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1983 USFL Draft

By Patrick Mondout

United States Football League (USFL) teams met in New York on January 4, 1983 to hold their first ever college draft. Most teams drafted players they believed they might be able to sign, and eight of the first round selections did sign.

Pitt quarterback Dan Marino was the first pick, but don't assume USFL execs had a better grasp of his capabilities than their NFL counterparts. One reason he went #1 was that one of the two L.A. Express owners, Bill Daniels, was a big Pitt booster. The primary reason was that Elway was already spoken for.

John Elway was drafted, but like Tony Eason he was taken in the earlier "Territorial Draft", in which each club selected 26 players from a pool of five schools they had exclusive access to (thus Oakland, which got first pick of the players from Stanford and four other Northern California schools, took Elway).

Before the draft, Chicago coach George Allen moved up to #2 by trading the #6 overall pick plus RB Calvin Murray and the territorial rights to QB Tony Eason of Illinois (which the team had selected in the earlier Territorial Draft) to Arizona for the #2 overall selection and the rights to former Rams kicker Pat Corral.

Allen masterminded another coup when he sent his 8th, 9th and 10th round selections to Boston for the #11 overall selection, which he used on coveted Grambling speedster Trumaine Johnson.

Here then is the complete 1983 USFL draft. (We also have coverage of the 1983 NFL draft and other USFL drafts.)

R # TEAM PLAYER POS SCHOOL NOTES
R
O
U
N
D

1		 1 Los Angeles Dan Marino QB Pittsburgh  
2 Chicago Tim Spencer RB Ohio State Arizona
3 Birmingham Reggie Collier QB So. Mississippi New Jersey
4 Washington Craig James RB SMU  
5 New Jersey Gary Anderson RB Arkansas Birmingham
6 Arizona Eric Dickerson RB SMU Chicago
7 Oakland Billy Ray Smith LB Arkansas  
8 Philadelphia Irv Eatman OT UCLA  
9 Denver Demetrious Johnson DB Missouri  
10 Michigan Dave Greenwood DB Wisconsin  
11 Chicago Trumaine Johnson WR Grambling Boston
12 Tampa Bay Jimbo Covert T Pittsburgh  
R
O
U
N
D

2		 13 Tampa Bay Jimmy Payne DE Georgia  
14 Boston Leonard Smith DB McNeese State  
15 Michigan Wayne Radloff C Georgia  
16 Denver Michael Haddix RB Mississippi State  
17 Philadelphia Bart Oates C BYU  
18 Oakland Glen Young WR Mississippi State  
19 Chicago Johnny Hector RB Texas A&M  
20 Birmingham Steve Korte G Arkansas  
21 Washington Tim Lewis DB Pittsburgh  
22 New Jersey Mark Stewart LB Washington  
23 Arizona Gary Williams WR Ohio State  
24 New Jersey Darryl Talley LB West Virginia Los Angeles
R
O
U
N
D

3		 25 Los Angeles Ray Horton DB Washington  
26 Arizona Sid Abramowitz T Tulsa  
27 New Jersey Ramsey Dardar DL LSU  
28 Washington Stephan Starring QB McNeese State  
29 Birmingham Gary Lewis DT Oklahoma State  
30 Chicago Frank Minnifield DB Louisville  
31 Oakland David Lutz T Georgia Tech  
32 Philadelphia Greg Hill DB Oklahoma State  
33 Denver John Harper LB Southern Illinois  
34 Michigan Bobby Hebert QB NW Lousiana  
35 Boston Clinton Sampson WR San Diego State  
36 Tampa Bay Anthony Allen WR Washington  
R
O
U
N
D

4		 37 Birmingham Steve Moore G Tennessee State Tampa Bay
38 Boston Weedy Harris LB Houston  
39 Michigan Paul Skansi WR Washington  
40 Denver Mark Kirchner G Baylor  
41 Philadelphia Antonio Gibson DB Cincinnati  
42 Oakland Vince Newsome DB Washington  
43 Chicago Matt Vandenboom DB Wisconsin  
44 Tampa Bay Karl Nelson T Iowa State Birmingham
45 Washington Bob Winckler T Wisconsin  
46 New Jersey Wes Hopkins DB SMU  
47 Arizona Rob Fada G Pittsburgh  
48 Los Angeles Mark Bortz DT Iowa  
R
O
U
N
D

