Now that veteran running back Darius Victor finds himself in the UFL Memphis Showboats training camp, he is in his comfort zone.
“It all feels pretty good,” Darius said. “We’re coming together as a team, picking up the plays that the coach is installing. We’re meshing together. We all have some type of common goal, and that’s always good when you’re trying to build a team and win ball games.”
A veteran of spring football, Victor was drafted by the Memphis Showboats on January 5, 2024, during the 2024 UFL dispersal draft. Before joining the Memphis Showboats, Victor had been a key player for the USFL’s New Jersey Generals, earning a spot on the 2022 All-USFL team and being honored as the 2022 United States Football League Offensive Player of the Year for his league-leading nine touchdown runs. Victor also played for the New York Guardians in the 2020 XFL.
After graduating from Towson University in Towson, Maryland, Victor hoped for an NFL career but went undrafted in the 2017 Draft. After attending the New Orleans Saints’ rookie minicamp, he signed with the Saints but was soon waived. The Arizona Cardinals signed Victor to their practice squad on November 29, 2017, and offered him a reserve/future contract on January 2, 2018. After the Cardinals waived him in September 2018, Victor joined the Canadian Football League and signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He briefly played for Hamilton before they released him.
In general, it has been spring football that has given Victor the playing time he craves.
“I have been very grateful for these leagues,” Victor said. “Without these leagues, I wouldn’t be playing. So I’m just grateful for the opportunity for these leagues to pop up and for me to show the world that I can still play football.”
Currently, the UFL Showboats training camp in Arlington is a familiar place for Victor, as he has been to many training camps in his career. However, he is there to learn and feels he is doing just that.
“Me personally, I love learning something new,” Victor said. “I’ve been through a lot of training camps, and it kind of gets tiring and tedious. You want it to be over and you want to start playing football. But, with this training camp, it’s like new information. So it keeps me engaged and keeps me excited learning new offenses and new coaching staff.”
Victor particularly noted that he likes how head coach John DeFilippo is a source of knowledge for the players on the team.
“It’s fun because coach DeFilippo is bringing it, and I just love all the information and all the new nuggets and stuff that he’s dropping off,” Victor said. “It’s crazy. He’s like a database of random plays and information. ‘How do you remember all this stuff?’ So, he’s very knowledgeable, he’s been around the game for a while, and it’s great to pick his brain and learn from him.”
To be clear, Victor is very high on Showboats head coach John DeFilippo. “He’s a great guy, and is a player’s coach for sure,” Victor said. “He always has the players best interests at hand, no matter what’s going on and what we’re doing at home.”
Victor is also high on quarterback Case Cookus, a player who is in the Showboats training camp alongside Victor. Of course, Victor knows Cookus better as a quarterback on an opposing team.
“I’m very excited. He’s on my side,” Victor said. “I’ve been watching him abuse my defenses for years. So it’s great to know that he’s on my team. If he continues to play like I know he can, it will be pretty good. We’ll go as far with him as a quarterback.”
Darius Victor, XFL 2020 Topps #164 trading card, front and back.
