Hey guys, welcome to the Markcast. Read here, Well, here we
go. As teased as promised, big time episode coming your way today.
Hope you guys are excited. Hope you feel like I delivered on this one.
Three big interviews. We have Darryl Moose Johnston coming on executive vice president
of football Operations over at the UFL. We have coach Jonathan Heinbach with the
Arlington Renegades, and then Anthony Miller from Sports Illustrated. Should be a good
one. Just a couple of quick plugs for me here and then we'll get
to the content. I know everybody is excited. This will be the last
show we do before the UFL kickoff next weekend, so no Friday episode will
be live Saturday, March thirtieth from Arlington. We'll have a big guest list.
I'll post the event page and the guest list and all of this that
this week. But like to subscribe if you're excited for that should be a
fun one. As a reminder, we're going to be giving away two tickets
to the UFL Championship game if we cross that thirty five hundred subscriber mark,
So like it. Subscribe if you appreciate the work today if you're excited for
the kickoff next weekend, and then we'll be doing not only that, we'll
do our Friday shows kind of during the UFL season, but then we'll also
be doing weekly recaps on Mondays following the games, kind of talking about the
games and the standings and what do we learn and whether we doing right and
what are we doing wrong? Kind of all that stuff. So getting that
all workshopped and set up. But we did that last year with the XFL
and with the USFL and then even the CFL. So continuing that in some
form, but subscribe like the video if you're excited for that, because should
have lots of UFL content coming out here, and I know we're getting back
to the CFL. Had lots of questions about that, but kind of focusing,
let's get this lead kicked off and then we'll move towards all of that
stuff here and start balancing that a little more. So, Like I said,
Daryl Johnson, great interview, talking everything you would want Daryl Johnson to
talk about, you know, kind of his future vision for the league,
the XFL, USFL, kind of how did those negotiations go with the merger
and the kind of the politics behind that. We're talking the XFL kickoff,
the rules kind of all that stuff, so it means a lot, especially
the league setting that up. Darrell taking the time to come on, so
thank you very much, appreciate that. Coach Jonathan Heinbach coming on, taking
time on a Sunday. Coach Heinbach is in an interesting situation where he was
with the Birmingham Stallions back in twenty twenty two, won a championship. Then
he was with the XFL Renegades last year won a championship that way, and
so now this is kind of the Coach Heinbach Invitational here for the kickoff with
the Stallions coming, you know, with the Renegades hosting the Stallions and chalk
TOAs so lots of interesting comments from coach Heinbach getting ready for the season and
what's it like kind of all these familiar faces coming back around and his thoughts
heading into this season. We chatted with him twice last year during the season
and then after his championship wins, so it should be a good interview that
way. And then Anthony Miller coming on. Busiest man in the Spring football
here with Sports illustrated covering all of the UFL stuff. We'll be chatting.
Final roster cuts are coming out for some of the teams, getting Anthony's thoughts
on training camp and the season, and kind of previewing all of that stuff.
So three big interviews. I appreciate everybody all the time. I hope
you guys enjoy, like and subscribe. We'll see at the end. Thanks.
Well, here we go. This is exciting, many emails getting ready
for this. We have the executive vice President Football Operations here, Darryl Johnson
with UFL. Now, I wore I did have to wear my Washington commander's
hat today. I had to make a stand. But maybe we could pretend
it's the AAF commanders if that makes you feel better. How are you,
sir, I'm good, I'm good. No. Dan Quinn is one of
my favorite people in the world. So it's all good. It's all good.
Yeah, Big Yeah, Big is here for that. That could be
a whole different conversation about all that. I say this. You know,
we're kind of week three, getting into week four training camp here, welfare
check for you you kind of how is everything gone? It's been really good?
