Six Draft eligible players were signed to UFL contracts by the Colorado Stampede following the summer showcase series. The group signed includes a good mixture of rookies fresh out of college, and former NFL players trying to find their way back into the League.
Let’s take a brief look at the players signed, the current roster, and how they fit.
Sawyer Robertson, QB
Quarterback seems like a natural place to start in this article, the Colorado Stampede signed Sawyer Robertson. Now I know what you’re thinking, didn’t we inherit the Arlington Renegades roster, who had the league MVP at quarterback? You would be correct, except Austin Reed was recently signed by the Baltimore Ravens, and was even on the active roster for their game this past Thursday, before being released again.
So with that in mind, and the fact that technically all players are signed to one-year contracts, there was a very realistic need for another quarterback to come in who could be a long-term option at the position for the Stampede. Robertson is a perfect candidate for this role for multiple reasons, not least of which was his rookie mini camp stint with the Denver Broncos.
Robertson collected 27 starts in 35 appearances over a five-season college career. This included four starts with Mississippi State before transferring to Baylor. When he arrived at Baylor he took over as the starter and started 23 games over the next two seasons.
During his time as a starter for Baylor, he threw for over 6,600 yards, tossing 59 touchdowns to 20 interceptions. He showcased some mobility rushing for 7 touchdowns as well. Ultimately Robertson is a player who could benefit tremendously from a strong showing in his rookie season with Colorado. Given his relative lack of experience at the college level having only suited up for 35 games, adding 10 to 12 more appearances to his résumé can only help his case to make it back into an NFL camp.
Jacoby Jackson, OL
Robertson will be joined by fellow Mississippi State alum, offensive lineman Jacoby Jackson. While the two players did not overlap during their time at Mississippi State, Robertson should certainly be excited to see the signing of Jackson. Jackson is a polished product who saw action in 51 career games between Texas Tech and Mississippi State.
This included 38 starts, and a 23-game starting streak to finish out his college career. Jackson is an intelligent player, recognized for his academic achievements multiple times during college. Most importantly Jackson stands 6 foot 6 320 pounds, and has verifiable experience playing left or right guard, in addition to right tackle. He has also been used as a sixth offensive lineman aligned in various manners including in the backfield, at tight end, and even once at slot receiver.
This speaks to his athletic ability, as well as his willingness to do whatever his coaching staff asks. This versatility could prove to be extremely useful for Colorado in 2027. Having a starting-caliber offensive lineman who can play at least three different positions on the line, or potentially come off the bench as the sixth lineman and line up in multiple different ways.
Jackson does have some areas that need to be improved upon with his past protection Paramount on that list. During his collegiate career, his highest pass block grade was 60.4, while he graded out as high as 78.4 in the run blocking department. If he can prove that he has developed as a pass blocker during his season out of school, Jackson should see interest at the next level quickly. Something tells me by the time the dust settles on the 2027 season Jackson is getting a long look from NFL teams.
David Wallis, WR
David Wallis is a former NFL wide receiver who spent some time with the New England Patriots following his collegiate career at little-known Randolph-Macon. Having set a school record with 36 receiving touchdowns, he earned his way into a rookie mini camp invite with the Patriots in 2024.
At 5’11 183 lbs, the Patriots viewed him as another potential slot receiver in the mold of Julian Edelman. He would go on to play in all three preseason games on offense and special teams. Where he really shined during his time with the Patriots was in the return game where he graded out over 85 according to pff.com. His performance on offense left something to be desired, but let’s not forget this was a small-school product who had never faced NFL-level talent before.
After his stint with the Patriots, he saw interest from the Giants and Bears. Ultimately he was signed by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL. He spent 3 months with the Ti Cats before being let go and spending the 2025 season out of football.
For him to come in and hold his own to any degree is impressive. Now he gets a real introduction to professional football in the UFL where he can play against other players that are borderline NFL talents and prove that he belongs at the next level. I would watch for him to not only factor in as a slot receiver, but don’t be surprised if the team utilizes him some in the run game as well.
Cam Bright, LB
Cam Bright is a name who might fly under a lot of radars because of his recent career, but his resume shows he belongs at this level. Bright spent five seasons with Pitt before attending the University of Washington to close out his college career. After redshirting his freshman season and working his way up the depth chart Bright became a starter in season three of his college career, a title he would retain for the following three seasons with Pitt, and his final year with Washington.
