The inaugural season of the United Football League is set to kick off this Saturday, March 30.
Last September, both the United States Football League and the Xtreme Football League announced their intention to merge together and become the premier spring football platform.
The season will kickoff with a matchup between the champions of last years' leagues, the Arlington Renegades of the XFL and the Birmingham Stallions of the USFL. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 P.M. and the game will be nationally televised on FOX.
Games will be broadcasted on either FOX or ESPN, which held the rights to the USFL and XFL, respectively. Last season, NBC Sports was a broadcasting partner with the USFL, but opted not carry UFL games due to an increase in schedule conflicts, stemming from the proposed start date being slightly earlier than 2022 and 2023.
The 2024 season will consist of eight teams who will play a 10-game season that culminates in a championship contest June 16. The the XFL and USFL will survive as separate conferences, with four teams from each of the original leagues playing in their respective conferences.
Below is a cheat sheet of the teams playing this spring.
USFL Conference
Birmingham Stallions
Stadium: Protective Stadium
Coach: Skip Holtz
Quarterbacks: Matt Corral, Adrian Martinez, Jalen Morton, J'Mar Smith
Holtz, the son of College Football Hall of Fame coach Lou Holtz, has enjoyed great success the past two seasons in spring ball, leading his Stallions to a 21-3 record (including playoffs) and consecutive USFL titles. Birmingham has been the flagship franchise of the USFL since its return.
The quarterback room features Corral, who was a third-round draft pick by the Carolina Panthers in 2022, and Martinez, who started five seasons at Nebraska and Kansas State. Smith, who was the starting quarterback on Birmingham's 2022 USFL championship team, provides plenty of experience for Birmginham, while Morton has spent time in the Canadian Football League.
Other players to watch: Travin Howard, LB (TCU, Super Bowl champion with Los Angeles Rams); Gary Jennings, WR (West Virginia, fourth-round pick of Seattle Seahawks in 2019); Amari Rodgers, WR (Clemson, third-round pick of Green Bay Packers in 2021)
Houston Roughnecks
Stadium: Rice Stadium
Coach: Curtis Johnson
Quarterbacks: Jarrett Guarantano, Nolan Henderson, Reid Sinnett
This will be Johnson's second year of coaching spring football. Last year, he led the USFL's Houston Gamblers to a 5-5 mark last season. As a result of the off-season merger, both Houston-based teams were merged. The franchise maintained the XFL nickname, but kept the players rights and coaching staff of the USFL team.
Sinnett is the only quarterback on the roster with any professional playing experience, seeing time with the San Antonio Brahmas last season. He also had brief stint on the active rosters of the Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals. Guarantano was briefly on the Denver Broncos' active roster in 2022, while Henderson had a brief offseason stint with the Baltimore Ravens.
Other players to watch: Reuben Foster, LB (Alabama, first-round pick of San Francisco 49ers in 2017); Ryan Izzo, TE (Florida State, played three seasons with New England Patriots); Ethan Westbrooks, DE (West Texas A&M, played five seasons with Rams)
Memphis Showboats
Stadium: Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium
Coach: John DeFilippo
Quarterbacks: Case Cookus, Cole Kelley, Troy Williams
DeFilippo is entering his second season of coaching spring football as well. He served as the head man for the USFL's New Orleans Breakers last season. The Showboats franchise returned to play in 2023 after the USFL moved the Tampa Bay Bandits to Memphis after the inaugural season.
Cookus is playing his third season of spring football, spending the previous two years with USFL's Philadelphia Stars, where he combined to throw for 3,629 yards and 27 touchdown passes. He'll compete with Kelley, who threw for 1,534 yards and seven touchdown passes for Memphis last season, and Williams, who threw for 1,414 yards and six touchdown passes for the USFL's Pittsburgh Maulers.
Other players to watch: Daylon Mack, DT (Texas A&M, No. 6 player in 2015 ESPN 300); Dylan Moses, LB (Alabama, No. 5 player in 2017 ESPN 300); Vinny Papale, WR (Delaware, son of former Philadelphia Eagles WR Vince Papale, the inspiration for the 2006 film "Invincible")
Michigan Panthers
Stadium: Ford Field
Coach: Mike Nolan
Quarterbacks: Davis Cheek, Danny Etling, Brian Lewerke, E.J. Perry
Nolan returns for his second season with the Panthers after a 4-6 season last year. He brings four decades of coaching experience to the table, including a stint as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers and serving as a defensive coordinator for eight NFL teams.
