Category: Alternative Football

This week the Birmingham Stallions have seen Scooby Wright – arguably the team’s most iconic player – hang up his cleats due to a neck injury suffered during last weekend’s 20-18 victory over DC.

They’re also without the services of their third leading tackler, Chris Jackson, who has been placed on injured reserve.

C.J. Marable, the United Football League’s third-leading rusher, has missed practice due to personal reasons and won’t play on Saturday against the Houston Roughnecks.

That’s the bad news.

The good news?

Birmingham remains unbeaten and unbowed, and continues its run as the most successful team in professional spring football.

Currently sitting at 4-0 and holding a two-game lead in the UFL’s USFL Conference, the Stallions take their show on the road to face Houston (1-3).

“We’ve got a challenge this week with Houston, who is another 1-3 football team but when you look at them, they just got a couple of guys back from injury,” Birmingham coach Skip Holtz said. “I think they’re playing with a lot of confidence right now and they went in and had a big win last week. Played really well having their tailback (Mark Thompson) back. He was the USFL Offensive Player of the Year a year ago, very talented, big physical running back, which we know is gonna pose some problems for us as a defense.

“And they beat us last year – we were 1-1 against them. They play a very aggressive style of play on defense and we’re gonna have to play really well. In order to win, we just have to stay focused.”

The Roughnecks have taken their name from last season’s XFL team but, in reality, are the rebranded Gamblers from the USFL.

Not only did they split with Birmingham last season, but handed the two-time USFL champions their only loss in the inaugural campaign of 2022.

In fact, Houston is the only team that has defeated the Stallions more than once and is 2-2 all-time against them.

Thompson was limited and had just 34 yards on nine carries in last week’s 17-9 win over Arlington, but he also scored a touchdown and provided a huge boost to the team in his return to action.

“Mark Thompson really helped us get over the hump,” Roughnecks boss Curtis Johnson said. “He made some really good runs … and he’s on a pitch count.”

Reid Sinnett had a solid day behind center, hitting on 18 of 28 aerials for 191 yards and a TD, and connected with nine different receivers in the “W.”

The Houston defense also limited Arlington to 193 yards of total offense, forcing two fumbles, picking off a pass and registering two sacks.

As for Birmingham, it leads the UFL in 17 statistical categories, including total offense (1,479 yards), passing yards (917), rushing yards (562), all-purpose yards (2,023) field goals (12), sacks (17), rushing touchdowns allowed (none) and least points allowed (59).

“I feel like we are just now starting to hit our stride and starting to feel a little bit more comfortable with each other with the quarterbacks making some of the line calls and with the communication with the things going on at the line of scrimmage,” Holtz said. “I think we’re a work in progress, but I think we’re getting better and have to continue to strive to work on all those little things in order to get to be where we want to be.”

Once again, the Stallions will employ the 1-2 quarterback punch of Matt Corral and Adrian Martinez. Corral has passed for 494 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 99 yards; Martinez has thrown for 448 yards and two scores and churned out a team-leading (and second in the UFL) 165 ground yards with a TD.

Martinez will get the start on Saturday.

“I know it’s not easy when you play two quarterbacks, and I’ve heard all the arguments about how it doesn’t work and the chemistry doesn’t work,” Holtz said. “But we did it two years ago with Alex (McGough) and J’Mar (Smith).”

Through four weeks, Deon Cain is the only receiver to have doubled digit catches. His 16 receptions have resulted in 264 yards and TD.

Tight end Jace Sternberger has caught eight balls for 155 yards and a touchdown, and Marlon Williams and Amari Rodgers have each been on the money end of paydirt passes.

The loss of Jackson and Wright is a blow to the defense, but the unit has an abundance of talent.

Linebacker Kyahva Tezino has a staggering 32 tackles – including 19 solo – followed by cornerback Lorenzo Burns with 20 in all and 15 unassisted.

Derick Roberson has forced two fumbles and Kai Nacua has two picks for the Stallions.

Last week Birmingham battled through a long weather delay, two fumbles and four sacks, but was ultimately saved by new kicker Ramiz Ahmed’s four field goals. His last from 46 yards out was the game-winner. Holtz is proud of that win – and all of them – but knows his unbeaten team can take nothing for granted moving into week five.

