photo by: AP Photo/Peter Aiken

Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Daniel Wise (96) gets set before a play during an NFL preseason football game against the Cleveland Browns Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo.

The latest attempt at a spring football league has been formed by a merger of two others, and the new league’s rosters contain four players who finished their college football careers at the University of Kansas.

After the XFL and USFL announced their merger on Dec. 31 to form the United Football League, the two leagues reduced their combined size from 16 teams down to eight and then held a dispersal draft to disseminate the remaining players among the eight surviving teams.

Following the conclusion of that process and then a two-month lead-up to the season — which begins Saturday — the four KU products who remain on UFL rosters are Logan Klusman, Bryce Torneden, Pooka Williams Jr. and Daniel Wise.

Klusman, who spent five years with the Jayhawks under two separate coaching staffs, is a long snapper. He recovered the infamous fumble on what would have been a game-losing blocked field goal against Texas Tech in 2019 before KU pulled off the win on its second try.

Klusman will play for the Houston Roughnecks after previously signing with the USFL’s Houston Gamblers in July; when the two leagues merged they preserved the XFL’s Roughnecks’ roster and the Gamblers’ brand identity. He was in the New Orleans Saints’ rookie minicamp last season.

Torneden is a Lawrence native and Free State alumnus who spent four years with KU as a safety, concluding his career following the 2019 season. He is a spring football veteran at this point, having played for the Sea Lions of the now-defunct Spring League and later for the USFL’s Pittsburgh Maulers, for whom he was an all-league selection. With the Maulers now contracted, he will play for the Michigan Panthers.

Wise will be his teammate on the Panthers after previously overlapping with Torneden on the KU defense. He was a Jayhawk from 2014 to 2018, playing for Charlie Weis and David Beaty, and was an all-conference selection following his redshirt senior season in 2018. Wise has the most recent NFL experience of any of the four players, as he was with the Kansas City Chiefs, his fourth NFL team, during the 2023 preseason, and spent some time filling in for the then-absent Chris Jones.

Wise was a casualty of final roster cuts and signed with Michigan shortly before the merger. He has 11 career tackles in the NFL.

Williams, a two-team all-conference running back for the Jayhawks, opted out of KU’s 2020 season midway through and entered the 2021 NFL Draft early, but was not selected. He spent a season with the Cincinnati Bengals, was released in August 2022 and will be entering his second year with the DC Defenders in 2024. The Defenders used him primarily as a returner on special teams last year.

There is also at least one former KU player in the UFL who finished his college career in a different jersey. Jace Sternberger, who made one catch for five yards in two seasons at KU, eventually used a breakout season at Texas A&M to fashion himself into a third-round NFL Draft pick, but struggled to catch on with four NFL teams and now plays for the Birmingham Stallions.

All eight UFL squads will be in action between Saturday and Sunday.

photo by: Photo courtesy of KU Athletics

Former Kansas longsnapper Logan Klusman gets low to the turf while running through a timed drill during KU football’s pro day, on March 5, 2021.

photo by: AP Photo/Butch Dill

Tampa Bay Bandits running back Juwan Washington (29) is tackled by Pittsburgh Maulers defensive back Bryce Torneden (22) during the second half of a USFL football game Monday, April 18, 2022, in Birmingham, Ala.

photo by: AP Photo/Emilee Chinn

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Pooka Williams Jr. (12) warms up before an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021, in Cincinnati.