By Mark Carlisle

Independent Newsmedia

The Arizona Hotshots ditched former Arizona State quarterback Mike Bercovici in the Alliance of America football league’s quarterback draft Tuesday night in Las Vegas, swapping him for former Oklahoma and Texas Tech quarterback Trevor Knight.

In the four-round draft, the Hotshots also selected former Wake Forest QB John Wolford, former Montana Tech QB Quinn McQueary and former Dartmouth QB Jack Heneghan.

The bulk of players in the Alliance, which starts its inaugural season the week after the Super Bowl, were assigned by region based on where the player played in college or the pros. For quarterbacks, a draft was added. In the first round, teams could either protect one of their local QBs to keep, or draft someone else, leaving their local guy vulnerable to be picked by someone else.

That’s what the Hotshots did. Rather than protect Bercovici, who started for the Sun Devils as a senior in 2015, the Hotshots opted for Knight. Bercovici was selected three picks later by the San Diego Fleet with the first pick of the second round.

Knight nearly played in the Valley when the Cardinals signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2017. He and Blaine Gabbert competed for the third-string job behind Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton, but Gabbert won the roster spot. Later in 2017, Knight was signed to the Atlanta Falcon’s practice squad, but was cut later in the year.

At Oklahoma, Knight took over the starting job as a true freshman and beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl in 2013. He was the full-time starter his sophomore season but lost the job as a junior after Baker Mayfield transferred in from Texas Tech. This led Knight to transfer to Texas A&M, where he started in his senior season, leading the Aggies to an 8-5 record.

Wolford was a four-year starter at Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons struggled his first two seasons there, finishing 3-9 in both 2014 and 2015. They improved by the time Wolford was an upperclassman, going 7-6 in 2016 and 8-5 in 2017, winning a bowl game each year.

McQueary started part of his junior year and his entire senior year at Montana Tech. During his senior year in 2016, the Orediggers went 10-2 in NAIA play and McQueary was named to the Frontier Conference all-conference second team.

Heneghan started his junior and senior seasons at Dartmouth, leading the team to a 4-6 record in 2016 and an 8-2 record in 2017. He was named an All-Ivy League Honorable Mention and named to the Academic All-Ivy League team in 2017.

DRAFT RESULTS

ROUND 1

San Diego Fleet, Atlanta Legends, Memphis Express, and San Antonio Commanders elected to protect.

PROTECT:

San Diego: Josh Johnson

Atlanta: Aaron Murray

Memphis: Troy Cook

San Antonio: Dustin Vaughan

Birmingham Iron, Arizona Hotshots, Orlando Apollos, and Salt Lake Stallions elected to pick.

PICK:

Birmingham: Luis Perez

Arizona: Trevor Knight

Orlando: Garrett Gilbert

Salt Lake: Josh Woodrum

ROUND 2

San Diego: Mike Bercovici

Birmingham: Blake Sims

Arizona: John Wolford

Orlando: Stephen Morris

Atlanta: Matt Simms

Salt Lake: B.J. Daniels

Memphis: Christian Hackenberg

San Antonio: Marquise Williams

ROUND 3

San Antonio: Logan Woodside

Memphis: Brandon Silvers

Salt Lake: Austin Allen

Atlanta: Peter Pujals

Orlando: Austin Appleby

Arizona: Quinn McQueary

Birmingham: Scott Tolzien

San Diego: Philip Nelson

ROUND 4

San Antonio: Dalton Sturm

Memphis: Zach Mettenberger

Salt Lake: Matt Linehan

Atlanta: Justin Holman

Orlando: Kevin Anderson

Arizona: Jack Heneghan

Birmingham: Alek Torgersen

San Diego: Alex Ross