“We’ve won four games,” he said. “But you could very easily see that was a two-point football game (last Saturday) and if the kick doesn’t go through and you lose, you know … you’re that close.

“So, we’ve just got to keep getting better.”

When starting a new job, some employees are broken in slowly. They’re given a chance to learn the ropes and get to know their co-workers before the heavy lifting begins.

Then’s there’s a guy like Ramiz Ahmed, who barely had a chance to get his Birmingham Stallions ID badge before he was put front row and center.

“In the NFL, you’re being flown in for a workout and you’ll compete with generally a couple of guys, usually,” Ahmed said on Wednesday. “And then if they have room and the stars align, and you kick well and put your best foot forward, then they’ll sign you up.

“But here (in the United Football League), they have to kind of get someone in quick, so they’ve got to be pretty sure about the guy. And so (the Stallions) called me, which I’m very thankful for.”

The new kicker fit right in immediately – better than anyone could’ve expected. He booted four field goals in Birmingham’s 20-18 victory over DC last Saturday, including the game-winner in the contest’s 11^th hour.

“We had a lot of great individual efforts (against DC), obviously none more than our kicker,” Birmingham coach Skip Holtz said. “The job that he was able to do, especially as pretty much a rent-a-kicker for the week. Chris Blewitt had had an injury and the rules allow you to bring a kicker in for a week and then make a decision on if you want to keep them or not. And when we got back after the game, we found out Chris had a substantial injury that’s going to keep him out six to eight weeks.

“So, we went ahead and made the transition to make him our permanent kicker. It was just kind of a trial this weekend, but I thought he did excellent. Let’s hope he can continue to kick them as well as we go through the rest of the season.”

Ahmed’s kicks covered 46, 32, 27 and 46 yards, the final one flipping an 18-17 deficit into a 20-18 edge with just :04 showing on the game clock.

While new to the Stallions, the 28-year-old Ahmed has been sidewinding footballs for quite a while.

The Las Vegas native transitioned from association football to American football during his sophomore season at Bishop Gorman High School, and wound up kicking again at the University of Nevada-Reno in 2017, walking on to the football team and used mostly for kickoff duty.

“I didn’t get to kick too many field goals,” Ahmed said. “They had a three year-starter and their special teams coordinator, who I’m good buddies with now, he was like, ‘Listen, we’ve got a three-year starter who’s been solid for us, so field goal kicking isn’t open.’ They really looked at me for kickoffs, and they started me in the first game that I was eligible for at kickoffs and and it was cool. I wish I could have kicked field goals, but that first year I was a little naive.”

He did finally get his chance, and although he says there are some kicks “I wish I had back,” he caught the eye of NFL scouts.

Ahmed competed for the placekicker job with the Chicago Bears in 2020, but failed to make the active roster.

Two years later he was with the Pittsburgh Maulers of the USFL and nailed a 61-yard field goal – the longest in league history.

He then moved on to the Green Bay Packers and saw some action as a kickoff specialist, but was released in January, 2023.

Ahmed was out of pro football for 15 months before landing in Birmingham.

“I got injured at the end of my stint with the Packers,” he said. “And so, when I was released, I just had one focus in mind and that was to get healthy and get myself kicking back at the level that I know I can kick at. And so whether or not I get an opportunity again, or if my career’s done … I just didn’t feel that I needed to think about that. I just kind of put it on the backburner.

“I was mainly focused on just getting healthy.”

He did just that, and then the UFL came calling.

“(Birmingham special teams coach) Chris Boniol, who I have great respect for, and (Stallions GM) Zach Potter got together with a number of players,” Holtz explained. “There were kickers that we felt had the talent and abilities to do it, and then we started looking at players to see who was interested in doing it and who was available to do it.

“At that point, you’ve got to find availability and you’ve got to find the guy that you really feel has the talent to do it. And I know that they were really excited about Ramiz, and I think he came in and did an absolutely fantastic job.”

Ahmed’s next chance to impress his new employers comes on Saturday night at Rice Stadium when the Stallions (4-0) play the Houston Roughnecks (1-3) at 6 p.m. CDT on FOX.

“When I got picked up by the Packers, it was a similar situation,” Ahmed said. “I was picked up and our game was, I think, on either Friday or Saturday, and so I had two kicking sessions very much like when I got picked up by the Stallions and next thing you know, I’m kicking in the game.

