Gardner catches his groove after scoring during a Dragons practice.

Former Humboldt State superstar Ja’Quan Gardner will make his return to professional football on Saturday with the XFL’s Seattle Dragons.

The XFL is the third professional league Gardner has played for in less than two years.

After crushing every rushing record at Humboldt State, the running back from Ceres, California was overlooked in the 2018 NFL Draft and was signed as an undrafted free agent by the San Francisco 49ers to play in a single preseason game. However, he remained sidelined for the entire game and was waived from the team soon after.

From there, Gardner went on to play for the San Diego Fleet of the now-defunct Alliance of American Football league, where he briefly led the league in rushing before undergoing shoulder surgery in March.

In October, Gardner was drafted into the rebooted XFL, which will hold its first season since 2001, when owner Vince McMahon ceased operations after a single season.

Unlike the AAF, all of the XFL’s games will be broadcast on ABC, FOX and ESPN, where Gardner will have the chance to play in front of much larger audiences, and maybe even catch the attention of a few NFL teams.

Keep an eye out for Gardner in the league’s first game Saturday, where he’ll be wearing number 31 for the Dragons as they face off against the Defenders in Washington, D.C.

Kickoff is at 11 a.m. on ABC.

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