You know, I think obviously it's something perfect. You know, we've
had some some bumps in the road, But I think the big thing is,
you know, overall, when we looked at it, it's us trying
to hold ourselves to that high standard. So this week we finally got a
little bit of downtime and we're able to kind of circle back and go through
the onboarding process. You know, where where could we have been a little
bit better, get to that car wash component where we create all the production
elements that will be there as part of the broadcast and in studio, and
where can we get better there? Off boarding? You know, we cut
one hundred and thirty six players on the sixteenth seventeenth, so you know,
I think the big thing there was just kind of that that travel component,
the timing, where's a good time to start, so, you know,
where can we get better there? So that that's been really kind of us
being a little bit picky, but everything being taken into consideration. You know,
Russ always tells us, you know, we're I think on day sixty
two or sixty three of actually being an official league. So where we are
now and what we've done through that process, you know, everybody take a
lot of pride in what you're doing. So but it's been great to watch
everybody still hold that high standard as we're working and moving along. But training
camp itself, the players, I think that that was one of the big
things. We heard it from the coaches how hard it was to cut from
seventy five down to fifty eight. We heard it from the players where when
you walked onto the field and it was fifty eight guys in the USFL,
you could kind of look at the landscape and go, I'm going to be
good. I'm going to make the fifty this year at seventy five. Hearing
the guys talking about the first couple of days of practice and looking around and
watching the guys and then saying, this is going to be a very competitive
two weeks, you know, to get that roster spot. So I think
that the hard part about doing the merger when you talk about the loss of
the players that we're going to be a part of the league moving forward,
the coaches that we're going to be a part of the league moving forward.
Our first test has really shown that we really did upgrade the level of talent,
you know, across the league. And I still feel like fifty eight
to fifty is going to be challenging. It's it's going to be even that
that finer part, and it's I think it's gonna be fun for us to
see the coaches, you know, kind of that back end of the roster,
because this is going to be you know, the guys that are adding
depth and creating special team spots. I feel very confident that everybody's you know,
they've got there too deep, just like the NFL's as you're kind of
winding down and getting ready to start that season opener. So where are those
hard decisions now made on that that backup depth and how important they are in
the special teams component of the game. Is that kind of your selling point?
I guess for you know, going into this merger, right and there's
a lot of fan bases. I'm I'm in Seattle here, you know,
obviously a lot of these. Is the selling point because it shouldn't be one
plus one is two, right with the XFL and the US develo. It
should be Okay, we're getting these fan bases and then also new fans.
Is it that elevated you know level of football? You know, we don't
have the player fifty four brand, Like, what is your selling point in
your mind of this new merged league. Yeah, that's great that you just
said that. You know, we talk about one plus one equals three point
five. You know, we need to be able to do that. It
has to be an elevated expectation from us at the at the top and to
start those conversations so it flows down throughout the organization, throughout the league.
So that's that's definitely one of the bigger parts there as we're going through this.
I think one of the things that that we've started to have conversations is
what do we want our new messaging to be. You know what we do
want to kind of move off of the developmental component. We want to get
away from the opportunity component. We want to talk about the talent of the
players that are in this league. We want to talk about the sustainability of
spring football now that these two leagues have joined together and have elevated the talent
that we're going to see, you know, going to all the various talent
halls during the course of the build up to the season. You know,
we talked about the level of talent in this league being the best since you
had Reggie White, Jim Kelly, Herschel, Walker, Mike Rosier, Steve
Young. You know, back in the day when spring Foot was trying to
go head to head with the NFL and paying big contracts to get that talent
there, This is going to be the first time that you're going to see,
you know, that that type of talent. I'm not saying we've got
Hall of famers on our rosters right now, but spring football that you have
seen in other iterations, this will be the best talent that if you're a
fan of spring football you'll have seen in recent history. I know you said,
you know, a rush job here, right just with all the circumstances
this season, kind of getting in in your mind, what would off season
look like, you know, next year? What will be kind of the
ideal in terms of getting the marketing and everything in place, because I think
we are kind of getting through the best we can right now. Yeah,
I think the big thing is is just getting our calendar set, getting venue
availability set, being able to get our schedule set that allows us to release
ticket sales earlier. You know that that's been one of the harder things.
