Month: June 2024

Since the United Football League is in its first season, there is no “Comeback Player of the Year Award.” But if officials decided to overlook that small detail, San Antonio Brahmas quarterback Chase Garbers would likely be the runaway winner.

Garbers, who’ll guide his team into action against the Birmingham Stallions on Sunday in the UFL Championship Game in St. Louis, suffered an injury to his left wrist on April 14.

It was so severe that the Brahmas announced it was season-ending, thus opening the door for Quinten Dormady to assume the starter’s role.

Dormady did well, but Garbers battled back – playing with a brace on his wrist – and returned to action against the Stallions on May 25.

He helped spearhead an 18-9 victory over the two-time defending United States Football League champions, and has played in every game since, albeit in pain.

His status was in question going into the XFL Conference Championship Game last Sunday, but he went the distance in San Antonio’s 25-15 victory over the St. Louis Battlehawks.

“Chase had a great game,” San Antonio coach Wade Phillips said. “He handled the crowd noise really well. He had pain in that hand that had been broken, but he came out and was determined to do well. I could see it in practice.

“It showed in the game, obviously. I’m sure there was some pain in that left hand, but he really played well.”

While Garbers did have two turnovers – including a fumble that resulted in a scoop-and-score – he also went 15-21-1 for 197 yards and two touchdowns. A potent rushing attack helped the winners amass 410 yards of total offense and beat St. Louis for the first time since the clubs began XFL play in 2023.

A week earlier in the regular season finale, San Antonio fell to St. Louis, 13-12, with Garbers playing sparingly.

“It was a good team win in all three phases,” Garbers said. “It was really complementary in the run and passing game. Our running back room is really, really good. To go there two weeks in a row, face a hostile crowd and beat a  really good team, means a lot.

“Overall, the offense played well. Obviously, there are some things to clean up, but we’re working on that going forward.”

During the regular season Garbers played in five games, going 96-140-2 for 765 yards and six touchdowns. Entering the biggest contest of the year, he insists he “feels fine.”

“Unlike the majority of guys on this team, I had five weeks off of football in the middle of the year, so I had time to relax and get the body right in time for this playoff run,” he said.

While the Brahmas (8-3) have shown they can win regardless of who is taking snaps, Birmingham coach Skip Holtz understands why Garbers will get the call when they face the Stallions (10-1) for the championship.

“I think he is probably one of the most underrated players in this league,” Holtz said. “Not because he’s flashy at what he does, but because he’s just solid at everything, and he does a great job of playing in their system.

“He doesn’t do anything to get them beat, so I think that’s a huge testament to him and to that football team.”

Birmingham Stallions head coach Skip Holtz has likened the change in his defensive staff to “getting on the roller coaster three-fourths of the way down the hill.”

And after the exit of defensive coordinator John Chavis following Week 7, it sure looked like the unit might derail.

In the first game after Chavis was no longer with the club, the Stallions gave up 311 yards in a 35-28 victory over the Houston Roughnecks, a team with only one win on its resume.

A week later Birmingham went down to its first defeat in more than a year, yielding 329 yards in an 18-9 loss to the San Antonio Brahmas.

These days, however, the defense appears to be back on track.

With Corey Chamblin calling the shots, the Stallions have rebounded with back-to-back victories over Michigan (20-19 and 31-18), the last setting up a rematch with San Antonio in Sunday’s United Football League Championship Game in St. Louis.

During that stretch Birmingham has allowed just three touchdowns, and effectively shut down the Panthers in the second half of both games.

“I think Corey Chamblin is an excellent football coach,” Holtz said. “I’ve always felt that. He’s been a head coach up in Canada (the Saskatchewan Roughriders), he’s been a defensive coordinator … I’ve told him all along that if that position ever becomes vacant – and I love John Chavis, and I wanted him to stay here forever – but I told Corey, ‘If that position ever becomes available, I’m not even making a phone call or interviewing anybody. You’re my guy.’”

The players have rallied around the new DC, and the crew once again is playing like one of the best in the UFL.

“The defense has made some great adjustments at halftime,” Holtz said. “As it’s evolved, I think our players have great confidence in our defensive staff. I think Corey and Bill Johnson (defensive line) and Daric Riley (linebackers) and the addition of Anthony Blevins (assistant) have really come together since they got on the roller coaster three-fourths of the way down the hill, and I think they’ve done a great job.”

Birmingham leads the league in defending the run, allowing just 77.3 yards per game, and is second in rushing touchdowns given up with eight.

During the regular season, safety A.J. Thomas ranked first in the circuit in interceptions (three); linebacker Kyahva Tezino was third in tackles (38 solo, 70 in all); and nose tackle Carlos Davis tied for second in sacks (seven).

In last Saturday’s USFL Conference Championship Game, the Stallions forced four turnovers, with defensive back Ike Brown snagging two interceptions, fellow DB Daniel Isom picking off another, and defensive lineman Dondrea Tillman forcing a fumble.

Brown said players on both sides of the ball are there to lift each other up.

“We’re all a team, so we all have to get behind each other,” he said. “When the offense is on the field, the defense is on the sideline rooting them on and when the defense is on the field, the offense is on the sideline rooting them on. It’s just the  mindset we have.”

A boost in the title clash will be the return of JoJo Tillery, who was activated last week.

Even though the safety appeared in just five regular season games, he has an interception and 16 tackles and gives the resistance another solid weapon.

“JoJo is more than just a football player, JoJo is a leader,” Holtz said. “He’s vocal, he’s outspoken. You don’t ever have to ask, ‘Where’s JoJo on the practice field, or on the game field,’ you know where he is.

