Usfl Lives In Some Of The NFL's Best Players And Coaches

It's been nearly 10 years since the USFL won its antitrust suit against the NFL, was awarded $3 in damages and went out of business.

But the USFL lives. Nineteen of the league's ex-players are active in the NFL, down from a group of almost 200 who played in the NFL during the mid-'80s. Two of the NFL's top general managers started their rise in the USFL, as did six of the 30 coaches.

Steve Young, Reggie White and Jim Kelly are likely Hall of Famers, and 5-foot-9 Sam Mills would be a great Hall of Famer because of how hard he had to work just to get a job.

How good are the last USFL survivors?

Among them they have 17 Super Bowl appearances, nine Super Bowl rings and 47 selections to the Pro Bowl. Young was the NFL's MVP in 1992 and 1994, and White was defensive player of the year in 1987 and was selected to the NFL's 75th anniversary team in 1994.

They range from players who were coveted by the NFL when they signed with the USFL, such as Young, White, Kelly, Herschel Walker and Gary Zimmerman, to NFL rejects.

Mills was cut once by the Cleveland Browns and twice by the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts before catching on with the Philadelphia Stars.

Buffalo center Kent Hull was a seventh-round draft choice of the New Jersey Generals in 1983.

"He was just a big, skinny kid," says Carolina general manager Bill Polian, former personnel director of the USFL's Chicago Blitz.

Then there was the big, fat kid, Nate Newton, who was cut in 1983 by the Redskins, joined the Tampa Bay Bandits and resurfaced with Dallas in 1985. Now he's the anchor of the NFL's best offensive line.

The most prominent ex-USFL executives are Polian and Carl Peterson, president of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Peterson, who was GM of the two-time USFL champion Stars, gets a large share of the credit for the Chiefs' prominence.

After working for the Blitz, Polian went on to build Buffalo into a four-time AFC champion. He's also largely responsible for the expansion Panthers' 9-9 franchise record.

Marv Levy of the Bills, Jim Mora of the Saints and Lindy Infante of the Colts were all head coaches in the USFL.

Mora won two titles with the Philadelphia-Baltimore Stars in 1984 and 1985. Vince Tobin of the Cardinals was Mora's defensive coordinator and Dom Capers of the Panthers was on his staff. June Jones of the Falcons was offensive coordinator of the Denver Gold.

A list of the remaining players:

-- Reggie White, DE, Green Bay. Ten Pro Bowls, 75th anniversary team, career NFL sack leader, defensive player of the year (1987).

-- Steve Young, QB, San Francisco. Two MVP awards, three Super Bowl rings, four Pro Bowls.

-- Jim Kelly, QB, Buffalo. Four Super Bowls, four Pro Bowls.

-- Sam Mills, LB, Carolina. Two USFL titles, four Pro Bowls.

-- Gary Zimmerman, OT, Denver. Six Pro Bowls.

-- Kent Hull, C, Buffalo. Four Super Bowls, three Pro Bowls.

-- Bobby Hebert, QB, Atlanta. One USFL title, one Pro Bowl.

-- Nate Newton, G, Dallas. Three Super Bowl Rings, four Pro Bowls.

-- Herschel Walker, RB, Dallas. Two Pro Bowls.

-- William Fuller, DE, Philadelphia. Two USFL titles, three Pro Bowls.

-- Sean Landeta, P, St. Louis. Two USFL titles, two Super Bowl rings, two Pro Bowls.

-- Gary Plummer, LB, San Francisco. One Super Bowl ring.

-- Mel Gray, KR, Houston. Four Pro Bowls.

-- Irv Eatman, OT, Houston. Two USFL titles.

-- Jeff Gossett, P, Oakland.

-- George Jamison, LB, Kansas City.

-- Broderick Thompson, T, Denver.

-- Aubrey Matthews, WR, Detroit.

And one other piece of USFL trivia:

Young and Hebert were the quarterbacks in the longest football game ever played. It went into the third quarter of overtime - 1 hour, 33 minutes and 33 seconds. Young's Los Angeles Express beat Hebert's Michigan Panthers on a touchdown run by none other than Mel Gray.

Coaching carousel

The season is just three weeks old and three high-profile coaches - New York's Dan Reeves, New Orleans' Jim Mora and Dallas' Barry Switzer - already have received votes of confidence.

"Rubbish," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said about reports that Switzer would be out at the end of the season.

However, Jones himself set off the speculation when he declined to roll over Switzer's five-year deal as he did the last two seasons.

And Tom Benson in New Orleans said of Mora: "I can't ever tell you what tomorrow is going to bring, but as I sit here today, Jim Mora is our coach and will be our coach through this year."

That means Mora probably won't be back next year, unless the 0-3 Saints make the playoffs. The same goes for Reeves in New York, who's coaching like he wants to be fired.

As for Switzer, one of the reports listed Reeves among the possible replacements, speculation that makes little sense. Reeves is a control freak just like Jones, so they'd mix about as well as Jones and Jimmy Johnson. Switzer sometimes chuckles at Jones, but he doesn't question him publicly.

However, if Jones could find a complacent coach, who knows what might happen?

Keyshawn Kronicles

For a guy who has yet to start an NFL game, Keyshawn Johnson has become a major personality in record time.

First, there was his end zone dance and helmet spike when he scored his first pro touchdown in a loss to the Colts. It immediately became a subject for TV commentary ("He's a jerk," said none other than Joe Theismann).

Last week, Johnson went after those who attacked him and his 0-3 team.

Addressing writers who cover the Jets, he held up the packet of clips that the team provides to its players.

"I read all this and laugh at it," he said. "All the media is doing is getting me up for each game. I want to read what you guys say every day. . . . I don't think we're worrying about what the media is writing and what TV and radio are saying. All that negativity, that's what they want. That's what they want you to buy into. I know nobody around here is buying into that."