I think single single game tickets went on side on Saling Detroit five days ago.
So it has been challenging. So just having all the elements that we
can control next year going into the off season and making sure that we are
we are checking boxes as soon as we possibly can so we can lighten that
burden on the back end of it. And one of the hardest things was
venue availability and scheduling, you know, coming down to the wire this year,
you know, based on on how we were going to pull this off,
so that that's something that will be way ahead of the curve. With
that way, we can start to talk to our fans about what what the
games are going to be, you know in market. Uh So, just
being ahead of that is going to be a tremendous help. And it's one
of those things that I'm sure a lot of people don't think about. You
know, we get focused on the football, but all those moving parts that
that are really kind of driving a lot of the revenue components was was really
late coming on board this year, and we've got to be much much further
ahead down the road, not only for us, but but also for our
fans so they can start to plan. Are we happy with the March thirtieth?
Is that a stop gap this season. How do we feel about that.
I think that that's another one of the big items. It'll be up
for discussion, you know. I think it was a necessity this year,
you know, to push it back a little bit. We didn't want to
get it too far back. We were always talking about trying to find that
happy medium in between Legacy XFL and Legacy USFL. When you talk about start
dates, you know, this kind of slotted that we're still having conversations about
some of those iconic sports events that we would be in direct competition with depending
on the start date. You know, how do we feel about going up
against the NCAA tournament when that goes into full swing. How do we feel
about being, you know, on the same weekend as the Masters. So
there's some things there that we have to talk about. But again with the
trust and the belief in the league and then the support from the fans and
the viewers, that really helps us to have some honest conversations there, and
just growing up as a league and being able to do some things regionally that
we had to do this year just based on the timing of this schedule that
we just talked about, that that makes us a little bit more mature moving
forward. Can we stay off the busy day of the NCAA tournament on a
Saturday and a Sunday because we can regionalize games and maybe steal some windows in
there. It's really that first weekend that that really is the one that's going
to be hard to compete against because the games are on almost all day long.
But okay, so that's going to be a challenge for us. How
do we do our best job there? But those other weekends, do we
feel like now with some open windows that we could we could regionalize some things
and have current games going on at the same time. So there's some things
that just as we develop and stay ahead of the curve, and I think
we can navigate the masters as well. You know, there's some things there
that we could do. So I think as we start to become a league
that has the trust of its fan base and and kind of locks them in
from a viewership standpoint, that they'll come find where we are, that they'll
make time to sit down and watch, you know. I think that that
opens the discussion to be a little bit more flexible when when we want that
start day to be on the calendar. You talked about that legacy XFL and
legacy USFL. Obviously, you know you've been around kind of both, you
know, past and I've even had it. I'm sure you're a good friend
Coach Heinbach on here this week as well as talking and someone that's been on
both sides. How was kind of that marrying of the ideas because I want
to talk about the rules here too briefly, but you know there's a lot
of things that kind of both leagues held dear and obviously you know a little
bit of shots taken back and forth. So how was kind of this marrying
of the two ideas. Yeah, it's you know, we're all competitors,
so you know, we all had, you know, the beliefs, you
know in what our league had done well, and they had their beliefs and
what they had done well. And that was going to be the biggest challenge,
you know, can we check our egos at the door and really follow
what we've been talking about, which is let's make sure we get the best
practices in line with the UFL and not let our egos get in the way.
So that was something I think we did a really good job of I
mean, there were some things that we that we admired, that we liked
that the XFL did, And talking with Russ Brandon and Doug Whaley and Rush
Jillio, there were some things that you know, that we had done in
the USFL that they liked, thought that we executed very well. So when
when you can have those open conversations, it makes things a lot easier.
