The Houston Roughnecks, who carried over the Houston Gamblers’ roster and staff from the XFL-USFL merger – but kept the XFL Roughnecks branding, continued adding to their roster ahead of training camp with Monday’s Super-Dispersal Draft, selecting six players in total.
With the draft, the Roughnecks now have 68 players on their roster. And with training camp rosters capped at 75 players per team, they’ll have room to add up to seven more players during free agency – which opened yesterday.
The following is a player-by-player breakdown of each of the Rougnecks’ selections from Monday’s draft:
RB Ezra Gray
With their first-round pick, the Roughnecks added Ezra Gray to their running back mix. Gray spent 2022 and some of 2023 with the New Orleans Breakers before being released. He was subsequently claimed by the Memphis Showboats – where he was active in two games and recorded 17 carries for 86 carries while splitting snaps with Juwan Washington.
Gray received First-Team All-SWAC honors for two straight years to close out his collegiate career at Alabama State. He totaled 2,459 all-purpose yards in 30 career games at tailback and return specialist — a position he can provide value at for the Roughnecks if he can’t become Mark Thompson’s spellback. While undersized for his position at 5-7 175 lbs, Gray is an elusive speedster with a knack for making defenders miss in the open field.
DT Glen Logan
The Roughnecks took former LSU defensive tackle Glen Logan with their second-round pick. Logan spent training camp with the Arlington Renegades in 2023 but was released as part of final roster cuts. He landed on his feet with the Roughnecks (XFL), where he saw action in all ten games (five starts) – logging 16 tackles, including one for a loss and 1.5 sacks.
Logan was a four-year starter at LSU and was one of the key defensive contributors on the Tigers’ 2019 National Championship team. Despite a productive collegiate career, he went undrafted in 2022.
Logan is among the eight defensive tackles on the Roughnecks’ roster. With all the competition at the position, the Louisiana native must play up to high standards during training camp if he wants to be part of the mix. He gets after the quarterback early and takes up a lot of space on the defensive line at 6-2 298 lbs.
K/P Luis Aguilar
The Roughnecks drafted Luis Aguilar with their third-round pick on Monday. Aguilar brings a special versatility to the Gamblers on special teams, with experience as both a punter and kicker. While he has no competition at kicker for the Roughnecks, he’ll have to beat out returning starter Hunter Niswander for the punting job.
Aguilar was one of the top USFL kickers over its two-year existence – drilling 33 of 39 field goal attempts and going 38 for 39 on extra points in his time with the Philadelphia Stars. His longest field goal (56 yards) came during the Stars’ 2023 week five contest versus the New Jersey Generals. In that contest, he hit each of his eight field goals, accounting for all 24 points for Philadelphia in the team’s win. He also punted 19 times for the Stars last season, landing five of them in Philadelphia’s own 20-yard line and averaging 32.6 yards per punt.
OG Norman Price
Norman Price was the next player selected by the Roughnecks. Price started six games at left guard with the San Antonio Brahmas in 2023, missing the rest with injury. He allowed eight pressures, including three sacks. He’ll certainly be in the mix for a guard position with the Roughnecks, assuming injuries don’t hinder him like they did last season.
Price signed with the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent out of Southern Mississippi in 2016. He stuck around on the 49ers’ practice squad for about a year and a half before being waived. He has since spent time with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers as well as multiple CFL teams.
LS Logan Klusman
As some other teams did, the Roughnecks used one of their late-round picks to draft a long snapper. Logan Klusman, out of the University of Kansas, initially signed with the Gamblers earlier this offseason.
WR Gene Coleman II
The Gamblers originally signed Gene Coleman II in December, but he went unprotected during Phase I of the player allocation process after the merger. In the end, Houston was able to retain him by selecting him during the sixth round of Monday’s draft.
Coleman spent five years at the University of Delaware from 2017 to 2021. He recorded 84 catches for 992 yards and three touchdowns in 31 career appearances. It’s hard to see him beating out a lot of the talent in the Roughnecks’ receiving corps, but he can be utilized as a returner.
