University of Delaware Athletics
Hill, Adewusi Selected in XFL Draft
11/17/2022 9:40:00 AM | Football
NEWARK, Del. – A pair of University of Delaware football alums were selected on Wednesday in the 2023 XFL Draft. Nijuel Hill was selected in the 16th round by the Vegas Vipers before Tenny Adewusi was taken in the 21st round by the San Antonio Brahmas. Both players were drafted during the defensive back portion of the draft.
Hill was selected with the 40th overall pick in the fifth round of the defensive back selections. An All-CAA Second Team selection in 2021, Hill recorded 30 tackles and 2.0 TFL as a fifth-year senior. He was third on the Blue Hens in the fall with eight passes defended, including a key fourth-quarter interception against Albany. Hill received All-CAA First Team honors and a Second Team All-American in the spring.
Hill appeared in 53 career games, playing in each of Delaware's contests over the final three seasons. He finished with 136 total tackles and seven interceptions while defending 31 passes. In May, he earned an invitation to attend rookie minicamp with the Washington Commanders and eventually signed an undrafted free agent contract but was cut just before the start of training camp.
Adewusi, the 79th overall selection, was a key part of the Delaware defense during his senior season in 2018. He started 10 of the Blue Hens' 12 games and tallied a career-high 37 tackles, including one for a loss. He had the second-most pass break-ups on the defense with seven, along with a forced fumble. In 40 career games, Adewusi racked up two INTs and 15 pass breakups for the Blue Hens.
No stranger to the XFL, Adewusi earned a spot on the final roster for the Dallas Renegades in 2020 when the league enjoyed a successful relaunch before shutting down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was fourth on the team with 22 tackles through five games. Before being drafted by the Renegades, Adewusi spent time in the New York Giants training camp in 2019.
The XFL is returning in February 2023 with an eight-team league. The 2023 draft involves more than 50 rounds as teams select their entire roster from a pool of 1,700 players that were not under contract in other leagues and had declared for the XFL Draft. After each team selected quarterbacks on Tuesday Wednesday was broken into four positional groupings – offensive skill positions, defensive backs, defensive front seven and offensive line – with 11 rounds of selections for each grouping. The final day of the draft will include three rounds of specialist selections and 11 more rounds of open drafting.
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