Unison league soldier guide12/24/2023 ![]() "Unfortunately, I was one of the last three players cut by the Gamblers. ![]() "Following the 1983 season, the Stallions didn't protect me, but I was selected by the Houston Gamblers in the 1984 expansion draft," Smilo explained. Smilo made the Gold's 1983 roster and excelled in eight games, mostly as a special-teams player, before being traded to the Birmingham Stallions, for whom he earned a starting spot late in the season. "He said the Denver Gold would give me a legitimate chance to make the roster, but first I had to get released by the Michigan Panthers who owned my territorial rights."įollowing Pollard's advice, Smilo attended the Panthers' tryout and strategically ran a modest 4.9 40, ensuring his release. "Deke told me the Chicago Blitz were going to offer me a contract, but they had a stacked defensive backfield with all former NFL guys, so they wouldn't even give me a chance to get to training camp," Smilo said. Smilo excelled during the skills-specific drills, igniting an impromptu meeting with Deke Pollard, a coach for the Denver Gold. The orchestrators of the tryout asked 20 defensive backs (including Smilo), 30 wide receivers and five or six quarterbacks to stay after the initial camp to display their specific football skills, Smilo said. A couple of the coaches who were looking on were like, 'Huh?' I don't think they were expecting those kind of numbers out of me." "I was in the best shape of my life, so I go in there and run a 4.5 40 and had a standing vertical jump of 36 inches. When I looked over to see which two cheerleaders were going to be my escorts, I wasn't too impressed." ![]() "I was one of the players - Anthony Carter, Bobby Hebert and David Greenwood were a few of the others, if I recall correctly - who was going to be escorted to the stage by two cheerleaders. "A few days before we left for Denver, there was a pep rally at Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit," Bojovic recalled. He was a key player in the Panthers' ascension to the league's first championship game set for July 17, 1983, in Denver, Colorado (the Panthers defeated the Philadelphia Stars, 24-22), leading the team with 103 points scored. Novo Bojovic, a four-year starting kicker at Central Michigan University (1979-82), was selected by Michigan in the third round of the USFL's territorial draft. Jason Garrett, Curt Menefee among NBC, Fox announcers for new USFL season Kickoffs from the 25-yard line? Three-point conversions? USFL rules to know USFL is back: Players to watch as season kicks off this weekend Stier's doubts were quickly vanquished as she survived three rigorous rounds of tryouts that whittled the number of prospects from over 600 to the final 36.
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