And we probably had two or three that were kind of the sticky ones,
and it was really kind of like you would do in politics. I mean,
you've got to bring people from the other side of the aisle to your
side and see the value in doing what you're doing. So, you know,
on those items, it was a little bit more of a sell.
But again staying in that posture of listen, you know what is best for
the league moving forward, and I think we were able to do a really
really good job there. And as you talk about the rules, you know
that that was one of the areas, you know, where we can give
you some concrete examples of that. Well. Yeah, and just you know
what, I because I was talking with people, say hey, you know,
I think we're going to get Daryl Johnson out here. They said,
you got to ask about because the kickoff rule here, and obviously you were
part of both. I think the comments of it not looking like real football
might have upset some of the XFL fans, especially considering maybe the NFL adopting
it here in the future. Was that really this digging point. Do you
have any clarifications on those comments, because I think that was I think it
upset some kind of XFL like og Homers, if that makes sense. Yeah.
I don't think I ever said I said we wanted a more traditional look.
I don't think I ever said it doesn't look like real football. If
I did that, that was not my intent. I would never disparage anybody.
I think what we talked about is it looked more like traditional football,
which we wanted. We wanted movement at the kick and for us, that
wasn't That was not the selling point. That was not the huge one.
The biggest thing for us is is really looking at you know, what do
special teams provide for our players. We can have a Cavante Turpin story,
we can have a Brandon Aubrey story, but there's a lot of other stories
there where it's the third tight end, it's the fourth safety. It's the
fifth corner that makes an NFL roster because they've had an opportunity to see how
effective he is on special teams as a cover guy and as a blocker or
return guys. So that was one of the big things that we wanted to
take into consideration and bring to the table from the USFL side when we talked
about the kickoff. The number one item in this whole conversation is player health
and safety. So the returns were almost identical. When we talked about the
numbers, they were both right around ninety one point four ninety one point three
percent. When we looked at the medical data, the medical data was on
par as well. There was not a significant increase in any types of injuries
with the legacy USFL style compared to the legacy XFL style. So that is
the most important element that we want to look at, and then we also
want to look at what is the best opportunity for our players to get noticed,
to be seen, and have that opportunity to get to the NFL.
So we kind of went that direction. Now with all this conversation about the
NFL potentially adopting what the XFL, did you know that that does change things.
But what we will do is we will continue to move forward with the
plan that we had in place, and if at any point, if injuries
start to become an issue on our style kickoff, we will make a change.
And I think that that's one of the things that we've demonstrated from legacy
USFL. We had other situations during the course of our first two years where
there were issues and we're not again, you know, check your ego at
the door. You know, we tried something, it didn't work, let's
move off of it. We listened to the input from our players all the
time, so we want to be stewards of the game that do it the
right way. Sometimes we make a decision and it may not be the right
one, but this was something that we felt was very important. There were
other ones that the XFL felt was very important and we steered their way,
but I know that this was the big one and there was a lot of
people talking about it, and quite honestly, when you look at our league,
we have four head coaches that want to know why we're doing it this
way, and four head coaches that are fine that we're doing it this way.
So there are still some attachments from your previous leagues, and that's going
to be stuff that we that we navigate through the course of season one here
in the UFL. But the biggest thing I wanted to get out there is
if I said it doesn't look like real football, I apologize. I never
meant to disparage, you know, that style of kickoff. What we what
I thought I said, and what I hope I did was more traditional.
We wanted to look like a more traditional kickoff with movement at the time of
the kick. So that was that was from an esthetic point, in a
viewership point. But the most important thing is we can't even have that conversation
if our medical data is not similar to what the XFL's medical data was.
Two questions here on the We're you hopped on the earlier. I want to
keep you too long here. I appreciate your time in terms that you were
talking about that the four coaches transitioning and how has that gone with We had
Curtis Johnson on last week with the Roughnecks now and transitioning to the the USFL,
you know, adopting kind of the XFL branding with that, and trying
to build the fan base there in Houston. How do you think that that's
gone that transition to kind of have the fore and for Yeah, that that
was one of our kind of unique situations is the Houston market. And I
think that that's probably one of our best examples because that really comes down to,
you know, a team that's going to have a lot of change.
