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.”