Former Wildcat Muljo continues play in USFL

MARQUETTE -- Former Marquette Senior High School and Northern Michigan University football player Payton Muljo is doing everything he can to play the game beyond the collegiate level.

The 2016 MSHS graduate has signed a deal with the New Orleans Breakers of the revamped U.S. Football League, which was re-formed this spring after being put into mothballs in 1985.

Little more than two months earlier on March 15, Muljo and former Wildcats teammate Brady Hanson attended a National Football League pro day -- a tryout opportunity -- at downstate Saginaw Valley State University.

Eighteen NFL teams and three Canadian Football League teams attended the pro day that featured 21 former collegiate players from around Michigan.

The Breakers and the other seven USFL teams began play in mid-April with all games held in Birmingham, Alabama. That includes the Michigan Panthers, which won the first USFL title in 1983.

New Orleans is 4-2 and in second place in the league's South Division, trailing the 6-0 Birmingham Stallions.

In fact, New Orleans plays Michigan (1-5) at 9 p.m. Saturday, a game scheduled to be telecast by FS1. This is week 7 of the league with three more regular-season weeks scheduled through mid-June.

Last fall as a senior, Muljo was named All-GLIAC honorable mention despite playing in just three games. Moving him on the offensive line was a tall task for opponents with his 6-foot-6, 305- to 310-pound frame.

He has worked out and worked with Dustin Brancheau, owner of AdvantEdge Training in Marquette, who joined the former NMU players at the SVSU pro day.

Though Muljo and Hanson were bypassed in the NFL Draft held April 28-30 in Las Vegas, NMU head coach Kyle Nystrom is ecstatic for Muljo's opportunity in the USFL.

"I received a call from the USFL Saturday regarding Payton's opportunity with the Breakers," Muljo said in a Tuesday news release from NMU. "We are grateful for his opportunity and are anxious to watch him play in the USFL. Payton has worked extremely hard for his chance to play professionally, and we are pulling for him!"

Muljo, 23, was part of an offensive line in the 2018 season when the Wildcats set a single-season rushing record.

He started at left tackle that season, playing in seven games, then played in nine games in 2019 before the GLIAC football campaign was shelved due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

Muljo was also a shot put champion at the Upper Peninsula Finals in track and field his final two years at MSHS in 2015 and 2016 with winning heaves of 43 feet, 6 1/2 inches in '15 and 44-0.5 in '16, helping the Redmen win the U.P. title each year.

He is the son of Anthony and Linda Muljo of Marquette.