You know. The rough Necks moniker is is something that I think resonates a
little bit more when you talk about, you know, what you know the
city of Houston and the surrounding area and and what the oil industry has has
meant to that community. I think there's a better connection there. So we
really felt that that it would it would be good to go with the Roughnecks
as opposed to the Gamblers. And then we wanted to make sure that there
was balance and and and how we were bringing in staff. So it was
really okay, Curtis, You're you're going to have your staff, your roster
in place as you move forward, but we're going to bring the XFL moniker
and color scheme over to you. Uh and and it's been fantastic and my
my happiest moment this year is going to be on the thirty first is going
to be great to kick off, you know, on opening day with Birmingham
versus Arlington as our two champions from last season go head to head. But
for me, I'm gonna be down in Houston because Houston gets to play in
the home market for the first time, and that's something that I'm really really
excited about. All of our other teams have been able to do that.
We were in Birmingham, we were in Memphis, we were in Detroit.
Houston was the loan survivor from the merger that never got an opportunity to play
in front of their home market. So I'm really really excited for Curtis Johnson
and his staff and his players to finally have a true home game. They
were playing in Birmingham in year one, they were playing in Memphis in year
two. This is gonna be their first opportunity. So I'm really excited about
that, and I think that that creates a great example. I was at
the town hall, you know, earlier this year in Houston, and there's
a tremendous amount of support there. They're just happy that they made the merger
and that they're going to have football in the spring in the city at Houston.
Last one for me here and this is near and dear to kind of
a lot of different the online Fantasy Sports Better is kind of all that stuff
in terms of injury reports this year and trying to kind of broaden that fan
base to get people to do that. Do you know how the lead's going
to be handling that and the XFL would kind of send them out. USFL
was not as transparent about it, and I know there's various methology behind that,
but do you guys know about that? And trying to be able to
make sure that people are informed so that they can follow in bed and do
all the fantasy stuff. I think we were very transparent in the USFL.
I think we just followed probably a more rigid NFL style of release. So,
you know, the one thing that we've talked about, you know,
during the course of the merger, when it's about information that's going out,
the most important thing is the information is correct. It's not about who gets
it out there first. So the number one thing is the accuracy. And
if we are going to have gambling, then that accuracy has to be spot
on. And so we just we followed a more traditional, you know,
NFL style model. When you talked about the injury reporting on the daily reports.
You know, when we get forty eight hours, you know who's active,
who's inactive. You know, we'll have some of the mechanisms that we
had in the legacy UFL to make changes there within ninety minutes, within thirty
minutes, because we actually had a thirty minute change that we that we enacted
I think in year one in the USFL, and that was something that Jim
Pop brought to the table that I never thought was going to happen, and
then all of a sudden it does. So, you know, I felt
that we were transparent last year. You know, I think sometimes, you
know, we were a little bit protective, but I don't think we ever
tried to hide anything. I think we really tried to stay to the NFL
timelines when you get into the game day status report and then the active inactive
report as we're leading up to the game. We we know how important that
information is to the sports betting fan community, so we know we have to
be spot on, and that's why we challenged everybody, you know how important
this this information is to be kept, you know, close to the vest
within the league until it's supposed to be released, so you'll probably see something
that's more USFL than you saw from XFL last year. But that's not to
hide anything. That's not a lack of transparency. That's really just our mission
to make sure anything that comes out that's sensitive like that is one hundred percent
accurate. When we released that from the league perfect, I just see.
I know that's I always want to make sure. I asked that when you
get people on because I know that's very important. So Daryl, I really
appreciate it. I know it's crazy busy. Thank you for taking the time
today and comping on early even so appreciate it. You got it, no
problem, enjoy the conversation. Well, the last time, last couple of
times we've had coach time Bock on. I think the first time was the
most viewed episode I think we had had ever for a single guest coming on.