5		 49 Los Angeles Tom Ramsey QB UCLA  
50 Washington Mike Hohensee QB Minnesota Arizona
51 New Jersey Wayne Harris G Mississippi State  
52 Arizona Blanchard Montgomery LB UCLA Washington
53 Tampa Bay Chris Cantor WR Duke  
54 Washington Doug Howard T N.C. State Chicago
55 Oakland Jerome Foster DT Ohio State  
56 Philadelphia Allen Harvin RB Cincinnati  
57 Washington Brett Miller T Iowa Denver
58 Michigan Whit Taylor QB Vanderbilt Washington
59 Boston John Tuggle RB California  
60 New Jersey Mark Cooper T Miami Tampa (through
Birmingham)
R
O
U
N
D

6		 61 Tampa Bay Nick Yeast RB Eastern Kentucky  
62 Boston John Courtney DT So. Carolina St.  
63 Washington George Parker RB Norfolk State Michigan
64 Denver Scott Collie WR BYU  
65 Philadelphia Anthony Caldwell LB Washington  
66 Oakland Ken O'Brien QB California-Davis  
67 Los Angeles Jim Mills T Hawaii Chicago
68 Birmingham James Lockette DT Missouri Traded
1/26 to NJ
69 Michigan Ken Lacy RB Tulsa Washington
70 New Jersey Randy Grimes C Baylor  
71 Arizona Randy Jostes DT Missouri  
72 Los Angeles Jojo Townsell WR UCLA  
R
O
U
N
D

7		 73 Los Angeles John Barnett RB Oregon Tech  
74 Arizona Steve Brown DB Oregon  
75 New Jersey Kent Hull C Mississippi State  
76 Washington Perry Williams DB N.C. State  
77 Birmingham Michael Williams RB Miss. College  
78 Los Angeles Dave Croudip DB San Diego State Chicago
79 Oakland Greg Townsend DE Texas Christian  
80 Philadelphia Jim Turner DB UCLA  
81 Denver Mark Witte TE North Texas State  
82 Michigan Craig Wederquist T Drake  
83 Boston Dan Dufour C UCLA  
84 Tampa Bay Tim Krumrie T Wisconsin  
R
O
U
N
D

8		 85 Tampa Bay Dave Puzzouli DT Pittsburgh  
86 Boston Todd Seabaugh LB San Diego State  
87 Michigan Ron Hopkins DB Murray State (KY)  
88 Denver Kevin Potter DB Missouri  
89 Philadelphia Richard Dent DE Tennessee State  
90 Oakland Dokie Williams WR UCLA  
91 Los Angeles Joe Beard G SMU Chicago
92 Birmingham Pat Saindon G Vanderbilt  
93 Philadelphia Rich Kraynak LB Pittsburgh Washington
94 New Jersey Maurice Carthon RB Arkansas State  
95 Arizona Anthony Edgar RB Hawaii  
96 Los Angeles Wymon Henderson DB UNLV  
R
O
U
N
D

9		 97 Los Angeles Jim Gayle RB Ohio State  
98 Arizona Paul Coty C Washington  
99 New Jersey Marlin Russell LB Toledo  
100 Washington Mike Hurst LB Cincinnati  
101 Birmingham Mike Mitchell DB Tenn-Chattanooga  
102 Boston Tom Holmoe DB BYU Chicago
103 Oakland Earnest Jackson RB Texas A&M  
104 Philadelphia James Caver WR Missouri  
105 Denver Glenn Ford RB Lenoir-Rhyne (NC)  
106 Michigan Stanley Washington WR Texas Christian  
107 Boston Marcus Marek LB Ohio State  
108 Tampa Bay Don Bailey C Miami  
R
O
U
N
D

