Central Catholic grad Arnold Tarpley, Aliquippa alum Dravon Askew-Henry picked in USFL Draft

A pair of former WPIAL stars were selected in the second day of the USFL Draft on Wednesday, when the Pittsburgh Maulers picked safety Arnold “Tre” Tarpley III of Central Catholic and Vanderbilt in the 18th round Wednesday and the New Jersey Generals took safety Dravon Askew-Henry of Aliquippa and West Virginia in the 19th round.

Both Tarpley and Askew-Henry went to rookie minicamp with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2019. Askew-Henry survived until the final cuts of training camp that August. Askew-Henry also spent time in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars, New England Patriots and New York Giants, as well as the XFL’s New York Guardians.

After making 12 picks on Tuesday night, the Maulers started the second day of the 35-round USFL Draft by taking five wide receivers: Jeffrey Thomas of Miami, Bailey Gaither of San Jose State, Branden Mack of Temple, Delvon Hardaway of Fresno State and Tre Walker of San Jose State.

In the 18th round, the draft switched to safeties, where the Maulers chose Tarpley with the fifth pick of the 18th round and followed by taking Bryce Torneden of Kansas in the 19th round. They drafted centers Nicholas Falah of USC and Brayden Patton of Northern Illinois in the 20th round, then added inside linebacker EJ Ejiya of North Texas in the 21st and guards Vadal Alexander of LSU and Jon Dietzen of Wisconsin in the next two rounds.

The Maulers selected defensive tackles Olive Sagapolu of Wisconsin, Boogie Roberts of San Jose State and Jeremiah Farms Jr. of Friends University in rounds 24-26. The focus then shifted to the backfield, where they chose running backs Garret Groshek of Wisconsin and De’Veon Smith of Michigan in rounds 27-28.

In rounds 29-31, the Maulers added outside linebackers Tyson Graham of South Dakota, Malcolm Howard of Central Oklahoma and Kyahva Tezino of San Diego State. They passed on picking a kicker or punter before drafting tight end Matt Seybert of Michigan State and long snapper Mitchell Frabon of Arizona State with their final two picks.

Aside from Tarpley and Askew-Henry, players with local ties selected included guard Mike Brown of West Virginia was chosen in the 22nd round by the New Jersey Generals and former Pitt defensive tackle Shakir Soto was taken by the New Orleans Breakers in the 24th round.

A pair of former Steelers also were selected. Quarterback Paxton Lynch was taken with the final pick on Tuesday night when the Michigan Panthers picked him in the 12th round. With the fifth pick of the 13th round, the Tampa Bay Bandits chose wide receiver Eli Rogers – who had 78 catches for 822 yards and four touchdowns for the Steelers from 2016-18 – to reunite him with former Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley.