As head coach of the Birmingham Stallions, former Crimson Tide and St. Louis Battlehawk signal caller, AJ McCarron had to do something he has never done before, BUILD A ROSTER. With the new era in the United Football League, under new investor, Mike Repole, all eight teams had to draft new rosters this past week. They were able to save players that were on the previous roster and then proceed through a multi-layered draft process.
Coaching Staff Grade : A
Prior to the draft Coach McCarron had to assemble his staff, which was released today in his post-draft media conference. He even noted in an earlier interview that he actually consulted legend, Nick Saban about building his staff. That staff consists of:
- Tyler Siskey - Offensive Coordinator
Coach Siskey started out as a GA at Troy who moved around to various coaching jobs before heading to Ole Miss as a coordinator of recruiting development. From there he landed a job under the great Nick Saban at Alabama as a director of player personnel. He then wen back to South Alabama as a WR coach, before going back to Ole Miss as an Associate Athletics Director of Player Personnel, so he is still well versed in the area for judging and recruiting talent, especially in this part of the country. - Kevin Sherrer- Defensive Coordinator
Coach Sheerer has an illustrious career that started as a GA at Alabama and has been at all levels. He coached under the infamous Rush Propst at Hoover High as an assistant coach and DC. He then went and was director of player development at Alabama under Nick Saban. From there he moved around the SEC working under Kirby Smart and then Tennessee under Jeremy Pruitt, before going to the NFL coaching linebackers for the Giants. after a couple years. He went back to the collegiate ranks, before landing the job with the Stallions.
- Cody Latimer - Wide Receivers Coach
Cody Latimer had an incredible career in the NFL including winning the Super Bowl with the Broncos in 2016. He is no stranger to Coach McCarron as they faced each other in the NFL, XFL, and UFL. Cody then went on to be the wide receivers coach for the Brahmas last season. With the Brahamas now being the Orlando Storm, and coach Wade Phillips retiring, he now joins the staff for the Birmingham Stallions.
Quarterbacks Grade: B+
Coach AJ McCarron is bringing back a well known entity for the Stallions, Matt Corral. The Ole Miss product has been with the stallions for three years now, sitting behind Adrian Martinez his first year, and getting injured early in the season last year. He has to feel like he has something to prove.
Coach also brings in Canadian-national and former Green Bay Packer, Taylor Elgersma. There was a lot of speculation regarding whether Taylor was going to stay here in the States or head back to Canada for the CFL. It was finally put to bed after McCarron made it clear, when our very own, @scout-h asked about him on Tuesday.
Lastly, we have former Minnesota Viking, Jaren Hall. The former two-sport athlete out of BYU was with the Vikings backing up Kirk Cousins in what would be his final season with the Vikings. Thinking he finally got a shot , the fantasy quickly ended after a bad hit caused him to go into concussion protocol. This season four QB's would take snaps for the Vikings. He had a short tenure in Seattle after being waved in the off-season being the emergency 3rd QB. Joins these other hungry QB's that want to redeem themselves.
Overall, Coach said it is a competition every day to see who will get the starting gig, because every one of these guys have a lot of potential that they want to show, and have been given the short end of the stick throughout their careers.
Wide Revivers Grade: A+
The Stallions staff went all in on wide receivers through all phases the draft. Having Coach Siskey in his corner AJ pretty much robbed the rest of the league in this area. Apparently, other coaches already respect this staff, because AJ said today that he would intentionally leak that he was high on one player so it would throw other coaches off the scent of his true targets.
They protected fan-favorites Marlon Williams and Deon Cain to start. They then drafted former Showboat, Daewood Davis, former Defender, Jaydon Mickens, and former Panthers, Samson Nacua and Marcus Simms. These guys were some of the best in the league last season. In the free agent draft, they picked up Bama native, CFP champ, and Super Bowl champ, Justyn Ross, four-time Pro Bowler, Mario Williams, CFL great Cam Echols-Luper, and Laviska Shenault Jr.
Overall this is the best WR room in the league. Coach McCarron and his staff said they had sleepless nights reviewing tape and discussing these guys trying to decide who to get and how to get them. If the way they went after this group is any indication of this staff's dedication, the Stallions will be a force to be reconned with.
Running Backs Grade: C-
With their focus being primarily on receivers, they did balance it out by not doing as well at the running back position. The highlight is former Brahma, Anthony McFarland. The Maryland product spent time with the Steelers before going to the Brahmas in the merger year and wound up facing his current team in the inaugural UFL Championship.
Tyrion Davis-Price was also picked up. The former CFP national champion and Super Bowl Champion, moved around the league, looks to revive his career with the Stallions. The last one is Nate Noel, who really hasn't seen much action since his days at App State and Mizzou.
Overall, they seemed to neglect the RB room a bit. Stallion standout Ricky Person Jr, who was apparently left out of the draft pool, was not able to be drafted, however Coach eluded to two surprises in the coming days to round out this roster in free agency.
Tight End Grade: B+
With the seemingly real retirement of Jace Sternberger, I was worried about how the tight-end room was going to be handled. This staff was able to bring back Jordan Thomas to the team after having a couple great season with the Stallions. They also picked up Anthony Torres who will be a great asset to have on this offense.
O-Line Grade: B+
Bringing back Deonte Brown and Alex Taylor-Prioleau was a big part of why I like this line. AJ's former teammate Steven Gonzalez was a big grab in the draft. AJ said he was his number one on his draft board for a reason. This team really did their research on getting some good guys to block up front. I believe this group will be great for whomever takes the role behind center, who will be a new starter for the first time since the first year of the USFL as Cole Schneider is now on the Orlando Storm with Coach Anthony Becht.
D-Line Grade: A
Despite losing a lot up front Coach Sherrer did a great job with the D-line. He brought back Ronnie Perkins and Marvin Wilson. They they brought a lot of big guys in that have been beasts up front in college and pro's. These guys are going to cause some chaos for the offenses this season.
Linebackers Grade: A+
This is Coach Sherrer's bread and butter, but to start with bringing back Tae Crowder and Kyahva Tezino made my day to say the least. AJ is no stranger to Big Tez as he was sacked multiple times by him at Protective Stadium in 2024. They also picked up names like Dyontae Johnson and Olakinle Fatukasi to add to this defensive powerhouse.
Corners Grade: B
Bringing back the likes Mario Goodrich and Steven Gilmore was amazing, but they also added Lance Boykin to the mix along with Bump Cooper Jr and Davion Ross.
Safeties Grade: A+
Tre Norwood and JoJo Tillery are enough to win me over, but to add Alex Cook to the mix is amazing. They are picked up Shaquan Loyal, Omar Jarvis Jr, and Hudson Clark to round out the defense.
Special Teams Grade: A+
The Stallions are known for their special teams unit. With three-time Pro Bowler Brandon Aubrey likely to be the highest paid kicker in NFL history and Harrison Meavis getting his spot on the Rams, there are some big shoes to fill. This staff did just that by bringing in fan-favorite Rodrigo Blankenship. The former CFP champion is a great addition to this team. They also picked up Jonathan Garibay from Texas Tech. Colby Wadman is back to punt for the Stallions. Coach said today they are going to pick up a long snapper in free-agency, but I really hope we get Stallions vet, Ryan Langan back. They did good on this group as well.
Offense Grade: B
Defense Grade: A+
Overall Grade: A