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Arlington Renegades select Steelers QB John Rhys Plumlee in first round of UFL draft

profilephotocropby: Suzanne Halliburton07/17/24suzhalliburton
john rhys plumee steelers
Annie Rice/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

The UFL’s Arlington Renegades used a lofty pick to select Steelers quarterback John Rhys Plumlee. The former Central Florida star was the third overall pick of the league in Thursday’s draft.

Now, Rhys Plumlee is headed to training camp with the Steelers. That doesn’t change with the UFL draft. Camp starts next Wednesday in Latrobe, Pa. But if Plumlee doesn’t work out in Pittsburgh, he has a fall-back option with the Renegades, a team that’s coached by Bob Stoops, formerly of the Oklahoma Sooners. The Renegades play their games in a converted MLB stadium down the street from AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys.

Thursday’s draft was for college football players who weren’t selected in April’s NFL Draft.

The Renegades won the XFL championship in 2023. The league merged with the USFL for this season. And Arlington won only three games.

The Steelers, in a remake of their quarterback room, signed Plumlee as an undrafted free agent. He was the team’s highest paid rookie free agent. He joined Russell Wilson, Justin Fields and Kyle Allen. All the quarterbacks from 2023 have left the team. The Steelers traded Kenny Pickett to the Eagles, then moved on from Mason Rudolph and Mitch Trubisky.

Rhys Plumlee confirmed he’s not switching positions with Steelers

No one is expecting Plumlee to compete for playing time at QB. But given his athletic ability, he is an interesting prospect. In fact, when the Steelers added him, Plumlee confirmed he’d be sticking at quarterback rather than switching positions.

“I felt like Pittsburgh committed more to me being able to play quarterback,” Plumlee told Steelers Takeaways. “They expressed that they believed I was a quarterback and that I fit their system, and would give me that opportunity.”

Plumlee can run like a tailback. He gained more than 1,000 yards running against SEC defenses during his freshman season, back when he was a quarterback at Ole Miss. He also is comfortable running routes as a receiver.

But Plumlee views himself as a quarterback. He transferred to Central Florida after he lost the starting job to Matt Corral. That’s where he played his final two seasons.

He doesn’t mind being called athletic. It’s probably why he went so high in the UFL Draft.

“Man, I will take being called an athlete any day of the week,” Plumlee said back in May. “But as far as which one I love pursuing, I love pursuing quarterback. I feel like I am a quarterback and I have an opportunity to be a really, really good quarterback.”

If he does play for the Renegades, he’ll likely compete with Luis Perez, Arlington’s starting quarterback last season. Perez starred at Texas A&M-Commerce, winning the Harlan Hill Award in 2017 as the most outstanding player in NCAA Division II.