We are less than a week after the second season of the United Football League. From the March 28 confrontation between the St. Louis Battlehawks and Houston Roughnecks, eight teams will play a 10 -game season that culminates in a championship game on June 14 in ABC and ESPN+.
Before getting to that, here is a practice leaf practice on the basic UFL concepts, complete with logos, stadiums, coaches and key players.
Arlington renegades
Stadium: Choctaw Stadium
Coach: Bob PRESys
Key players: QB Luis Pérez, You Sal Cannella, Wr Tyler Vaughns
Those renegades are once again led by Stoops, who won 191 games and the 2000 BCs National Championship in 18 seasons at the University of Oklahoma.
Pérez is a spring football icon, since Arlington’s Marshal to the last title in the XFL. It also has its main objectives that return in Cannella (53 receptions, 496 yards, 6 TD) and Vaughns (45 receptions, 502 yards, 3 TDS).
Birmingham stallions
Stadium: Protective Stadium
Coach: Skip Holtz
Key players: QB Matt Corral, QB Alex McGough, WR Deon Cain, TE JACE Sternberger, NT Carlos Davis, S AJ Thomas
Holtz, son of the coach of the Hall of Fame of Soccer College Lou Holtz, has stood out in spring football, taking the stallions to a 32-4 record (including the playoffs) and three consecutive titles (USFL in 2022-23 and the UFL last year). Before Birmingham, Holtz won 152 games in 22 seasons of university football.
Corral, the old OLE Miss Signal-Caller, will fight McGough, the USFL 2023 MVP, to start after 2024 MVP of UFL Adrian Martínez signed with the New York Jets. Whoever wins will have the returnees Cain and Sternberger as the main objectives.
The defense is directed by the All-UFL Davis and Thomas teams.
DC defenders
Stadium: Audi Field
Coach: Shannon Harris (interim)
Key players: QB Jordan Ta’amu, CB Deandre Baker, WR/Ret Chris Rowland
Harris replaces Reggie Barlow, who had 13-7 in two seasons in DC. He started to take the work of chief coach at the State University of Tennnessee. Harris has been the Campal Marshal coach of the defenders since 2023. He spent several seasons as an offensive assistant at the university level before joining Barlow’s staff.
Ta’amu is back after starting the 10 games and occupying second place in the UFL in air yards. Rowland, an All-UFL option as a return, added 20 receptions for 262 yards and three touchdowns. Baker, a first round of the 2019 NFL, was also All-UFL.
Houston Roughnecks
Stadium: Houston TDUEC University Stadium
Coach: Curtis Johnson
Key players: QB Nolan Henderson, RB Kirk Merritt, MLB Christopher Allen
Johnson, a NFL assistant and the university for a long time, returns despite a 1-9 brand in his first season with the Roughnecks.
Henderson returns after appearing in five games last season. Merritt was injured in the second game of the Roughnecks, but there is hope that he can put some life in the race game. Allen joined Houston in the middle of the season and was promising.
Memphis Showboats
Stadium: Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium
Coach: Jim Turner (interim)
Key players: QB Jason Bean, WR Daewood Davis, WR Joseph Scates, by Jaylon Allen
Ken Whisenhunt had been scheduled to be the chief coach of the showbats, but took an indefinite absence permit on March 24. Turner, Memphis’s offensive line coach will be completed. He has a burden of university experience and university as an assistant, but has never been a coordinator or coordinator in chief.
Bean, a former Kansas field marshal, was the best choice of the UFL draft. Davis was an All-UFL selection after publishing 41 receptions for 446 yards and five touchdowns. Scates and Allen are former prominent from Memphis University.
Michigan Panthers
Stadium: Ford field
Coach: Mike Nolan
Key players: QB Danny Etling, WR Marcus Simms, S Kai Nacua
Nolan brings more than four decades of experience in Coaching, the most recent is a 7-3 record with Panthers last year. Nolan spent more than three seasons as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers and served as a defensive coordinator for eight NFL teams.
Etling appeared in seven games and went to 786 yards and three touchdowns. Simms was All-UFL after publishing 23 receptions for 426 yards and three touchdowns. Nacua, another All-UFL selection, anchor the defense after drawing the leadership of the league in interceptions (three) and pass ruptures (eight) and lead the team in total tacle (47).
San Antonio Brahmas
Stadium: The Alamodome
Coach: Wade Phillips
Key players: QB KELLEN MOND, WR JONTRE KIRKLIN, LB TAVANTE BECKETT
Phillips moved to the Brahmas after a successful period with the Roughnecks in the XFL in 2023 and quickly led them to the UFL title game. The 77-year-old was a fixed element of the NFL for almost 50 years as a defensive coordinator and chief coach, compiling a 90-73 record (including the playoffs) in more than nine seasons as a chief coach.
Mond, who played in Texas A&M and is native to San Antonio, could arise as a starter after signing with the UFL in October. It has one of the best league receptors in Kirklin, which had 56 receptions for 615 yards and 3 touchdowns last season. Beckett, an All-UFL selection, led the defense in tacoledas (67) and tacle for loss (nine).
St. Louis Battlehawks
Stadium: The dome in the center of the United States
Coach: Anthony Becht
Key players: RB Jacob Saylor, WR Hakeem Butler, LB Willie Harvey Jr.
Becht returns for his third season training the Battlehawks after taking St. Louis to a 7-3 record last year. He spent 11 seasons as a closed wing in the NFL with five teams after being selected by the Jets in the first round of the NFL 2000 draft.
Saylor led all UFL corridors in rush with 460 yards last season. Butler led the UFL in receiver yards with 652. Each was appointed for the All-UFL team, as well as the offensive liners JARYD Jones-Smith and Mike Panasiuk. The four return to the Battlehawks, which should help as the team looks for a new quartback.
