Category: Alternative Football

Linebacker Scooby Wright has a big personality – no one will argue that point.

He also has plenty of talent to go along with it.

Whether running down the field with his hand atop his helmet, mimicking a fin (“I had to go Sharkdog on them … half shark, half dog”) or running a pick-six into the end zone and finishing with a somersault to cement the Birmingham Stallions’ 33-30 USFL Championship Game win over the Philadelphia Stars, the man is a force of nature.

But as he settles into his third year with Birmingham – and is an integral part of one of the United Football League’s most formidable defensive units – he has become a veteran leader for the 3-0 Stallions.

“It’s been a great year,” said Wright, who has been nursing a right knee injury this week. “My teammates get better every week and we just look forward to bringing a great product to the field.”

During his prep days, Wright was an all-purpose player. He didn’t care where he played – he just wanted to be on the field.

“In high school, I kind of did everything,” he said. “It’s kind of funny … I was talking to someone a few days ago, and I said I used to return kicks and return punts and stuff, so it was kind of fun looking back because there’s no way in hell I could do that now.

“But really, I just love playing football. To be honest, it didn’t really matter what position I was playing or anything, I just always see myself as a football player.”

When healthy, Wright was one of the greatest defensive players in Arizona State University history.

He was Honorable Mention All-Pac-10 as a freshman and a consensus All-American as a sophomore, earning the Lombardi Award and Bronko Nagurski Award, among others, as well as Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year.

By his junior year he was limited to just three games due to injury, but closed out his college career with 145 solo tackles in 27 games, 14 sacks, an interception and six forced fumbles.

College success didn’t translate to more of the same in the NFL – at least not yet.

Following stints with the Cleveland Browns and Arizona Cardinals, Wright opted for an alternative pro football path.

The Arizona Hotshots of the ill-fated Alliance of American Football signed him in 2019, and he managed nine tackles before the league folded after eight games.

A practice squad job with the New England Patriots later that year lasted less than two weeks, and by 2020 he was with the DC Defenders of XFL 2.0.

That iteration of the league hit the halfway mark before crumbling under the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Still, he managed 17 tackles in four games.

Since then, he’s been a staple of the Stallions, first in the reimagined United States Football League and now with the UFL. Despite being injured for most of the 2023 season, Wright managed 34 solo tackles and 31 assists, with three sacks and 23 tackles for loss.

This year he has five solo tackles and three assists.

“I played lot of football on my day,” Wright said. “I think the thing that we’re trying to adopt here and as a team is just trying to win every day. We want to control what we can control. Try not to not look too far forward, but just stay in the moment. “Stay focused, stay prepared. Just do what you do … just try to win.”

The Birmingham defense has put on quite a show over the past three weeks. The unit leads the UFL in interceptions (three), sacks (17), passes defended (18 with 15 breakups), and paces the circuit in total defense (226 yards allowed per game) and scoring defense (13.7 points per game).

“We know how good we can be and how good we are, and know where we want to go,” he said. “So, I think it’s just a matter of attacking the day and just staying motivated.

“I mean, instead of just being one guy deep or two guys deep, we’re able to roll guys through. If you’ve watched games, you notice at the linebacker position we kind of rotate a little bit to keep guys fresh.”

The Stallions face the DC Defenders (2-1) Saturday at Protective Stadium with a 6 p.m. kickoff. It’s the second consecutive home game for the USFL Conference leaders and “SharkDawg” is happy to be back in the friendly confines. Since the team is housed in the Arlington, Texas, hub throughout the week, trips “home” are even more special.

“I definitely miss Birmingham,” Wright said. “I miss living in the city and miss all the fans. It’s great seeing them and just being out in the community.”

Like most of the spring football circuits that have come before it, the United Football League has several unique rules – most of which are designed to add excitement to the game and provide a different product from the NFL and college ball.

With just three weeks of its inaugural season complete, you’d have a tough time finding an innovation that has provided more drama than the UFL’s fourth-and-12 onside kick option.

In week two, the San Antonio Brahmas used the scrimmage play to retain possession and ultimately turn a 19-8 deficit to the Memphis Showboats (with just 49 seconds to go, no less) into a wild 20-19 victory.

“You look at the onside kick in the NFL and there’s a one percent chance of making it,” San Antonio coach Wade Phillips said. “It’s not a play even worth looking at. But with fourth-and-12, you have a chance. It’s not a high-percentage play, now, but we executed it. We made a great play to make the first down.