And then last time, I know we went viral for talking about the
XFL Championship trophy being able to be flipped upside down and drank out of so
lots of my expectations today, Coach, i'mbock. How are you doing,
sir? I'm doing well. Thanks for bringing up some good memories. It's
good. This is exciting back again now again. First off, what were
three weeks into training camp? Kind of how is life for you here?
Welfare check? It's going well. It's a little bit of Groundhog's day.
Every day in training camp. It seems to be the same routine. But
you know, the guys have been great, the guys on this team that
Rick Mueller's put together on this roster. Every single day they come in,
they're ready to learn, They're ready to put good things on tape and really
improve their craft. So I was just talking to a couple guys around the
league. I think we only have right now one returning player on the offensive
line from last year's championship team. So that just speaks to the volume of
how good the talent is right now and just how this league is continuing to
evolve in terms of kind of getting ready. We had scrimmages right and then
we had open practice here and fans coming. How do you feel like the
guys are acclimating here and how is kind of the team chemistry coming together.
It's a little bit different of a field this season because we've had the opportunity
to get together with some other teams we've seen. We've had three different occasions.
Two times we've done an organized practice with the Houston Roughnecks, which has
been great. Know a lot of their coaches and have the utmost respect for
them, and they came in and it was a very business like type of
a feel at the stadium, and I think they wanted to be in the
stadium with us. It was great to be at Chalktaw just moving the ball
up and down the field and doing some situational work. And then we get
a chance to go against Memphis and kind of an organized practice over at Mansfield.
So it's been good. It's kind of broken up the monotony of training
camp in terms of, you know, obviously being with the USFL here whatever,
and then coming back over thoughts here on kind of all this coming together
here? Would you have ever expected kind of to be in this situation now
and facing Birmingham the first week? I mean kind of a really weird situation
to be what do you make of kind of this merged Premier Spring Football League
Now it's all come full circle. I mean, there's so many familiar faces
for me in my career, I've spent a lot of time north of the
border in the Canadian Football League and to look over across the sideline and see
a guy like Jim Pop, who I've had, you know, We've celebrated
some great Cup championship wins together in Montreal and Toronto together, and to see
him as part of the brass with the league is great. And then also
to see Moos Johnson, who he and I were together in the AAF back
in the day with the San Antonio Commanders and with his vision for the league.
And then yesterday I walked into Choctaw Stadium with Skip Holtz, and so
it's really neat. Everybody just loves to be a part of something. I
think we've got the right pieces to the puzzle being able to put this league
together. It was hard. It was a little bit difficult, I'll be
honest. When the league kind of we didn't really know where we stood and
our contracts ran out all of a sudden, there's talk of a merger.
We didn't know which teams would make it. And I'm very fortunate, very
blessed to be a part of Bob's staff again. But to see those guys
across the sideline and in the league just builds the excitement and appreciation to be
a part of this. Yeah, what's it like Havin Darryl kind of in
charge of football ops again here and obviously you've had lots of experience with him,
but now different feelings here in camp now or how is that going?
Well? The one thing I'll always say about Moose is he's a guy that's
not afraid to roll up his sleeves. I remember when we were together in
the USFL a few years ago, when I was with Birmingham, I would
see Moose. You know, everybody sees him as on TV the executive,
the ex player, those type of things, doing the commentating, but he's
rolling up his sleeves, loading gatorade onto the bus or players to go,
you know, have an off site practice. I mean, he's boots on
the ground. He's a guy that I think football people respect. I know
the coaches appreciate his insight. It's great to see him just on an occasion.