“You’ve just got to go out and perform. I think it’s just something that you’ve got to be ready for.”

How good have the Birmingham Stallions been?

Well, since kicking off on April 16, 2022, they’ve played 28 games, won 25 of them, and claimed both championships in the two seasons the modern United States Football League competed.

In fact, no team currently participating in spring outdoor pro football has fewer losses and, of course, none have come close to the number of victories Skip Holtz’s charged have notched.

Now, as the team enters the halfway point of its third regular season – and first in the United Football League – it continues to set the standard for on-field success.

The Stallions, at 4-0, are the lone unbeaten team in the UFL. And they sit atop the USFL Conference with a two-game lead over the second-place Michigan Panthers, a club they’ve already defeated on the road.

Birmingham has two dominant wins (27-14 over Arlington and a 33-14 beatdown of Memphis); a hard-fought, 20-13 victory over Michigan; and last Saturday’s come-from-behind, 20-18 conquest of DC in a soggy, lightning-delayed field goal fest.

Not only did the most recent game produce a new hero in kicker Ramiz Ahmed (he had four field goals including the game winner), but he’s now the starter.

Chris Blewitt suffered an injury that placed home on the IR for six to eight weeks, so Ahmed has gone from a temp to a full-time employee.

The Stallions have won in different ways but the winning continues, which is the sign of a team that knows how to maintain success.

“The biggest aspect is that we’ve come together with so many new faces, and that we’ve gelled and we’ve found a way to win four games,” Holtz said on Tuesday. “It certainly hasn’t been perfect – every game on offense and perfect every game on defense – but I do feel like we’re getting better. And for us to be able to have had the success we’ve had to this point, obviously has been one of the things that I’m really proud of.”

The two-quarterback system of Matt Corral and Adrian Martinez has worked quite well, despite the fact that the popularity of platooning QBs went out with the demise of the wishbone attack.

The signal callers have combined for 942 passing yards and four touchdowns, and Martinez, C.J. Marable and Ricky Person Jr. provide a three-headed monster on the ground.

“We’re doing it right now with two quarterbacks, and I think it works because we have two very talented quarterbacks and I think everybody on the offensive line and within the quarterback room, they’ve been very professional,” Holtz said. “They’re working together to make things happen.”

Deon Cain has been the leading receiver, but eight different players have reeled in catches. Cain, Jace Sternberger, Amari Rodgers and Marlon Williams have converted receptions into TDs.

Defensively, the line has helped the unit become one of the best – and stingiest – in the UFL.

Kyahva Tezino leads the circuit in tackles (32 total and 19 solo), while Carlos’ Davis’ five sacks tops the charts.

Despite all the numerous positives, though, Holtz says Birmingham still has plenty of work to do to be the best it can be.

“If there’s one thing we really need to keep improving on, I think it’s just the overall development and execution of what we’re trying to do as an offense and defense,” Holtz explained. “We watched the film this morning (of the win over DC) as an offense, and saw things that had nothing to do with a physical mistake, they were mental mistakes and execution mistakes on our part. There were 27 plays in that game we feel like we didn’t help ourselves. We didn’t do the things that we needed to do. And I think that’s where we’ve just got to keep getting better.

“I can’t say we have to run it better or we have to throw it better or we have to stop the run better. I mean, I think we just have to overall continue to improve on what we’re doing. Because I think it’s all the little things that are the difference in winning or losing right now. And that’s what we’ve got to continue to strive for is to get those things perfected and cleaned up.”

Next up is a road trip to face the Houston Roughnecks on Saturday, a club that is basically a rebranded version of the Houston Gamblers of the 2022-23 USFL.

The Gamblers were the only USFL team that managed to beat the Stallions twice, once in the inaugural season and again last year.

But the approach to that game will be the same as Birmingham approaches them all.

“In order to win, we just have to stay focused  … kind of rinse and repeat every Sunday,” Holtz said. “Watch the film, put it to bed, and then start going through the process of what we’ve got to do to get ready for first downs today, and third downs tomorrow, and then polish some things up on Thursday and get ready for Saturday.”

Note: Starting punter Colby Wadman was injured on Saturday and won’t be making the trip to Houston. Birmingham signed Drue Chrisman, who spent time with the Cincinnati Bengals, to fill his spot.