Pittsburgh Maulers USFL Preview 2022: Season Win Total Picks, Odds and Predictions

Pittsburgh Maulers Team Preview

Quarterback was where the Pittsburgh Maulers chose to direct their focus with their first pick in the inaugural USFL draft. The Maulers chose the 2018 MVP of the Senior Bowl in Kyle Lauletta out of Richmond College. In his college career, Lauletta earned a total of 10,465 yards through the air (758 of 1194 passes thrown). He threw 73 touchdowns in his 40 games played and only threw 35 interceptions. He has the prototypical size for an NFL quarterback and arm talent that would interest most clubs in the NFL. That said, he was drafted by the New York Giants in the 2018 draft at the 108th pick overall. He appeared in one game for them. He made his way around the NFL after the Giants and spent some time with the Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns and the Jacksonville, Jaguars. The 6'3", 215 lb. quarterback racked up plenty of accolades in his collegiate career. Some of these include Second Team All-American, Dudley Award Finalist, CAA Offensive Player of the Year and National Player of the week to name a few.

Their next pick was defensive lineman, Carlo Kemp out of the University of Michigan. Coming out of high school as the highest rated recruit in Colorado, Kemp played in four games as a sophomore after for the Wolverines as a redshirt. He had his best season as a redshirt senior in which he racked up 40 total tackles (15 solo), 4.5 tackles for loss and 2 sacks. He was named a captain for his redshirt senior season in 2019 and was named third-team All-Big Ten. His fifth-year senior season was shortened due to COVID and was named All-Big Ten honorable mention. During his time in college, he totaled 83 tackles, 10.5 for loss and 5 sacks. He went undrafted in the 2021 draft and then ended up signing with the Green Bay Packers in May. He was waived by the Packers in August and then signed with the Denver Broncos to the practice squad. He was eventually released in January of 2022.

Nasir Player out of East Tennessee State was the Maulers next pick. As a Senior for the Bucs, Player earned a spot on four postseason All-American teams including HERO Sports All-American Second Team, Phil Steele All-American Fourth Team, HERO Sports All-American Second Team and STATS FCS All-American Second Team. He finished his collegiate career with 40 career tackles for loss which was fifth most in ETSU history. Player started in 40 of his 43 games played.

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Another Michigan Wolverine that will be playing for the Pittsburgh Maulers is running back De'Veon Smith. Smith played his high school football in Warren, OH and was a finalist for Ohio's Mr. Football award in 2012. He played for the Wolverines from 2013-2016. His senior year was his best as he earned 846 yards on the ground and tallied 10 TDs. In his career, Smith rushed for 2,235 yards with a 4.5 yards per rush average. he also caught 38 passes for 251 yards in his college career. Smith was then signed by the Miami Dolphins in 2017 as an undrafted FA was waived later that year. He was also signed by the Washington Redskins before spending time in the Alliance of American Football's Orlando team and was then drafted by the XFL in 2020 before they suspended operations later that year.

Guy's Pick: In terms of guessing where Pittsburgh might finish at the end of the season, we'll take a guess. Kirby Wilson is the GM/head coach for the team and will look to have his team playing well. That said, Vegas has Pittsburgh at the lower end of the league in terms of chances to win at +600.

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