Six Former Mountaineers to Play in XFL in 2020

Some familiar Mountaineer faces will once again come across televisions with the around the corner debut of the 2020 XFL season.

Six former WVU football players have been drafted to four of the eight teams in the league.

The XFL East features the DC Defenders, New York Guardians, St. Louis BattleHawks and Tampa Bay Vipers. The Dallas Renegades, Houston Roughnecks, Los Angeles Wildcats and Seattle Dragons comprise the XFL West.

D.C. Defenders have signed former Mountaineer transfer and defensive lineman Kenny Bigelow, who is listed on the roster as 6-foot-3, 208 pounds. Bigelow enrolled at WVU as a graduate transfer from USC and quickly showed a passion for the university.

He started all 12 games and finished the season with 20, including 15 solo tackles, two sacks, 4.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble.

New York Guardians have drafted former WVU safety Dravon Askew-Henry. Listed at 5-foot-11, 188 pounds Askew-Henry, was selected in the fourth round of the October 2019 draft. In his five year career in a Mountaineer uniform, Askew-Henry started all 51 games and tallied 215 tackles with six interceptions.

The XFL is giving Askew-Henry another chance at a professional career after signing as a free agent with the Pittsburgh Steelers but being waived before the season.

St. Louis Battlehawks will be home to three former Mountaineers.

Safety Kenny Robinson, Jr. was chosen in the fifth round of the draft following his departure after two seasons from WVU.

Robinson, who is listed as 6-foot-2 198 pounds, moved to safety in 2018 after playing his freshman season at the cornerback position. While starting 12 games at safety, Robinson was an All-Big 12 first team selection and was a leader on the defense with 77 total tackles and 52 solo tackles.

With a transition at the helm of the Mountaineer football program, the team looked for Robinson to come back for his junior season as a leader; however, academic issues led to Robinson entering his name into the NCAA transfer portal.

He, however, opted to continue his dreams of playing football by entering the XFL draft.

Linebacker Terence Garvin had a four year career for WVU from 2009-12 and recorded 232 tackles. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Garvin continued his football career with six seasons in the NFL bouncing from team to team, playing in a total of 78 professional games.

Listed at 6-foot-3 242 pounds, Garvin was drafted in the second round of the defensive phase of the draft.

Defensive Lineman Will Clarke, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has also found himself on an XFL roster. Listed at 6-foot-6 271 pounds, Clarke played in 29 career games as a Mountaineer and started 22. He is the only West Virginia player to be honored as a Iron Mountaineer three times for excellence in the weight room.

Tampa Bay Vipers

Marquis Lucas was an offensive lineman for the Mountaineers from 2012-15, starting all 13 games both his junior and senior years.

Lucas, who is listed at 6-foot-4 315 pounds, would go on to play in preseason games with the Buffalo Bills in 2016 and with the Atlanta Falcons and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After the NFL, Lucas played for the Orlando Apollos in the temporary Alliance of American Football league.

Commissioned by former West Virginia Athletic Director adn quarterback Oliver Luck, the XFL will feature a 10-week regular season, beginning Feb. 8.

Each XFL team will host five home games and will play a schedule that features a home-and-home series against division rivals and one game against each team in the other division.

Every XFL game will air live on national television, including 25 games broadcast on ABC and FOX. In the regular season, four games are scheduled each week, typically with two back-to-back games on both Saturdays and Sundays.  The XFL schedule also features two primetime Thursday night games in the final weeks of the regular season.

Following the regular season, the top two teams in each division will square off for the right to play for the league championship on Sunday, April 26.

Fans can visit XFL.com/tickets to learn more about tickets for all XFL teams. Full schedules can also be located on the XFL website.