Category: Alternative Football

BIRMINGHAM – The passes had a bit more zip, the runs were a bit more aggressive, and the urge to lay a big hit was a bit more tempting.

If Tuesday’s practice is any indication, the Birmingham Stallions are chomping at the bit to start the 2022 season.

The home team of the United States Football League’s Birmingham hub worked out at Protective Stadium today, and now have just four more sleeps before meeting the New Jersey Generals in the new circuit’s inaugural game on Saturday.

“We’re all eager to get going,” Birmingham quarterback Alex McGough said. “We want to play against somebody else and we’re all just looking forward to it. You know, we’ve been kind of itching … some people have been out of the game for a while, and I really haven’t played in a game since college. Saturday night gives us a chance to get back and play in front of the fans and play in front of however many people are gonna watch on Fox and NBC.

“We’re really excited to go out there and be part of the first game.”

The Stallions-Generals contest starts at 6;30 p.m. and will be televised by both Fox, which owns the league, and NBC.

“You know, I’ve always called it the circus around college football,” Birmingham coach Skip Holtz said. “You play the game and you’ve got 18 and 22-year-olds and I’ve said it’s the best reality TV there is, performing live and in front of 80 million people at home. And in this league, it’s the pageantry of the lights, cameras, fireworks, the two sky cameras, and the drones flying around. We got a little taste of it in our scrimmage the other day, which I’m glad we did because I couldn’t keep my eyes off the drone.

“I think the pageantry of this will be even greater than what you see in college.”

As important to the league as the “show business” aspect might be, the game is the thing for the coaches and players. McGough said last week’s scrimmage against the Pittsburgh Maulers was a good test run in allowing the Stallions to work on themselves.

“We took a lot out of that scrimmage,” he said. “We went in with just sort of the game plan of trying to learn our stuff, not so much worried about what the Maulers were doing. We just wanted to get good with the 35-second clock, getting in and out of the huddle, and making sure all of our pre-snap procedures were right and that I was saying the plays right in the huddle and the guys were hearing them all correctly. Just fine tuning the craft.”

While McGough is QB1, Holtz said J’Mar Smith – who played for him at Louisiana Tech – has also looked good at practice and might see action on opening night.

“Alex has done a really nice job of picking it all up as soon as we drafted him,” Holtz explained. “He’s learned (the offense) and he knows it really well. He’s executed really well. I think he’s doing a really nice job for us. I think both him and J’Mar have done a really nice job, and I think I’m still rolling with both of them. I mean, I’m not convinced they both won’t play Saturday night. They’re both doing a really good job.

“They’re both playing a leadership role, and they’re both playing at a really high level right now.”

One of the players who’ll be protecting the quarterbacks is former UAB standout Justice Powers, who is transitioning from tackle to guard.

“It’s not been comfortable, but that’s a good thing,” Powers said. “I like adversity. They’ve moved me around after playing pretty much the same position since I started football, but it’s been great. I’ve just been taking it day by day and trying to be a sponge, learning everything I can.”

Brian Allen, the Stallions cornerback who has spent time with six different NFL teams, said at the start of practice he hoped to take on a leadership role and help bring the younger players up to speed.

So far, so good.

“We’ve learned new techniques and stuff and I’ve been in a couple of different systems, so I’ve tried to help the guys learn what we’re doing, especially those that are coming right out of college,” Allen said. “Just trying to give those guys some of the things that I’ve learned over the years. We haven’t played our first game and we had a couple of hiccups today, but we still got time to get ready for Saturday. We’re still growing as a group and we’ve got 10 weeks ahead of us together.”

And like the rest of his teammates, he’s ready to tee it up. “We’re just trying to put our best product out there,” Allen said. “We’re already talking about who’s gonna make the first tackle and who’ll make the first touchdown, and all the firsts that can happen in the opening game. We just want to come up with a good show for the city of Birmingham, and hopefully bring them a championship.”

BIRMINGHAM – The last time Skip Holtz and his team came to Protective Stadium, most of the fans took great pleasure in watching them lose.

Next time when they trot onto the turf at the Uptown Birmingham venue, the majority of spectators will be on their side.

Such is the fickle nature of sports – and sports supporters.

Holtz was coach of the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in 2021, and a November visit here resulted in a 52-38 loss to the homestanding UAB Blazers. Since the Blazers and Bulldogs are natural enemies – if not in the wild at least in the field of competition – that partisan reaction was the natural order of things.

But Holtz is now in charge of the Birmingham Stallions of the new United States Football League, and he’ll have Magic City faithful in his corner on Saturday when the Stallions meet the New Jersey Generals at 6:30 p.m.

“This is an adventure and every day we’re learning,” Holtz said. “It’s been awesome … I’m like a kid in a candy store.”

Not a lot was awesome for Holtz last season, as a 3-9 record at Tech resulted in his dismissal. But while one door closed, another opened when the USFL gave him his first shot at coaching in the pros.

“It took me more than 30 years to get a chance to be a pro coach,” he said. “And I’m sincere when I say I’m having more fun than I’ve ever had before.”

Any time an alternative football league crops up, the focus is usually on the players. Will this new opportunity give them their next chance or last chance to make a living playing the game? But it’s also a fresh start for coaches.

Michigan Panthers boss Jeff Fisher had a long NFL coaching career that ended in 2016, but found the itch again after six years off the sidelines.