Etling was a seventh-round pick of the New England Patriots and has been on the practice squad of seven NFL teams. Lewerke had a brief stint on the New York Giants' active roster in 2021. Perry has bounced between the USFL and NFL the past few seasons, while Cheek played one game for the USFL's Breakers last year.
Other players to watch: Kai Nacua, S (BYU, five-year NFL veteran and oldest brother of Rams WR Puka Nacua); Samson Nacua, WR (BYU, older brother of Puka Nacua); Breeland Speaks, DE (Ole Miss, second-round pick of Kansas City Chiefs in 2018)
XFL Conference
Arlington Renegades
Stadium: Choctaw Stadium
Coach: Bob Stoops
Quarterbacks: Holton Ahlers, Luis Perez, Drew Plitt, Lindsey Scott
Stoops and the Renegades claimed the XFL championship in 2023. Stoops is most notable for his time at the University of Oklahoma, where he won 191 games and the 2000 BCS national championship in 18 seasons in Norman.
As far as the quarterbacks, Perez is a spring football icon, as he quarterbacked Arlington to last year's XFL title. He has also played in the Alliance of American Football, the 2020 version of the XFL and the USFL. Ahlers threw for 13,933 yards and 97 touchdown passes at East Carolina, while Scott is a dual-threat QB who passed for 11,934 yards and 127 touchdowns at Incarnate Word while adding 2,988 yards and 32 touchdowns rushing.
Other players to watch: Vic Beasley, OLB (Clemson, former first-team All-Pro with the Atlanta Falcons); Marquette King, P (Fort Valley State, second-team All-Pro with the Oakland Raiders); Marquel Lee, LB (Wake Forest, played four seasons with Raiders)
D.C. Defenders
Stadium: Audi Field
Coach: Reggie Barlow
Quarterbacks: Deondre Francois, Jalan McClendon, Jordan Ta'amu
Barlow returns to lead the Defenders after guiding them to the XFL championship game last season. The Defenders drew the second largest following in the XFL last season, averaging around 16,000 fans a game.
Ta'amu was the primary quarterback for the Defenders last season and has played three professional football seasons in the 2020 and 2023 versions of the XFL along with the USFL in 2022. Francois was on the XFL's Orlando Guardians last year, while McClendon also played in the XFL for the Vegas Vipers.
Other players to watch: Gareon Conley, DB (Ohio State, first-round pick of Raiders in 2017); D.J. Swearinger, DB (South Carolina, eight-year NFL veteran); Preston Williams, WR (Colorado State, four-year NFL veteran, primarily with Miami Dolphins)
San Antonio Brahmas
Stadium: The Alamodome
Coach: Wade Phillips
Quarterbacks: Quinten Dormady, Tom Flacco, Chase Garbers
After a successful first year with the Houston Roughnecks, Phillips moves to the Brahmas. Last seaso, led Houston to a Western Division championship. The son of legendary NFL coach "Bum" Phillips, Wade was an NFL fixture for nearly 50 years as a defensive coordinator and head coach.
The headliner among the QBs is Flacco, the younger brother of longtime NFL signal-caller Joe Flacco. Dormady was the primary starter for the XFL's Orlando Guardians last season, throwing for 1,507 yards and 10 touchdown passes. Garbers was on the Las Vegas Raiders' active roster for the final two games of the 2022 season.
Other players to watch: Donald De La Haye, K (UCF, YouTube account (@Deestroying) has 5.77 million subscribers); Teez Tabor, DB (Florida, second-round draft pick of Detroit Lions in 2017); Kade Warner, WR (Kansas State, son of NFL Hall of Famer Kurt Warner)
St. Louis Battlehawks
Stadium: The Dome at America's Center
Coach: Anthony Becht
Quarterbacks: AJ McCarron, Brandon Silvers, Manny Wilkins
Becht returns to lead the Battlehawks after posting a 7-3 mark in the XFL last year. St. Louis has the largest fanbase of any spring football league team, averaging just over 35,000 fans last season.
Along with winning two national titles at Alabama, McCarron has spent nine seasons in the NFL, most recently with the Bengals in 2023. McCarron threw for 2,150 yards and 24 touchdown passes for the Battlehawks last season. Silvers was the primary starter for the Roughnecks last year, throwing for 1,551 yards and 13 touchdown passes, while Wilkins returns after serving as St. Louis' backup last season.
Other players to watch: Hakeem Butler, WR (Iowa State, fourth-round pick by Arizona Cardinals in 2019); Wayne Gallman, RB (Clemson, six-year NFL veteran, primarily with New York Giants); Jahcour Pearson, WR (Ole Miss, XFL's leading receiver in 2023)
Comments