XFL Orlando Showcase Recap
October 20, 2023 - XFL (XFL)
Orlando Guardians News Release
The XFL Showcases returned this past weekend in Orlando with more than 300 players competing in front of XFL coaches and administrators at Celebration High School.
The XFL Supplemental Showcase in Orlando was the first showcase since the XFL Combine in July with another set for later this month in San Diego.
"This was awesome," Guardians head coach Terrell Buckley said.
The previous XFL Showcases, held over the spring and summer, were feeder events into the XFL Combine held at Choctaw Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Those showcases were held in Atlanta, St. Louis, Maryland, Houston and Tempe, Arizona.
Both supplemental showcases in Orlando and San Diego are building toward the XFL Supplemental Draft. Players who perform well at these events will put themselves in a position to be selected.
Last year's XFL Supplemental Draft featured many starters and star players selected to XFL teams, including Arlington Renegades linebacker Donald Payne, DC Defenders linebacker Reggie Northrup, All-XFL wide receiver Hakeem Butler and All-XFL defensive lineman Delontae Scott.
The Orlando XFL Showcase was open to the fans, with supporters from the Orlando Guardians, St. Louis Battlehawks, Houston Roughnecks, and San Antonio Brahmas all tailgating before the event.
Seattle Sea Dragons wide receiver Kelvin McKnight Jr. also made an appearance at the showcase in support of his brother Kavious Price. McKnight was a member of the most talented position rooms in the XFL last season with fellow Sea Dragons wideouts Jahcour Pearson, Josh Gordon, Blake Jackson, Juwan Green and Jordan Veasy.
Gordon and Veasy were both XFL Supplemental Draft selections.
The XFL Showcases have been successful in the past at identifying players to compete in the league. But as many evaluators said at the XFL Combine, there's a much higher bar to entry this year after signing so much talent in Year 1.
Yet 28 players from the XFL Combine were still picked up in the immediate aftermath of the event, and that number will likely rise as the season grows closer and rosters change.
Buckley, whose Guardians team signed six players after the XFL Combine, said there were players in Orlando who can make an impact in the XFL.
"You go to these things surprised," Buckley said. "There's always anywhere from five to 12 guys you're like, 'Wow, where did they come from?' Some guys that I might have recruited back five, six, seven years ago and some of them you don't know. But there's a couple of young men out here that look pretty impressive."
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