New Jersey Generals - 2022 USFL Season Preview
Last Updated: 04/04/2022 at 10:35 AM ET
The New Jersey Generals open the inaugural season of the USFL in April playing home games at both Protective Stadium and Legion Field. Mike Riley is both GM and head coach of the Generals. The offensive coordinator is Steven Smith and the defensive coordinator is Cris Dishman.
The Generals chose quarterback Ben Holmes formerly of Tarleton State with their first pick in the inaugural USFL draft. In his last season with Tarleton in 2019, Holmes passed for 3,338 yards with 34 touchdowns and only three interceptions. Following his play with Tarleton State, Holmes played with Arizona in the Indoor Football League.
The running attack for New Jersey will be led by former Ohio State standout Mike Weber, who completed his career with the Buckeyes in 2018. Weber was the 2016 Freshman of the Year in the Big Ten and second team All Big Ten. Weber finished his career with 2,676 yards rushing. Weber played in 2019 with the Dallas Cowboys rushing for 54 yards. The top receiver for New Jersey will be J’Mon Moore, who played for the Missouri Tigers between 2014 and 2017. While with Missouri, Moore had 158 receptions for 2,477 yards with 21 touchdowns, averaging 15.7 yards per reception. The Green Bay Packers drafted Moore in 2018 but Moore was waived in 2019.
The New Jersey defense will be led by the Generals’ second pick in the draft defensive end Bryson Young, who played collegiately with the Oregon Ducks. While with Oregon, Young had 73 tackles in his senior year. Young was signed in 2020 as an undrafted free agent by the Atlanta Falcons. The Generals will also have another top defensive end in Kolin Hill, who played collegiately for Texas Tech after transferring from Notre Dame. New Jersey will have talented defensive tackles Destiny Vaeao and Toby Johnson to clog up the middle against the run and to pressure the opposing quarterback.
The New Jersey outside linebacker corps will be led by three talented ‘backers in Angelo Garbutt, D’Juan Hines and Tim Walton Jr. Each of the three linebackers have good size but only Hines has experience at the pro level. Chris Orr will be the leading inside linebacker. Orr played at Wisconsin and posted 188 tackles in four seasons with the Badgers. The top cornerbacks will be De’Vanty Bausby and Trae Elston, while the starting safeties are expected to be Dravon Askew-Henry and Shalom Luani. Both Askew-Henry and Luani have played in the NFL with the Steelers and Seahawks respectively.