I know we're both running around with us game playing and practice and he's
got a million things going on, but true appreciation and excitement about where these
things are going. Right now in terms of Arlington with Chuck now kind of
running as O see difference as for the offense or things, you know,
the seeing different changes there. Well, there's always change here. There's going
to be change based on your roster. I mean, we have a lot
of new fresh faces. Obviously, guys like Luis Prez and you know Davion
Smith and you know Tyler Vaughn. Some of those guys were staples for us
last year. But we've got new guys coming in with new skills, and
so the offense is going to change and more. We're going to try to
get the ball in guy's hands and let them, you know, let him
create and let them put good things on tape. I've worked with Chuck before,
so very blessed to be with him. He was a head coach at
San Diego State when I was working with him, So good to be reunited
again. And now we've got a background for what our players can handle.
Last year, I don't think we really knew what we had. We threw
that, We kind of threw a playbook at him, saw what stuck.
And as people watch this league, those are truly familiar with the league.
So how much offense change, how much defensive changed? Because you kind of
introduce concepts and you see what your players can handle. And the guys really
took on a great role in putting this offense together. So it's been fun
to see year two now picking the ball up and running with it. And
it's been fun just to see the new guys really elevate because the older guys
they're forcing the tempo, they're really you know, Luis has been a great
leader, a great example for the guys, So we've really been pushing them
hard. And I heard one of the guys say, this is the biggest
install they've ever had, even in NFL training camps, And we've got a
lot of offense in and now it's our job as coaches to peel it back
and make a real concise game plan as we go into week one and figure
out who we are. Is it harder building an offensive line now with a
couple fewer roster spots and there were I know that there's some changes here going
into the season. Yeah, less numbers is a little bit more difficult.
When we were in the USFL two years ago, had about the same numbers
then, so it was a luxury a year ago to have some more bodies
in the room. But more is not always better, and you know,
I say that with a little bit of reservations, just because you want to
have more time to evaluate players. But I think the quality of player is
much better this year. Look at the additions we put into, you know,
just into our roster, and I'm looking around with the other groups.
It's a really seasoned, veteran group. And not guys that are you know,
multiple spring Spring league players. It's guys with lots of quality starting NFL
experience, and so that's exciting to see the background guys have and the professionalism
that walks in the door every day. One of the big conversation points we
had when year on before was the start of the season, right, and
obviously this year there was a lot of you know, we're starting a little
later here, and I think kind of everyone understands why, but thoughts on
that which the March thirtieth, you like that, is that still enough time,
because I know that was a big selling point for you with the XFL,
was the earlier start. Yeah, I think, you know, it's
one of those things you just deal with the schedule. I think hopefully now
with us being on major national broadcast is going to be helpful for the league.
But you know, for us, I mean, we're so much further
along year two than year one. I don't know that our camp was any
shorter. It's just a little later in the year, and I think it
gave guys a little bit more of a chance to figure out are they going
to sign an NFL futures deal or are they going to come play and get
actual film, And I think that's maybe the appeal. Sure, a little
bit later, we're backed up to NFL training camps and maybe they missed some
OTAs, But I mean, players are players, and if you play well,
you're going to get noticed. And so we hope to be able to
allow guys to prolong their professional career and whether it be with us or somebody
else, or having the opportunity down the road. You know, I think
player wise, they probably wanted an earlier start, But for US, coaches
were ready to go, and you know, we're chomping at the bit to
get this first game started. In terms of kind of XFL before it was
a lot of player fifty four ride and recognizing the opportunity and a lot with
DJ and all of that. This year, where we don't we're like we're
in the premier league where the premier spring football league where you've been around so
many of these what would you like to see kind of this new UF identity
be because it's still I mean, and again we're kind of rush here,
headed up this season, but it feels like we're so kind of trying to
figure out what we wanted that latch onto. Yeah. I think just putting
good quality content on TV and giving these guys a chance to show their skills.
I think with having a small group of returning players is good and familiarity
with our staff, and we've had obviously continuity in our coaching staff. Everybody
that is with us currently was on the coaching staff last year. A little
bit harder because we have a smaller staff size now, so there's a little
bit more responsibility on each coach and just with the staff size, that's probably
one of the biggest issues that we've had to deal with the smaller staffs.