“It keeps the game exciting and gives you the opportunity to make an ‘onside kick.’ The NFL is looking at a lot of rules we’re utilizing and they ought to look at that, too. It’s exciting, that’s for sure.”

Last weekend it was the DC Defenders’ turn, flipping the script on what appeared to be a certain loss to the Arlington Renegades and changing it into a stunning 29-28 victory thanks to a fourth-and-12 conversion that set up a game-winning field goal.

“We stayed in the fight,” DC coach Reggie Barlow said. “We had to get the fourth-and-12 and my man (quarterback Jordan Ta’amu) managed that well.”

Trailing 28-26, Ta’amu hit Ty Scott on a 19-yard gainer on the onside kick alternative to give the Defenders a fresh set of downs and chance to win.

“It’s crazy,” Ta’amu said. “Everything was just so surreal. It felt like a dream.”

DC comes to Birmingham this Saturday to take on the unbeaten Stallions at Protective Stadium. And while Skip Holtz’s club has had no need for such theatrics thus far, the coach is glad the play is available.

“What we have to do now when we practice every day, is practice the 1-point play from the two, the 2-point play from the five, and the 3-point play from the 10 … and I carry probably eight to 10 plays from the five-yard line, which is more than I’ve ever carried,” Holtz said. “But you also have to then practice a fourth-and-12 play.”

As Phillips said, it’s not a high-percentage option, but it’s far better than the awkward, rarely successful onside kick.

“As far as maintaining an onside kick, really, you’re hoping for a bounce,” Holtz said. “You’re hoping for a bounce or hoping for a fumble, or you’re hoping that they misjudge it and the ball takes a crazy bounce. Otherwise, you’re not going to get it.

“I like the excitement of a fourth-and-12 play and having the opportunity to continue your drive, especially when you’re trying to make the comeback.”

The roots of the rule date back to the Alliance of American Football, which played a partial season in 2019 before folding.

There were no kickoffs at all in the AAF, with offenses starting possession at their own 25-yard line. However, if a team trailed by 17 points or there were five or fewer minutes remaining in a game, it could attempt what was called an “onside conversion.”

Just like in the UFL, it was a fourth-and-12 play from the 28.

The option was also available following a safety, only the ball was placed down at the 18 in that instance.

Last year the XFL had a fourth-and-15 play from the 25 along with the traditional onside kick.

“We haven’t had to use it yet, fortunately, because we’ve had a lead,” Holtz said. “But it is something that we practice along with the (conversion plays) every day.”

Birmingham’s most decorated professional football team returned to Protective Stadium on Saturday in a new league.

The result?

Same as usual … another game, another victory.

The two-time defending United States Football League champions brought the United Football League to the Magic City for the first time and continued their winning ways, showing up the Memphis Showboats, 33-14, in front of 12,265 fans.

It was a game that was close for three quarters but one that always seemed just out of reach for John DeFilippo and his team.

Birmingham’s streak of Ws dating back to 2023 has reached 10 games, tying the Stallions with the 1974 World Football League champion Birmingham Americans for most consecutive victories by a city-branded team.

Skip Holtz’s charges improve to 3-0 and strengthen their hold atop the USFL Conference while the Showboats fall to 1-2.

“This process we talked about is just being as good as we can be,” Holtz said. “And I think there were an awful lot of positive things out there today on the field.”

Adrian Martinez showed fans the best version of his football self, finishing 18-28-0 through the air for 334 yards and two touchdowns. He also led his club’s ground attack with 44 yards and a score.

“I think he’s deserving of this opportunity,” Holtz said. “I think I’m in a very great situation as coach and I think we have two very good quarterbacks – three, and the other one (J’Mar Smith, third on the current depth chart) is 11-1 and won a championship.”

It was Martinez’ first start of 2024 and likely won’t be his last; Matt Corral, who was QB1 the first two weeks of the season, didn’t see action on Saturday.

“I’ve said the past two games whenever you can come out of the game and learn from a win instead of a loss, we’ll definitely take that,” Martinez said. “I’m fortunate to be around some great players, a great football coach, and there’s some mistakes I make, but we have a great team and so I have faith in what we do. What we preach is just keep going and I think I got stronger (as the game progressed) and just held the faith that we’d be able to continue to capitalize and put some more points on the board.”

Deon Cain had seven catches for 144 yards and Jace Sternberger had a touchdown to go with his four receptions and 73 yards.

“It was a team effort,” Cain said. “I just have to make sure I’m executing my job and the work speaks for itself.”

The defense turned in an outstanding performance for the third consecutive week. Aside from limiting Memphis to just one touchdown, the unit came through with eight sacks in holding the visitors to one TD on the night and 209 total yards – only 16 via the run.

