The XFL is back in action.

The professional football league is getting set for its reboot, starting with its draft that runs Oct. 15-16. In all, nine former Alabama players (that ended their college careers with Alabama) are in the XFL draft pool, which was announced this week. They are: running back Trent Richardson, defensive backs Hootie Jones and Bradley Sylve, offensive linemen Cyrus and Arie Kouandjio, Leon Brown, and Korren Kirven, defensive lineman Adrian Hubbard, and wide receiver Richard Mullaney.

Richardson recently played for the now defunct Birmingham Iron of the AAF where he rushed for 366 yards in eight games, scoring 11 times. The former Alabama All-American was drafted No. 3 overall to the Cleveland Browns in the 2012 NFL Draft, and had stints with the Indianapolis Colts, Oakland Raiders and the Baltimore Ravens, as well as the CFL's Saskatchewan Roughriders. During his time in the NFL, Richardson rushed for 2,032 yards and 17 touchdowns, making 37 starts along the way. Coming out of Pensacola (Fla.) Escambia, Richardson was rated the No. 2 running back and the No. 6 overall player in the 2009 class, per the industry-generated 247Sports Composite Rankings. With the Tide, Richardson rushed for 3,130 yards and 35 touchdowns in three years, averaging 5.8 yards per touch.

Jones was rated the No. 4 safety and the No. 50 overall player in the country in the 2014 class coming out of Monroe (La.) Neville. The Bayou State native contributed all four years of his Crimson Tide career, his senior season adding 53 tackles and two interceptions before sustaining a knee injury in the Iron Bowl. Jones went undrafted in the 2018 NFL Draft.

Sylve, a former four-star prospect in the class of 2011, had his NFL hopes put on hold, suffering an Achilles injury ahead of the Tide's 2016 Pro Day. He spent a year recovering from the injury before signing with the Buffalo Bills in 2017 before getting released the following September. The Saints signed Sylve the following year before ultimately releasing the former Tide reserve DB.

The Kouandjio brothers were highly-touted prep recruits, especially Cyrus, who ranked the No. 1 offensive tackle and the No. 2 overall player in the 2011 class. Arie was a year ahead of Cyrus, both coming out of high school powerhouse DeMatha Catholic in Maryland. Cyrus went on to get selected in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills. He had additional stints with the Detroit Lions and the Denver Broncos before getting released by the latter last December. Arie was selected in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins. He also had a brief stint with the Baltimore Ravens before ending back up with Washington. He missed the entire 2018 season recovering from a quad injury.

Brown, a product of the junior college ranks, was considered the No. 1 offensive tackle and No. 19 overall player in the class of 2013. The Brooklyn product went undrafted in 2015 before getting a shot with the Baltimore Ravens, who ultimately released Brown prior to the start of the 2015 season.

Rated the No. 16 defensive tackle and the No. 171 overall player in the class of 2012, it was ultimately the offensive line where Kirven saw the most action with the Tide. He started 6 games at guard as a senior in 2016 before going undrafted the following spring, but getting shot with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Kirven has bounced around to teams like the Cleveland Browns, Carolina Panthers, and Dallas Cowboys.

Hubbard was rated the No. 7 outside linebacker and the No. 88 overall player in the country in 2010. The former Tide 'backer tallied 83 tackles, 18 tackles for a loss, and 10 sacks for the Tide throughout his tenure in Tuscaloosa. He went undrafted in 2014 before inking a deal with Green Bay. He also made an appearance in the CFL, playing for Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Mullaney began his career with Oregon State before graduate transferring to Alabama ahead of the 2015 season. He caught 38 passes for 390 yards and five touchdowns in his one season in T-Town, helping UA to its first College Football Playoff Championship win over Clemson. He went undrafted in 2016, but has had stints with the Houston Texans, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Cleveland Browns. He most recently played for the Arizona Hotshots in the aforementioned AAF before the league went under.

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The XFL Draft won't look like the typical NFL Draft fans are accustomed to. Here's a breakdown of how it works, via the XFL website:

Instead of just having a regular open draft that goes from 1-8, and then repeats for 71 rounds, what the XFL is doing is dividing the draft up into five separate phases that categorize the players into position pools. This essentially gives us five mini-drafts to watch play out instead of one big one. Here’s what the five phases look like: Skill Players (QB, RB, WR, TE)

Offensive Line (OT, OG, OC)

Defensive Front Seven (DL, LB)

Defensive Backfield (CB, NB, SS, FS)

Open Draft (all remaining players)

You can read further into the logic behind the XFL draft style on their website.

You can follow along with the draft on the website as well as Twitter and Instagram.

*** This story has been updated to include Richard Mullaney

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