10		 109 Tampa Bay Leonard Marshall DT LSU  
110 Boston Lorenzo Bouier RB Maine  
111 Michigan Russell Graham T Oklahoma  
112 Denver Darrell Green DB Texas A&I  
113 Philadelphia Don Dow T Washington  
114 Washington Jeff Nyce C N.C. State Oakland
115 Boston Mark Brown LB Purdue Chicago
116 Birmingham Willard Murphy LB Tenn-Chattanooga  
117 Washington Dennis Fowlkes LB West Virginia  
118 New Jersey Charles Benson DE Baylor  
119 Arizona Tim Joiner LB LSU  
120 Los Angeles John Blacksill C Fresno State  
R
O
U
N
D

11		 121 Los Angeles Cormac Carney WR UCLA  
122 Arizona Phil Smith WR San Diego State  
123 New Jersey Danny Walters DB Arkansas  
124 Washington Kiki De Ayala LB Texas  
125 Birmingham Tim Bumgarner T Duke  
126 Chicago Pat Dunsmore TE Drake  
127 Oakland Harvey Childress LB So. Oregon  
128 Philadelphia Gary Worthy RB Wilmington Col, DE  
129 Denver Amos Donaldson G Kansas State  
130 Washington Steve Bird WR Eastern Kentucky Michigan
131 Boston Walter Ross RB Northern State  
132 Tampa Bay Bob Oxendine T Duke  
R
O
U
N
D

12		 133 Tampa Bay Albert Richardson LB LSU  
134 Boston McCurey Wallis WR Texas  
135 Michigan Larry McCrimmon QB Cameron Univ. (OK)  
136 Denver Larry White DE Jackson State  
137 Philadelphia Allama Matthews TE Vanderbilt  
138 Oakland Cedric Mack DB Baylor  
139 Boston Jeff Turk DB Boise State Chicago
140 Birmingham Malcolm Scott TE LSU  
141 Washington Dee Dee Hoggard DB N.C. State  
142 New Jersey Bryan Millard T Texas  
143 Arizona Sam Merriman LB Idaho  
144 Los Angeles Tony Boddie RB Montana State  
R
O
U
N
D

13		 145 Los Angeles Don Turner DB Fresno State  
146 Arizona Vince Stroth T BYU  
147 New Jersey Rickey Williamson DE Mars Hill Col (NC)  
148 Washington William Wall TE Virginia Union  
149 Birmingham Major Everett RB Mississippi Col.  
150 Chicago Ron Versnik C Wisconsin  
151 Oakland Reginald Gipson RB Alabama A&M  
152 Philadelphia John Walker DT Nebraska-Omaha  
153 Denver Prince McJunkins QB Wichita State  
154 Michigan Kevin Sloan T Washington State  
155 Boston Darral Hambrick WR UNLV  
156 Tampa Bay Greg Boone RB Duke  
R
O
U
N
D

14		 157 Tampa Bay Willie Canady DB Ft. Valley St (GA)  
158 Boston Charles Young DT North Texas State  
159 Michigan John Williams RB Wisconsin  
160 Denver Tim Rucks T Carthage Col. (WI)  
161 Philadelphia Sean Landeta P Towson State  
162 Oakland Charles Tucker G Austin Peay  
163 Chicago Jim Kelly QB Miami  
164 Birmingham Gregg Lowery P Jacksonville State  
165 Washington Jody Schulz LB East Carolina  
166 New Jersey James Britt DB LSU  
167 Arizona Mike Durden DB UCLA  
168 Los Angeles Gary Moten LB SMU  
R
O
U
N
D

15		 169 Los Angeles Maceo Fifer T Houston  
170 Arizona Alan Risher QB LSU  
171 New Jersey Todd Hallstrom T Minnesota  
172 Washington Rocky Belk WR Miami  
173 Birmingham Charles Martin DT Livingston U. (AL)  
174 Chicago Matt Hernandez DT Purdue  
175 Philadelphia Albert Lewis DB Grambling Oakland
176 Philadelphia Marlin Evans LB Indiana  
177 Denver Gregg Harmon LB Houston  
178 Michigan Mike Green LB Oklahoma State  
179 Boston Bill Fallon LB Cal.-Pomona  
180 Tampa Bay John Canei T Miami