Massachusetts Pirates

The Pirates did not have to look far to find quarterback Connor Degenhardt. The Westford, MA native played his high school ball for the Grey Ghosts of Westford Academy. He went on to play four years at Holy Cross, and then two more seasons as a graduate student at the University of New Haven.

In 2023 Degenhardt was invited as an undrafted free agent to minicamp with the Kansas City Chiefs. He then attended rookie minicamp with the Seattle Seahawks. In June he was drafted by the Arlington Renegades of the XFL in the league’s Rookie Draft and signed a contract.

The 6’6”, 220 lb. passer drew the attention of scouts after leading The University of New Haven to an 18 and 5 record and a pair of NCAA playoff appearances and a Northeast-10 championship. 

In 2022 he threw for 2,251 yards with 29 touchdown passes with only five interceptions. He earned Northeast-10 All Conference Second Team Honors in 2021 as he started all 12 games and led the team with 15 rushing touchdowns while passing for 14 more. In 21 total games with the Chargers, Degenhardt was a 59 percent passer (306 of 519) for 3,907 yards with 43 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He also ran 143 times for 193 yards with 19 touchdowns.

Degenhardt began his collegiate career at Holy Cross. From 2017 through 2020 he appeared in 19 games for the Crusaders. He passed for 2,519 yards with 16 touchdowns and nine interceptions. 

After not seeing action in 2017, he played in two games as a sophomore. His breakout season was in 2019 as he started all 13 games. He completed 182 of 341 passes for 2,372 yards with 14 touchdowns. He also carried the ball 85 times for 55 yards and five scores, finishing the year with 2,427 yards of total offense. Degenhardt ranked fourth in the Patriot League in passing yards, pass efficiency rating (120.7) and total offense. He also finished the year 33rd in the nation in yards per completion (13.03). In 2020 he was selected as a team captain and started two of the four games that season. During his time in Worcester Degenhardt excelled in the classroom. In 2019 he earned CoSIDA Academic All-District I honors and was an All-Patriot League Academic selection. He was also a three-time member of the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll.