m referring, of course, to launching the career of John L. Smith.
- Mike Martz (San Diego HC):
- Mike Riley (San Antonio HC): Can’t think of anything. Nope. Nooooope. Give me 4 to 8 minutes and I bet I still couldn’t.