Kyahva Tezino was in on 10 tackles with five solos while Carlton Davis, Jonathan Garvin and DaMarcus Mitchell each had two sacks.

“I think our defensive line has a chance to be pretty good … I’ve kind of come to that conclusion as we have to go against them every single day,” Holtz said. “I’ve been yelling at dudes every day at practice about our offensive line keeping our quarterback clean, so to speak, but when you have a chance to see them play other people, I think you see our D line can be really good.”

Case Cookus and Trey Williams split time at QB for the ‘Boats, with Cookus managing 139 yards and a TD.

Nine different receivers had catches but only Vinny Papale managed to find paydirt, that coming on a 23-yard scoring strike from Cookus in the first quarter.

“I’d like to congratulate Birmingham … they played a fantastic game,” DeFilippo said. “We had an overall hard time. They averaged 18 yards a completion and our red zone issues on offense continue to haunt us.”

Scoring plays: Birmingham, Jace Sternberger, 6-yard TD reception from Adrian Martinez, 5:36, first quarter, 2-point conversion failed, Stallions 6, Showboats 0; Memphis, Vinny Papale, 23-yard TD reception from Case Cookus, :56 first quarter, 1-point conversion failed, Showboats 6, Stallions 6; Birmingham, Marlon Williams, 41-yard TD reception from Martinez, :02 first quarter, 2-point conversion failed, Stallions 12, Showboats 6;  Memphis, Matt Goghlin, 57-yard field goal, 9:07 second quarter, Stallions 12, Showboats 9; Birmingham, Chris Blewitt, 22-yard field goal, 1:56 first quarter, Stallions 15, Showboats 9; Memphis, Goghlin, 34-yard field goal, :14 second quarter, Stallions 15, Showboats 12; Birmingham, Blewitt, 46-yard field goal, :00 second quarter, Stallions 18, Showboats 12; Birmingham, Blewitt, 43-yard field goal, 3:23, third quarter, Stallions 21, Showboats 12; Birmingham, Ricky Person Jr., 5-yard rush, 14:23, fourth quarter, 1-point conversion failed, Stallions 27, Showboats 12; Birmingham, Martinez, 11-yard rush, 8:28 fourth quarter, 1-point conversion failed, Stallions 33, Showboats 12; Memphis,team safety, 1:49, fourth quarter, Stallions 33, Showboats 14.

Standout stat: 424. Number of yards the Stallions rolled up on the night.

Next up: Birmingham plays its second home game of the season next Saturday when the DC Defenders come to Protective Stadium.

Kickoff is 6 p.m. CDT on FOX.

Better late than never: Saturday’s game with Memphis marked the latest a Birmingham-branded team in alternative football has made its regular season home debut.

The Birmingham Americans (World Football League), Birmingham Vulcans (WFL), Birmingham Stallions (original USFL), Birmingham Fire (World League of American Football), Birmingham Thunderbolts (original XFL), Birmingham Iron (Alliance of American Football) and modern Stallions (USFL) all opened their seasons at home.

The Birmingham Barracudas of the Canadian Football League played on the road at Winnipeg to start their 1995 campaign but played their second game of the season at Legion Field just four days later.

The UFL Stallions spent the first two weeks of the 2024 season on the road before finally competing in the friendly confines.

Sportsman of the Year Award: The UFL on Thursday announced the establishment of the Sportsman of the Year Award, a “distinguished honor that celebrates UFL player’s service off the field and excellence on the field.”

The Sportsman of the Year Award will be presented each season to one deserving player who exemplifies the “highest standards of athletic excellence and community engagement.” Nominees will be announced throughout the season and their work will be highlighted across the UFL’s content and social media platforms.  

“We are proud to continue with a tradition we started in the USFL,” Daryl Johnston, UFL executive vice president of football operations, said. “The Sportsman of the Year Award is a testament to the incredible athletes within our league who go above and beyond to make a difference in their communities. This award not only recognizes excellence on the field but also celebrates the profound impact that our players have off the field as role models and community leaders.”

The winner of the inaugural UFL Sportsman of the Year Award will be announced the week of the UFL Championship game in St. Louis.

OTD in 1985: The Birmingham Stallions of the original USFL defeated the Oakland Invaders, 20-17, in front of 44,500 fans at Legion Field.

The defense registered five sacks and picked off two passes. On offense, Joe Cribbs rushed for 94 yards and a touchdown and quarterback Cliff Stoudt added another score on the ground before exiting the game with an injured elbow.