“He’s the one that’s running his mouth. He communicates. He’s loud … he’s vocal.”

Although Tillery didn’t play in the loss to San Antonio, he hopes to get a chance to help his team reverse their fortunes in the battle for UFL hardware.

“We always talk about the next game being the most important game, so we always try to go 1-0,” Tillery said. “But for me it’s more personal because I didn’t get to play the first game. So, just sitting at home and not being able to help my guys fight and try to get that win, it hit hard. So, yeah, it’s definitely trying to, I guess, get some revenge.”

Ultimately, Holtz said the defense has embraced Chamblin’s style and he’s confident the unit is in good hands going forward.

“Corey’s experience is certainly coming into play with a lot of the adjustments that they’re able to make,” Holtz said. “To sit the players down and say, ‘OK, they’re doing this, so we’re going to do this. They’re doing this, so we’re going to do this. And these are adjustments we’re going to make.’ And the players buy into it, and they go out and they execute it. They’ve done an excellent job with it.

“In the second half of the last two games, they’ve given up three points – none last week. They’ve done a really nice job with that.”

Sunday’s game is set for 4 p.m. CDT on FOX.

Spoiler alert: Adrian Martinez will be the starting quarterback when the Birmingham Stallions (10-1) face the San Antonio Brahmas (8-3) in Sunday’s United Football League Championship Game in St. Louis.

Will Matt Corral see playing time? Well, that plotline will be spoiler-free until the game is under way.

Martinez is the newly named MVP of the UFL. The signal caller threw for 1,749 yards and 15 touchdowns while rushing for a UFL-best 528 yards during the regular season. It’s a body of work worthy of the first-year league’s top award.

“I’m excited for him,” Birmingham coach Skip Holtz said. “I think it’s a well-deserved honor. I think there are a lot of people that could have received it. I don’t think it’s an individual award … it takes an offensive line, it takes skill players making plays, it takes a defense giving us the opportunity to get the ball back. I think Adrian would be the first one to tell you that that it’s not an individual accolade, it’s a team award.

“But it’s awesome that Adrian is being recognized because he is a total pro.”

Corral went 36-62-2 in six regular season appearances for Birmingham, piling up 494 yards and two TDs.

Martinez got the QB1 nod last Saturday in a the USFL Conference Championship Game against the Michigan Panthers, going 10-19-1 for 164 yards and a TD toss.

But …

The Stallions trailed, 18-12, with 4:04 remaining in the third quarter, and Holtz decided his club needed a spark.

In came Corral, who finished out a 31-18 victory with a stat line that reads 9-11-1 for 120 yards and a touchdown.

Martinez was hardly ineffective, but Corral closed the deal, meaning Holtz had a hard choice to make when he penciled in the depth chart.

But while it might’ve been a tough decision, there is no wrong answer.

Martinez and Corral are two of the best quarterbacks in the UFL – they just happen to play for the same team.

“We’ve gotten here with Adrian as our starting quarterback and right now, Adrian will be the quarterback,” Holtz said on Tuesday. “Now, I don’t know what’s going to happen the third or fourth series, you know what I mean? Now that we’re in these games that mean everything, I will not hesitate to play two. I’m willing to play both, and I think they both bring something special to our team.

“And if we need both to win this game then I am certainly excited to play both just like we play two receivers, two quarterbacks, two tight ends …”

Ever since the Stallions were reborn in the modern United States Football League back in 2022, Holtz has tried to give all the QBs on his roster playing time.

In the inaugural season Alex McGough was the first QB drafted but J’Mar Smith – who he coached at Louisiana Tech – was also added. McGough was named the starter but dealt with injuries, giving Smith most of the snaps.

The result was a USFL championship.

Last year the roles were reversed for Smith and McGough, with Smith lost for the season in the opening game. McGough took it from there, earning MVP honors while helping spearhead a repeat.

That dual-threat philosophy carried over into 2024 and the dawn of the UFL.

“I said at the very beginning of the year – and everybody wanted me to name a starter – and I said at the time that they’re both gonna play,” Holtz said. “The first two or three games, I rolled both of them. They both had a great camp, they both have learned the offense very well. They’ve both done a really nice job.

“A two-quarterback system worked with Alex and J’Mar and I played both of them quite a bit, and I played both of these guys quite a bit.”

Holtz stresses that virtually every player in this league is trying to get film and get to – or back to – the NFL. Preparing both Martinez and Corral for that opportunity is a big part of his job.

“I’ve never been in a season where you didn’t need both quarterbacks, and we need both of them,” he explained. “I want to get them both ready and after about three or four weeks, I think it was after the D.C. game, I made the decision to go with Adrian (as the starter). I think we could have made the decision to go with either one and I think it has been very hard on Matt.

“But I’ve also talked about the respect I have for the way that Matt has handled it, for the way that Matt has prepared every week, like he was going to be a starter, that he was going to get his opportunity again, and he got his opportunity last week and I thought he made the most of it.”

With everything on the line, Holtz will try to make sure the best players on the roster will be the ones on the field.

And in the case of the Stallions’ quarterback room, Holtz knows he’ll always have a winner behind center. Remember … while Smith has been inactive this season, the championship QB is still on the roster.

“You have two quarterbacks that are not only good enough to win with, but two quarterbacks that you can win because of,” Holtz said. “And I would even throw in J-Mar in that conversation, because the last time J’Mar was the starter we were 11-1 and won a championship. So, I think we have three really good quarterbacks.

“I love the room, but more importantly I love the way that their personalities have gelled and their unselfishness and that – right now – everybody just wants to win.”