Ex-MP star Joyner signs with Wolfpack

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, November 22, 2023

The Washington Wolfpack have added a local legend to their roster.

The new Arena Football League team based out of Everett’s Angel of the Winds Arena announced it signed Marysville Pilchuck High School graduate Austin Joyner for the upcoming 2024 season, the first of the AFL’s reboot. The Wolfpack list Joyner as a safety.

Joyner was a two-way superstar at Marysville Pilchuck as a running back and defensive back, leading the Tomahawks to the 2014 Class 3A state semifinals as a senior and being named the 2014 Gatorade Washington Player of the Year.

Joyner, who was a four-star recruit out of high school, played collegiately as a defensive back at the University of Washington. He started 10 games for the Huskies, recording 56 tackles and two interceptions. However, a series of concussions suffered during his time with the Huskies resulted in his retirement from football in 2018.

But Joyner returned to the sport in 2019, first playing in the Spring League in 2020, followed by stints in the CFL with the B.C. Lions and Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Joyner was the fourth player signed by the Wolfpack, joining cornerback J.R. Nelson, kicker Wyatt Paul and receiver Darryl Thompson.

The Wolfpack also announced the opponents for their 10-game schedule for 2024. Washington opens the season with a road game against the Rapid City Marshals. Dates for the games have not yet been determined, though the league said previously that the season would begin in April. The Wolfpack are in the West Division along with the Marshals, the Billings Outlaws and the Oregon Blackbears