February 8th is getting closer for the Tampa Bay Vipers, the new XFL team that will begin play in February at Raymond James stadium.
The Vipers have held their players draft and a couple of hometown guys were taken by the Vipers.
Quarterback Aaron Murray was taken with the number one overall pick by the Vipers and will get a chance to be the starting quarterback when the season kicks off in February.
Murray who led Plant high to a 2008 state title, went on to star at the University of Georgia and had a very brief career in the NFL will now come home to play in the stadium that he grew up in rooting for his home town Buccaneers.
Murray a still young 28 years old will play for an offensive minded coach in Marc Trestman the head coach of the Vipers.
Murray suffered a knee injury his senior season at Georgia and fell to the fifth round of the 2014 draft and was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs. He was also on the practice squads of the Arizona Cardinals, Philadelphia Eagles, and the Los Angeles Rams.
Most recently Murray was the quarterback of the Atlanta Legends of the now defunct AAF.
The Vipers selected another local product in the fifth round when they selected Quinton Flowers the former USF quarterback. Flowers will come to camp as a running back, but Trestman said that Flowers will also get some work at quarterback competing with Murray and Taylor Cornelius.
Quarterback Vincent Testaverde Jr will also be joining the Vipers when off-season workouts begin the first week of December in Plant City.
Training will be held in Texas for all eight XFL teams beginning January 4th.
The Vipers will also have a couple of ex-Buccaneers on the training camp roster. Cornerback Jude Adjeh-Barimah, punter Jake Schum, and wide receiver Freddie Martino will get a shot at making the final roster of the Vipers.
The Vipers will open up the 2020 season on the road the first two weeks of the season making trips to New York and Seattle.
The Vipers home opener will be Saturday February 22 against the Houston Roughnecks. The Vipers will also be home March 1 against DC, March 14 against St. Louis. March 21 against Dallas, and will rap up the home portion of the schedule on Easter Sunday April 12th against New York.
All the games of the XFL will be on national TV on ABC, ESPN, FS1, and FS2. Game days will be Saturday and Sundays with kickoff at two PM, three PM and six pm.
The season will commence with the XFL championship game on April 26th, in Las Vegas.
