About a week has past since the inaugural USFL draft, and head coach of the Tampa Bay Bandits, Todd Haley, helped to make some big time picks to make this year’s team very exciting to watch come kickoff in April.
Jordan Ta’amu
The Bandits selected former Ole Miss and St. Louis Battlehawks quarterback Jordan Ta’amu second overall in the draft. This will make Haley’s job easy with finding his quarterback. Ta’amu was a star, putting up 4,000 yards and 20 touchdowns in his final year at Ole Miss. The 24-year-old is also a threat running with the ball as he put up a little under 10 touchdowns in his final year with the Rebels. Ta’amu was also regarded as one of, if not the XFL’s best quarterback for the Battlehawks when he put 1,000 yards in just five games before the pandemic hit, shutting down the league.
Ta’amu’s combination of an agile, mobile runner and a cannon of an arm makes him a headache for any opposing defensive coordinator he will face. He has MVP potential in a league full of unknowns and it will be incredible to see if he plays like he did in the XFL and if he does, Tampa could see themselves rocket to the top of the league right off the bat.
John Franklin III and Eli Rogers
Not only did the Bandits snag a quarterback with spring football success, but they gave him a couple of great receivers to help him out with the task. John Franklin comes from Auburn and Florida Atlantic and gives Coach Haley a lot of options in regards to offensive playmaking. At both FAU and Auburn, Franklin was a rusher and receiver; he even had occasional snaps at the quarterback position. He definitely will be someone that Tampa Bay can use in all aspects of their offense. Coach Haley’s creative play calling on offense combined with Franklin III’s crafty play will add some juice to this year’s team.
The other receiver the Bandits took was Eli Rogers. He boasts a great resume as a former Pittsburgh Steeler. He has some age on him as he is soon going to be 30-years-old, but with age comes more leadership; experience that the Bandits will need in their inaugural season. In Pittsburgh, Rogers ended up with 820 yards and four touchdowns over the course of three seasons. In college playing for Louisville, Rogers led the Big East in receptions in 2012. He definitely offers a lot to the team and it will be interesting to see how Haley and his crew utilize him in the coming season. Rogers spent most of his NFL career playing in the slot and having him be one of the top two receiver picks says that Tampa is thinking otherwise.
Both receivers will help assist Ta’amu in getting acclimated to a new team and vise versa. The Bandits have a great offensive core brewing. It shows just how good they can be this year and take the USFL by surprise. It is very exciting to see the city of Tampa get a new team in the mix and although they are not playing in the bay this year, they will be a treat for those Floridians who miss football.
Good players and a great offensive minded head coach will give the Bandits a big advantage over the rest of the league. Now getting the rest of the roster starters needs to be solid position players. Should be an exciting season for the Bandits