In the United Football League dispersal draft, linebacker Reuben Foster was added to the Houston Roughnecks
roster. As the new league began assembling its roster, the former Crimson Tide All-American was one of ten players
from Alabama colleges and high schools to be assigned to new teams.
Four teams from each of the USFL and XFL were maintained when they combined to form a single league for spring football. However, it also meant that four teams from each league were eliminated.
The United Football League, the new league, started using a dispersal draft on Friday to divide up the players from
the former teams. On Monday, the league made the draft results public.
After protecting up to 42 players from their 2023 squad, each remaining team could choose up to 20 players from
the rosters of the eliminated teams from its previous league.
In 2023, Foster was a member of the Pittsburgh Maulers of the USFL. The Gamblers were the name of the USFL
team located in Houston. However, even though that team advanced into the United Football League by bringing the
coaching staff, front office, and roster from the Gamblers, it also took on the branding of the Roughnecks, an XFL
team that was eliminated from the league.
Foster, who won the Butkus Award as the nation’s finest linebacker at Alabama in 2016 and was named the state’s
Class 6A Lineman of the Year at Auburn High School in 2012, last participated in an NFL game in 2018.
On May 20, 2019, during a Washington Redskins offseason workout, Foster tore his anterior cruciate ligament and
lateral collateral ligament in his left knee. He was sidelined for the 2021 and 2022 seasons after serving two years on
Washington’s injured reserve.
In the USFL earlier this year, Foster returned to form. Foster recorded 52 tackles, one half sack, and one interception
in eight games during the regular season with the Maulers. Pittsburgh advanced to the league championship game
but fell short against the Birmingham Stallions, 28–12.
After leading the Maulers with 11 tackles, recording two tackles for loss, intercepting one pass, and breaking up
another in a 21-13 victory over the Philadelphia Stars on April 30, Foster was named the USFL Defensive Player of
the Week for Week 3.
Guard Calvin Ashley, an Alabama football alum, was one of the other “dispersed” players. Ashley began his collegiate
career at Auburn. Ashley was selected by the Stallions and was an All-USFL selection with the New Jersey Generals
the previous season.
The Memphis Showboats and the Michigan Panthers made it from the USFL to the United Football League, along
Houston and Birmingham. The USFL team excluded from the new league is the New Orleans Breakers, who join the
Generals, Maulers, and Stars.
The Arlington Renegades, D.C. Defenders, San Antonio Brahmas, and St. Louis Battlehawks are the XFL teams in
the United Football League. The XFL clubs that missed out were the Houston Rockets, Orlando Guardians, Seattle
Sea Dragons, and Vegas Vipers.
Protect Calvin Ashley was another “dispersed” player; he was a former Alabama football player. Ashley attended
Auburn to start his college career. Ashley was chosen by the Stallions, having been chosen by the New Jersey
Generals for the All-USFL team the season before.
Along with Houston and Birmingham, the Memphis Showboats and the Michigan Panthers made it from the USFL
to the United Football League. The New Orleans Breakers, who now play alongside the Generals, Maulers, and Stars,
are the only USFL team left out of the new league.
The XFL teams in the United Football League are the Arlington Renegades, D.C. Defenders, San Antonio Brahmas,
and St. Louis Battlehawks. The Houston Rockets, Orlando Guardians, Seattle Sea Dragons, and Vegas Vipers were
the XFL teams who were left out.
