Former Spartans Ready To Shine In The XFL!
With the XFL set to kick off its first season since its inaugural 2001 season, the league announced the 52 man rosters for all eight of its teams and four Michigan State Spartans will be on rosters when the league kicks off on February 8th.
Quarterback Connor Cook (Houston Roughnecks), linebacker Taiwan Jones (Los Angeles Wildcats), safety Demetrious Cox (New York Guardians) and wide receiver Keith Mumphery (St. Louis Battlehawks) are the four Spartans that will be on rosters when the season begins.
Former Michigan State offensive lineman Miguel Machado and safety Kurtis Drummond were selected in the XFL draft, but are not currently listed on any of the eight rosters.
Cook, who played for Michigan State from 2011-2015, helped lead the Spartans to two Big Ten Championships (2013, 2015) as well as a Rose Bowl (2014) and an appearance in the College Football Playoff (2015). For his college career, Cook threw for 9,194 yards and 71 touchdowns while completing 673 of his 1,170 pass attempts.
Here are the 52-player rosters for all eight #XFL teamshttps://t.co/a90f4qVIvc pic.twitter.com/nwMF3jpg38
— United Football League (@TheUFL) January 27, 2020
Before joining the XFL, Cook bounced around the NFL for a few seasons after being drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL draft, but after failing to catch on with the Detroit Lions prior to the 2019 season, Cook elected to join the XFL.
Cook was drafted by Houston with the second overall pick in October’s XFL draft and is expected to be the starting quarterback when the Roughnecks when they take on the Wildcats on February 8th.
Mumphery, one of Cook’s favorite targets during their time together in East Lansing, was drafted by the Houston Texans in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Draft after recording 88 catches for 1,348 yards and seven touchdowns during his Michigan State career. Mumphery went on to spend the 2015 and 2016 seasons with the Texans and has not played professional football since.
After being selected by the Dallas Renegades in the XFL draft, Mumphery was involved in the league’s first trade since its inaugural season and was traded to the St. Louis Battlehawks.
One of Michigan State’s defensive leaders in 2013 and 2014, Jones totaled 183 tackles over four seasons (2011-2014), but went undrafted in the 2015 NFL Draft before signing with the New York Jets as a free agent. Jones played for the Jets in 2015 and 2016 and, after not playing in 2017 or 2018, Jones played for the Memphis Express of the Allegiance of American Football in 2019.
Jones was drafted by the Los Angeles Wildcats during the open phase of the XFL draft.
A key member of the defense on Michigan State’s 2015 Big Ten Championship team, Cox recorded 91 tackles and four interceptions during his Spartan career, including 48 tackles, three interceptions and 10 pass breakups in 2015. After going undrafted in the 2017 NFL, Cox bounced around between three NFL teams (Cincinnati, Arizona, Carolina) before joining the XFL.
Cox was drafted in the fifth round of phase four of the XFL Draft by the New York Guardians.
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