The Omaha Nighthawks targeted a few specific needs and did some speculating in picking six players off the defunct Hartford Colonials roster in Monday's United Football League allocation draft.
Omaha General Manager Rick Mueller said three of the players selected — offensive tackle Orrin Thompson, defensive back Chad Nkang and safety Terrell Skinner — will be added to the Nighthawks' active roster.
The other three — offensive lineman Kyle Calloway, running back Lorenzo Booker and offensive lineman Cecil Newton — are in National Football League training camps. They were selected off Hartford's professional exempt list and will be added to Omaha's professional exempt list.
"We felt those guys were worth a shot,'' Mueller said. "If they come free, we'll have their rights.''
The allocation draft was held to absorb some of the Colonials' players after the UFL suspended operations in Hartford last week. Each of the league's four remaining teams — Omaha, Las Vegas, Sacramento and Virginia — could pick up to six players to add to their rosters.
The Nighthawks had the first pick and selected Thompson, a 6-foot-6, 320-pound lineman who has spent time on the practice squads of the Miami Dolphins and the Green Bay Packers. He played the past two seasons in the UFL, first with the New York Sentinels in 2009 and then with the Colonials when the franchise relocated to Hartford last season.
"I thought he was their best player last year,'' Mueller said. "We went into the draft trying to fill certain needs. Players at some positions are always hard to come by, with offensive linemen being one of those positions. We feel he can help us.''
Nkang played two seasons for the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, where he was a key member of club's special teams. He also has played in Canada before joining the Colonials this season.
Skinner, who played his college football at Maryland, was on the Indianapolis Colts' roster last season.
Among the other three players, Booker is with Minnesota, Newton is with New Orleans and Calloway is with Baltimore.
Omaha will open training camp Aug. 25, with its season opener set for Sept. 15 against Virginia at TD Ameritrade Park. The remainder of the Nighthawks' schedule will be announced Tuesday by the UFL.
The league originally had planned to begin playing games in mid-August but had to delay the opening of the season by a month because of ongoing financial problems.
Omaha players had reported for training camp on July 13 before being sent home six days later.
Mueller said the Nighthawks lost 18 players off their original training camp roster as those players signed with NFL teams. He said he anticipates some of those players could return if they do not make NFL rosters.
"I feel good about where we're at with our roster,'' Mueller said. "We lost more guys to NFL teams than any other team in our league, and we have some guys that are doing very well in NFL camps.
"Still, all of them won't make NFL teams, so we feel that we'll get some of them back. Our hiatus also allowed us to uncover a few guys and it gave a few others a chance to get healthy. So we feel good about where we're at right now.''
Contact the writer:
402-679-2298, [email protected]
twitter.com/PivOWH
Copyright ©2011 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
