After a month-and-a-half to decompress from NFL football season, the United Football League got underway Friday night.
A merger of the XFL and USFL, the UFL enters its second season hoping to grow its stature as a springtime football fix and NFL feeder league. Four former Buckeyes made one of the league's eight rosters, getting the opportunity to make a living playing football and perhaps impress enough to get another shot at the big-time.
Steele Chambers enters as a rookie to the second tier of professional football, while others hope to resurrect distant NFL memories or build on what are already established spring football careers.
CB Damon Arnette, Houston Roughnecks
Damon Arnette has had a steep fall since he was a first-round pick of the Las Vegas Raiders in the 2020 NFL draft. He was released by the Raiders in 2021 after a video surfaced of him brandishing a firearm and making threats. The Kansas City Chiefs looked to give him a second chance in January 2022, but nine days after he signed, he was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and drug charges. Kansas City released him.
Arnette was arrested on firearm and drug charges again in February 2024, but with that latest set of legal troubles behind him, he'll try to get his football career – and life – back on track with the Roughnecks. He recorded four tackles and a sack in the UFL's first game of 2025, a 31-6 loss for Houston against St. Louis.
LB Steele Chambers, Memphis Showboats
Since concluding his Ohio State career in 2023, Chambers has taken a similar path to Proctor. He went undrafted in 2024, signed with the Detroit Lions as an undrafted free agent, then was claimed off waivers by the New England Patriots but failed to make the team's roster that fall.
The Showboats are certainly hoping that Chambers can give them a spark on defense. Memphis finished dead last in the UFL in points allowed (29 per game), fueling its dismal 2-8 record in 2024.
DT Antwuan Jackson, Memphis Showboats
Jackson is playing spring professional football for the third straight year, spending 2023 with the XFL's Seattle Sea Dragons and 2024 with the UFL's St. Louis Battlehawks before joining Memphis this offseason. Jackson recorded 10 tackles and 0.5 sacks for the Battlehawks in 2024 and 20 tackles for the Sea Dragons in 2023.
It's not a bad career, all things considered, for Jackson, who never emerged as a star at Ohio State in four seasons but made 23 tackles playing nose guard in 2021. He signed with the Carolina Panthers after the 2023 XFL season, but was later waived.
OLB Rashod Berry, San Antonio Brahmas
The 28-year-old Berry is giving professional football another go after watching from home the past two seasons. He spent time in the NFL with New England, Detroit and Jacksonville but was suspended after the Indianapolis Colts signed him in 2023 for violating the NFL's gambling policy, and they waived him immediately after. He's since been reinstated by the NFL, but he hasn’t landed another opportunity to play in the league.
Berry's best season at Ohio State featured just 100 receiving yards, and he's since moved from the tight end position he played in college to outside linebacker. The Brahmas boasted the UFL's best defense in 2024, surrendering just 15.3 points per game and making the league's championship game.