Ultimately he would finish his career playing in over 2,400 snaps in five seasons on the field. However, his worst season in terms of PFF grades came with Washington just before he entered the 2023 NFL draft. This certainly did not help his stock, and after three solid seasons as a starter with Pitt, it may have actually damaged his stock. This may be one of the few cases where this player would’ve been better suited to declare for the 2022 NFL draft before attending his final season with Washington.
Regardless of his draft stock, Bright still found his way into an NFL camp with the Seattle Seahawks. Seattle would release him before August paving the way for him to land with Cleveland for the preseason. He would see playing time in all three preseason games, but did not grade well and ultimately Cleveland moved on.
Bright has not signed another NFL contract since. Over the next two seasons, he would spend time with three different CFL teams in four separate stints. Finally, Ottawa was the last CFL team to take a chance on him in 2025. After this, Bright found his way to the Vegas Knighthawks of the Indoor Football League, coached by a former CFL coach: Mike Davis
If there is one fact that stands above all else, Cam Bright loves football. He has taken whatever opportunities have come his way in an effort to continue to stay relevant and in game shape for when a call like this came. Bright gambled on himself in Vegas and won big in the form of a UFL contract.
Marvin Pierre, LB
Marvin Pierre has a story that is not unique in the UFL, but it is inspiring nonetheless. An unheralded recruit coming out of college Pierre had to utilize the JUCO ranks to garner recognition at a higher level. He would spend two years in JUCO. Attending Fort Scott Community College in 2018 where he redshirted, and Butler Community College in 2019.
After a solid season with Butler, he caught the attention of D1 schools choosing to move on to Murray State for 2020. Playing in just 6 games with 3 starts Pierre managed to collect 29 tackles, 4 for a loss, 1 forced fumble, 1 pass deflection, and 1 pick-six. This came while playing the inside and weak-side linebacker positions. Grading out over 88 for the season.
Finally, in 2021 he transferred for the last time landing with Kent State. Over the next two seasons, he suited up for 25 games with 13 starts but also put up an impressive stat line: 149 tackles, 11 for a loss, 2.5 sacks, 3 pass deflections, 2 forced fumbles, 1 recovery, and 1 pick-six. He was lined up all over the defense for Kent State.
His pro day is what put him on the map. At 6’1 222 pounds, Pierre ran a 4.57 40-yard dash with a 1.59 10-yard split, a 40.5-inch vertical, an 11-foot-1-inch broad jump, as well as a 7.31 3-cone drill. Essentially putting up borderline defensive back numbers. This performance in addition to his ability to play multiple roles on special teams made him worthy of a UDFA contract.
He would sign a contract with the Green Bay Packers in 2023 seeing snaps in the preseason. He would spend time with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Winnipeg Blue Bombers over the 2024 and 2025 seasons. In 2026 Marvin Pierre landed with the Indoor Football League’s New Mexico Chupacabras. Now his performance in a UFL showcase gets him back outdoors for 2027.
Diwun Black, Edge
Diwun Black is an interesting prospect. Coming out of Mississippi he was regarded as a 4-star prospect as a safety/linebacker. He ultimately ended up playing with Mississippi Gulf Coast College, where he won an NJCAA Title in 2019 as a 6’4 “, 215-pound defensive back. In 11 games he had 46 tackles, 8.5 for a loss, 5 pass breakups, and 1 interception. Earning himself the title of #1 JUCO prospect.
By 2021 he was with Florida now playing linebacker having added about 7 pounds to his frame. Florida saw him as the type of player who could transition to linebacker and still give them plenty of athleticism as a former defensive back. However, at Florida it wasn’t easy to crack the starting lineup. In two seasons most of his snaps came on special teams, although he saw 16 defensive snaps where it appeared his coordinator was trying to figure out the best way to utilize him. He saw snaps in the box, in the slot, and even aligned as a pass rusher.
In 2023 he would transfer to Temple, this time being almost exclusively used on the edge. Temple utilized a multiple scheme on defense where players were aligned differently from snap to snap. He also liked to move Black around; he played 348 defensive snaps splitting his time aligned in 10 different ways. He would grade favorably in every major category: overall grade, run defense, pass rush, tackle, and even coverage.