When it comes to resumes, it’s hard to find a more diverse one than Mike Riley of the New Jersey Generals. Before coming to the USFL, he had been a head coach in the NFL, Canadian Football League, World League of American Football, Alliance of American Football and two different colleges.

Todd Haley was head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs from 2009-11, and most recently served as offensive coordinator with the Cleveland Browns. The Tampa Bay Bandits give him the chance to guide the fortunes of a whole team once again.

Pittsburgh Maulers coach Kirby Wilson has spent more than two decades as a fine NFL assistant coach, but now – finally – he gets to call all the shots.

Bart Andrus now heads up the Philadelphia Stars, but his background includes head coaching gigs in the CFL, NFL Europe, United Football League, The Spring League and the XFL’s “Team 9” (from the shortened 2020 season).

Houston Gamblers coach Kevin Sumlin and New Orleans Breakers skipper Larry Fedora – like Holtz – are getting their first taste of pro coaching after long college careers. For all eight it’s a new challenge.

“I’ve been taught that life and success is all about your attitude,” Holtz said. “That’s one of the greatest lessons my parents taught me and every day when you wake up and put your feet on the floor you have a decision to make on what you want to accomplish. I’m passionate about this and excited about what we’re doing.”

Watching Holtz at practice, and even during last week’s scrimmage, is evidence that he’s fully invested in his new job. His enthusiasm seems to pick up as the day goes along, and it appears to be rubbing off on his players.

His attitude suggests that he doesn’t want them to run through a brick wall for him – he just hopes they’ll run through the door in the wall he’s holding open.

“Nothing great was ever accomplished without passion,” Holtz said. “You have to have passion and energy. We’ve got some great young men on this team and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know them. I’m still learning faces, names and numbers and sometimes when they put on their helmets I go, ‘Oh no, I can’t recognize them.’ But it’s been great.

“When the fans come out Saturday night, they’ll see that we’re gonna play hard, play emotional and play passionate.”

And for the first time at Protective Stadium, he and his charges will hear the fans cheering for them instead of against them.

Protective Stadium will officially become home of the new United States Football League on Easter weekend, with one game on April 16 and a triple-header scheduled for April 17.

Six of the teams, however, decided today was as good a time as any to move on in.

The Tampa Bay Bandits and New Jersey Generals met in the morning; the New Orleans Breakers and Houston Gamblers scrimmaged in the afternoon; and the Birmingham Stallions and Pittsburgh Maulers wrapped things up in the early evening at the Uptown Birmingham venue. The squads not only got a sneak peek at what USFL competition will look like this spring, but they also got to make trial runs in their primary gridiron digs.

The Michigan Panthers and Philadelphia Stars will play a test game on Friday.

“We had a team meeting this morning and I think everyone is ready to get started,” Birmingham coach Skip Holtz said. “This is a fun step going forward. We’ve got head sets, coaches in the box, communication with the players via the headset … I’ve never experienced that. I’m excited about today, but it’s just one more step educating everybody and preparing everybody for what this is gonna look like on game day in about a week.

“It’s been a great couple of weeks, the attitude of the players has been great and they’ve been working extremely hard across the board.”

The scrimmage featured frequent shuffling in and out of personnel and a good deal of situational work, including plays involving some of the 2022 rules such as 3-point conversions and the fourth-and-12 onside kick option.

And although plays ended with wrap-arounds instead of takedown tackles, there were still some excitement.

The Maulers blocked a punt and took it the other way, while the Stallions turned a fumble recovery into a touchdown.

The Maulers are coached by Kirby Wilson, who was on Mike Tomlin’s first Pittsburgh Steelers staff and spent 23 years as a running backs coach with eight NFL teams. Thursday gave him a taste of what’s to come in his first year as head man.

“It’s extremely exciting to let the guys out of the gate and let them hunt a little and have some fun,” Wilson said. “It’s been very rewarding. I feel like we picked the right guys, we did extensive background checks on everyone … we wanted to make sure we had the people who were the right fit for the Maulers and the brand of football we’re gonna play. We think we’ve been successful.”

Holtz said one of the best things about camp has been finding out what motivates his players to play on in the USFL.

“Every meeting, we have a player stand up and talk about his ‘Why,’” he said. “Why are they playing the game, what’s their passion, what’s their motivation, what drives them to do what they’re doing right now – and the whys are incredible. When you listen to why these young men are here and what they’ve had to overcome to be here and what they want to accomplish being in this league, it’s been really rewarding.

“Every player under that helmet has a story. Everybody’s overcome adversity to get here and everybody has dreams and visions of where they want to go. This is another opportunity to keep those hopes and dreams alive.”

Wilson agrees.

“We’re all about development and building relationships with players, and we look forward to seeing our players perform at a high level,” Wilson said. “This is an opportunity … an opportunity to show that they still have a passion for the game of football and they want to go out there and show the country what they’re all about.”

The games that count begin on April 16 when the Stallions and Generals meet at 6:30 p.m. CDT in a contest that will be televised by Fox, NBC and Peacock.

On April 17 the Gamblers and Panthers meet at 11 a.m. (NBC/Peacock) followed by the Stars vs. the Breakers at 3 p.m. (USA Network) and Bandits vs. Maulers at 7 p.m. (FS1).

“Come out and support these guys,” Holtz said. “They’re humble and they’re hungry. They want to do well. I’d love to see people in the stands.”