In-demand linebacker reveals how he almost became a firefighter before getting drafted to USFL

Linebacker Scooby Wright III almost never made it to the USFL, as there was another career path he was almost on. The Birmingham Stallions star linebacker talked about almost becoming a firefighter prior to being drafted in the inside linebacker round (Round 21) by the Stallions in the USFL Draft.

In a recent interview, Wright talked about graduating from a firefighting academy in California. He was volunteering ahead of making the decision to put the pads and helmet on once more. He was two years removed from a short appearance with the XFL, which ended due to the COVID-19 pandemic:

"After the XFL ended in 2020 in the pandemic, I went home to Northern California, and I started taking firefighting prerequisite classes for the firefighting academy," Wright said. "Then, this past July to December, I was in the firefighting academy doing that four days a week — two days during the week and 8 to 5 on the weekends. I graduated the firefighting academy from Santa Rosa Junior College and got my firefighter I and firefighter II certificate. I was getting ready to go be a firefighter."

Wright also noted in the interview that he was blessed to have a solid support system around him, including his fire captain:

"I was fortunate to have the place where I volunteer. First of all, I love football. I love the game. But, you know, my fire captain, he coached me at football when I was growing up when I was 12 years old, and we’ve always been close friends."

Wright also said that his fire captain told him he'd be crazy to not play in the USFL:

"He was my fire captain, and I asked him, ‘Hey, am I crazy if I go do this?’ And that was to go play in the USFL. He said, ‘No, you’re crazy if you don’t go do this.’ I was fortunate enough to have people around me to keep continuing something I love."

The linebacker’s football career

The LB with the Arizona Cardinals

Wright played three seasons at the University of Arizona (2013 – 2015), leading all of college football with 164 tackles, 31 tackles for loss, five forced fumbles, and third in sacks with 15 in 2014.

In that 2014 season, the linebacker won the Bronco Nagurski Award for being the most outstanding defensive player in college football. He also won the Chuck Bendarik Award for Defensive Player of the Year and the Vince Lombardi Award for Lineman of the Year.

On top of all those awards, he was the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and a Consensus All-American.

Wright was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the seventh round of the 2016 NFL Draft, but he never played a regular season with the Browns. The linebacker played 13 games with the Arizona Cardinals over two seasons (2016 – 2017), getting seven tackles over that time.

With the Stallions this season, he has 16 tackles and two sacks for the team. It’s great to see the 27-year-old linebacker back on the football field.