In 2024 Black only played 10 more snaps, but his production as a pass rusher the season before prompted him to be utilized more in that role. He would log 34 more snaps as a pass rusher than he did in 2023. Over a two-season stretch Black proved to be force producing 64 pressures, 37 hurries, 18 hits, 9 sacks, 2 batted passes, and 3 forced fumbles. A man who came into college as a safety had grown into one of Temple’s most productive pass rushers.
After his college career, it was highly likely Black was looking at an uphill battle to make an NFL roster. However, he was signed by the linebacker factory that is the Baltimore Ravens.
Ultimately he did not make the roster being waived just before preseason. This is considering Baltimore carried five outside linebackers on the roster most of whom were former draft picks or veteran starters: Kyle Van Noy, Odafe Oweh, Tavius Robinson, David Ojabo, etc.
Just a few months later the Montreal Alouettes signed Black to compete as a defensive end. In the CFL the wider field prompts teams to sign smaller faster edge rushers. Black fit the bill and lasted with Montreal for about 5 months before he was let go early in 2026.
This paved the way for Black to attack the showcase series and remind teams he is a promising pass rusher just looking for the right opportunity to keep moving forward in his career. In 2027 he will step into a Stampede defense that ran a base 4-3 defense last season and struggled to produce pressure. Ten players in the UFL logged 4.5 sacks or more last season…none were a member of the roster that would become the Stampede.
Their top player in terms of sacks was Darrius Moragne an interior defensive tackle who had 4 sacks. They also had LB/DE Willie Taylor III with 4 sacks and DT Kevin Strong with 3.5 sacks. Needless to say, the pass rush has a lot of room for improvement in 2027, and Black might be Colorado’s secret weapon in improving this area.
Black’s versatility could prove to be an asset in this situation. At any given moment he can line up at any of the three linebacker positions, or either defensive end spot to attack offenses situationally. However, I would not be surprised if Colorado simply plugged Black in at one starting position at defensive end and let him stick there as well.
The pass rush is a focus in 2027, and Black is the first of many moves to come. As the draft approaches, don’t be surprised to see the defensive line as an area of focus in the draft.
Looking Forward to the Draft
With the unique setup of the UFL Draft, the Stampede were allowed to sign six draft-eligible players before the draft process even began. With the new rules for the UFL draft, teams can only carry 35 protected players into draft night. With that being the case, and no official word as to the list of 35 protected players, we have to do some deductive reasoning on which players will be returning in 2027, in addition to the six mentioned in this article.
It is safe to assume the five players that attended the Stampede reveal party are bound to be on the roster;
QB Sawyer Robertson
WR David Wallis
TE Seth Green
OL Jacoby Jackson
DE/LB Diwun Black
LB Marvin Pierre
LB Cam Bright
DB Tra Fluellen
DB Ajene Harris
This is just a small sliver of the bigger picture but it gives us some clues: the Stampede have at least two players in the secondary, offensive line, linebacker, and wide out.
What stuck out to me, is the relative youth of this group. Adding 6 UFL rookies certainly helped, but all 6 of these players are very young bringing down the overall age of the group. This is significant because the Stampede looked to fill positions of need with younger players so some of these signings could prevent further selections at that position, while others could signal more is to come.
The signings of Bright and Pierre likely signal that linebacker is less of a need today than it was before these moves, while the addition of Sawyer Robertson gives them a younger high-upside option at quarterback; it does not end their desire to bring back Austin Reed now that he is available again, and at edge they are likely to continue re-sculpting the defensive line.
Jacoby Jackson is likely an indicator that the Stampede are looking to improve their offensive line as well. The Renegades were second-to-last in average yards of offense per game in 2026, even though Reed finished second in passing yards. They allowed 20 sacks, which certainly can be improved upon even if they were one of the better teams in this category.
Finally, watch for Colorado to make a move at running back. In 2026 they Renegades had three different running backs take 46 carries or more. Two of those players failed to top 3.63 yards per carry. Merriweather averaged 3.2 yards per carry, while Lorenzo Lingard averaged 3.6. Only Colorado native Dae Dae Hunter managed more, and he averaged 4.9 yards per carry. Watch for Hunter to be very involved, but don’t be surprised if the staff looks to pair him with a bigger back. A 1-2 punch of Hunter and Carson Steele would be tough to stop.
At this point, my top 3 perceived needs for the Stampede are:
- Defensive Line
- Offensive Line
- Running Back
Watch for all three of these positions to be addressed Wednesday night.
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Also Check out the Shady Sports Network Indoor and Arena Football Magazine:
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