XFL Championship Game: Top former prospects who will be playing

The XFL Championship Game is Saturday between the Arlington Renegades and the D.C. Defenders, and while it’s not the NFL there are still some former five-stars and high four-stars playing in the game. Here’s a look at the top five former prospects and the other four-stars who will be playing for the title.

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Rated as the second-best prospect in the 2012 California state rankings behind only Shaq Thompson and the No. 3 offensive tackle behind D.J. Humphries and Zach Banner, Murphy chose Stanford over USC and others on signing day. A sixth-round NFL Draft pick by the Green Bay Packers, Murphy played a few years there and then bounced around the league for a few seasons before going to the XFL.

In September of his senior season, Hill committed to Florida over USC and many others as then-coach Urban Meyer stockpiled five-stars en route to national titles. Rated as the top athlete and the No. 1 prospect in the New Jersey state rankings, Hill was No. 10 in the 2008 class as he played quarterback and safety in high school. Hill went undrafted in 2011, and briefly played in the NFL before going to some other leagues.

The five-star receiver from La Puente (Calif.) Bishop Amat chose USC over Alabama, Georgia, Washington and others and finished as the second-best receiver in the 2016 class behind only N’Keal Harry. Despite finishing with 222 catches for 2,801 yards and 20 touchdowns during his college career, Vaughns went undrafted.

A Rivals100 prospect as No. 100 in the 2017 class, Hines was ranked as the third-best inside linebacker behind Jordan Anthony and Jacob Phillips and No. 14 in the Texas state rankings. Hines committed to Texas A&M over TCU, Ohio State, Florida, UCLA and Penn State. The former four-star finished with 106 tackles over two seasons. He opted out of the 2020 COVID season and then went undrafted.

On signing day 2011, Wright chose Auburn over Tennessee and Alabama as the Columbus (Ga.) Carver four-star was rated as the No. 13 defensive tackle and No. 141 in the 2011 recruiting class. He finished with 83 tackles and six sacks over four seasons on The Plains and then was a fourth-round pick of the Detroit Lions. He bounced around the league over the last handful of years.

Florida receiver Josh Hammond, Georgia JUCO OL D’Marcus Hayes, LSU DB Cameron Lewis, Florida State linebacker Reggie Northrup, LSU DT Dare Rosenthal, Kansas RB Pooka Williams, West Virginia RB Leddie Brown, Missouri QB Kelly Bryant, Miami DB Jamal Carter, Auburn DB Javarius Davis, Oregon OL Cameron Hunt and Auburn DE DaVonte Lambert