Parity highlights 2023 USFL

The second United States Football League championship game is a month away, and USFL president Daryl Johnston and head of officiating Mike Pereira marked the occasion by giving something of a “state of the league” address on Thursday afternoon.

With three weekends remaining in the regular season and the playoff race wide open in both divisions, Johnston is well-pleased with the parity of the circuit’s eight teams in year two.

“I love the fact that we’re all jumbled up in both of our divisions, especially down in the (South Division),” said Johnston, who saw the Birmingham Stallions (5-2) jump from third place to first in one weekend. “I love the way that we stacked our schedule where we have meaningful games in weeks nine and weeks 10. I know it stresses our marketing and  ticket sales people, but for the football ops people, it’s fantastic.

“Last year our playoff teams were kind of set early and we probably knew week six what the playoff picture was. This year in the South, we’re not going to know until we have that final play in week 10.”

From an operational standpoint the most significant change from year one involves hub expansion. In 2022 all the teams were housed in Birmingham.

This year, Birmingham is home to the Stallions and New Orleans Breakers; the Memphis Showboats (replacing the Tampa Bay Bandits) and Houston Gamblers play in Memphis; the Michigan Panthers and Philadelphia Stars both call Detroit home this spring; and the New Jersey Generals and Pittsburgh Maulers host their home games in Canton.

Canton will showcase the North Division playoff on June 24 as well as the championship game on July 1, while the South Division playoff will be in either Birmingham or Memphis on June 25.

The second year of the USFL has also seen half the teams get new coaches: Mike Nolan (Michigan), Ray Horton (Pittsburgh), John DeFilippo (New Orleans), and Curtis Johnson (Houston).

“I think one of the big things that happened with us coming into year two – and I mean this with no disrespect to the four coaches who were with us in year one, they will always have a special place in my heart – was bringing on four new head coaches. To have available the guys that we were able to bring on board this year … we’ve got over 120 years of added experience in our coaching staffs this year, with five Super Bowl championships between the four of them. It was really, really a testament to what we’re trying to do.

“When you have somebody like Mike Nolan call you and say ‘Hey, I hear there’s a potential for an opening with the Michigan Panthers, and I’d be very interested in that,’ that speaks volumes when you have people of that caliber wanting to join your journey in year two.”

But TV viewers – and fans in the stands – aren’t watching coaches, they’re watching players. And Johnston is confident the league features plenty of next-level talent.

“We had a number of guys get into workouts, a ton of guys get into training camps … actually got down to a point where we had, when it was all said and done, I think 24 players on either the active or practice squads during the course of last year in the NFL,” he said. “Obviously, KaVontae Turpin (who played with the Generals in 2022) is our greatest ambassador with everything that he accomplished with the Dallas Cowboys and all the accolades that he received. And I think that shows the necessity for a league like the USFL when we can have a player not only become discovered but change the narrative.”

Last season USFL kick returners caught the NFL’s eye. This year, Johnston thinks it might be linebackers.

“For me one of the interesting spots – and it’s kind of an overlooked and undervalued position in the NFL right now – is the stack linebacker, and I think some of our players have had a really, really good season,” he explained. “You look at a guy like Gabriel Sewell up in Philadelphia, Frank Ginda in Michigan, Quentin Poling here in Birmingham and Kyahva Tezino (Pittsburgh)  … I don’t know why he didn’t get an opportunity last year.”

Like any league there have been some snoozers to go with high-scoring clashes, and Johnston says he’d like to see more consistency across the board. Overall, however, the quality of play has been solid.

From a rules standpoint, Pereira thinks the tweak to kickoffs has had the greatest impact.

“Last year we wanted 90 percent of our kickoffs returned, and we ended up with 81 percent, which is much better than the 38 percent in the NFL,” he said. “But I wanted to push it to 90, so what did we do? We just backed up the kickoff line from the 25 to the 20.”

There was also an alteration to improve safety.

“We moved the receiving team in a box 10 yards from where the kickers kick off from, and they had to hold in that box until the ball was kicked at a minimum of eight or maximum of nine,” Pereira said. “That meant everybody was running downfield together, and you didn’t have as many as the high impact collisions, and that’s worked well.”

Pereira also has weekly calls with each of the eight coaches. As one might expect, conversations can be spirited.

“The one thing that has been proved to me is how passionate they are about this league, and how competitive they are, and how much they want to win, and how much they sometimes dislike each other, and the rivalries that are brewed, whether it’s Intra-hub or whatever,” he said. “It’s just been the coolest experience. Not the easiest because of their passion, because I’ve had to deal with some frustrations and that type of thing. But it’s been a breath of fresh air.”

With year two winding down, Johnston says the goal for the USFL is to make marked progress each year.

“When you come back for year two we don’t want you to be in the same spot as you were when year one ended,” he said. “And the same for year three. We want you to be much further down the road, and whether that’s Zoom installs, quarterbacks getting together with skill position players at some point during the offseason, whatever.

“We just need you to be further down the road.”