Former Georgia players land on XFL rosters for 2023 season

Watching the Super Bowl is fun, but it always comes with a bittersweetness of football season being over. Good news for fans wanting more though. The XFL kicks off its season on Saturday, and Georgia fans may recognize a few names around the league.

Former Georgia players can be found on four of the league’s eight teams. Another will serve as the head coach for one more giving a Georgia tie to five of the squads.

Tight end Isaac Nauta is on the reserves list for the Arlington Renegades. Just down the road in the Longhorn State Hines Ward is the head coach for the San Antonio Brahmas. Meanwhile, out West, Cameron Nizialek will suit up for the Seattle Sea Dragons and Maurice Smith for the Vegas Vipers. Both had one-year stops in Athens but made big contributions. And while the Houston Roughnecks, Orlando Guardians and St. Louis Battlehawks might not have any UGA connections, the D.C. Defenders more than make up for it with two players: D’Marcus Hayes and Davin Bellamy. After not being eligible for the 2023 XFL Draft in November, Bellamy was selected in the first round of the Supplemental Draft in January and spent last season in the USFL with the New Orleans Breakers.

Nauta played at Georgia for three seasons from 2016 to 2018, turning pro after appearing in 42 career contests with 68 catches for 905 yards and eight touchdowns. He bounced around the NFL spending time with the Detroit Lions who drafted him and division rival Green Bay Packers. Meanwhile, Nizialek punted for Georgia during it’s run to an SEC Championship and College Football Playoff appearance in 2017. He too has been rostered by several different NFL teams, primarily on offseason rosters or practice squads only.

Smith came to Georgia in 2016 as a graduate transfer from Alabama and is best remembered for his pick-six against Auburn that helped the Bulldogs beat the top-10 Tigers. Smith was named a team captain as he finished the year with 50 total tackles, three passes defended, two interceptions and two forced fumbles.

Bellamy played in 48 career games for the Bulldogs, starting 27 with 25 of those coming in his final two seasons. as a senior, Bellamy totaled 34 stops including 7.5 tackles for loss and 5.0 sacks with the third-most quarterback pressures on the team (14) for the SEC Championship winning Bulldogs. His lone tackle in that conference championship game was a big one, resulting in a quarterback sack and a fumble from Jarrett Stidham that was recovered by the Dawgs. He also had highlights in the win at Notre Dame with six tackles including 1.5 for loss, a sack, three quarterback hurries and a forced fumble on the final possession of the game as well as 1.5 sacks in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game against Alabama.

The first game of the XFL season is set for Saturday at 3:00 p.m. ET on ABC with games to follow later that night and on Sunday as well. All 43 XFL games will be aired on ABC (7 games), ESPN and ESPN2 (22 games) and FX (15 games). Every XFL game will also be streamed on ESPN+. Then, later this spring, ESPN and ESPN2 will air the 2023 XFL Playoffs on Saturday, April 29th and Sunday, April 30th with the Championship set to be televised on ABC May 13th.

The league was initially founded in 199 and held its only season in 2001. Then, in 2020, Vince McMahon re-founded the league before play was shut down just five weeks in due to COVID-19. In August 2020 Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson purchased the XFL for $15 million and set up the return of operation for this spring acting as the commissioner.