And now we've gone to just seasonal pay with coaches, and so that makes
it a little bit more difficult maybe for retaining coaches down the road. But
I think the identity of the league, I think people will see much improved
product, maybe a little bit more polished like it was towards the end of
the season last year. With the returning players and continuity and coaching staffs,
I think all those things definitely play out, But you need new players every
single year. You don't want guys that are, you know, five year
spring football veterans. I mean, you want to wish them the best.
I had two of my favorites, Brian Folkertz and Mike Horton, who played
for US last year, and both of them are moving on to different phases
of their life. Brian's coaching right now and Mike's just a new dad.
So it's exciting to have a small part of those guys professional football career and
looking forward to seeing what this new group can put on TV here shortly.
What is it like the expectations are with the league here now for in terms
of growth coming out of this and obviously without the competition, it's a little
more, but obviously there's this immediacy where we still need to kind of make
a mark of have you got the sense of kind of what the expectations are
they're hoping to hit? You know, that's above my pay grade. Freedom
It's one of those where we just I try to put together the best offensive
line and give these guys a chance to be successful and put an offensive game
plan together that is going to, you know, make our fans proud.
And so you know, as far as beyond that for the large scope of
the league, you know, I think I'm gonna stay in my lane and
do my thing and enjoy coaching this unit, this group. You know,
I just want to throw a shout out to Rick Mueller, our general manager.
He's done an incredible job of finding talent, finding players, creating competition
in camp, and so I think the fans are going to like what they
see, not just early on, but throughout the full season. In terms
of coaching staff. Here, I'll let you go here. Here, I
see the time, lots of shuffling everything. When you look over at Birmingham,
you know a lot of similar phases there is that have they kind of
set the standard in terms of what your expectations are for spring football team and
how challenging is that going to be to kind of come in and see them
here opening week? I think it's just day by day. You know,
Skip's done a phenomenal job with his staff. A lot of guys returned back
from our coaching staff two years ago. So I know Bill Johnson and Corey're
back over there with coach Javis with john so great continuity on their staff,
but same thing with ours. Bob is a great one to work for.
You know, really empowers as coaches, let us put a game plan together,
and it's fun to come to work every single day. And when you
know, really there's only been one real run in with Birmingham. You know,
our very first walkthrough, we look up and there's like fifteen of their
guys sitting there watching our practice at Chalktaw and I don't think they even really
realized what they were doing. Other than that, like, we really haven't
seen Birmingham. They practice in the afternoons, we're in the mornings. We're
both super busy. We need to take care of our own teams rather than
worrying about the other guys. And you know, we'll see them in a
couple of weeks. And it's really a unique setup that we have sharing a
practice facility and appreciate what the league has done and given us a chance to
you know, showcase what we can do out there. Last thing for me,
I know that you know and obviously coaching and kind of above all this.
But we've set up this dynamic right of the XFL Conference versus the USFL
Conference, right, and we're leaning into the you know, the kickoff game
and all that stuff. We were talking with Darius Victor like, is there
any sense of rivalry between that you view that? And obviously you've been on
both sides of the warfield here, but is there a censor of pride of
that or is it just these eight teams? I'm curious how you view that
as a coach. Yeah, I mean I've been on both sides. I've
been a veteran of spring football leagues and loved this climate. You're working with
professionals and guys that are really trying to make a livelihood and you know for
us as coaches doing the same thing. Also, sure, there's always competition.
You want to win. This is professional football, that's what it is.
But there's a common respect all the way across the board for the coaches,
for the players, for what everybody is is putting on the line and
the hours and the blood, sweat and tears that's put into this thing.
So sure it's going to be a great rivalry. I think it's going to
be good football. I think people are going to like what they see,
and it gives the fans a little bit of an excitement to get their home
teams back playing in all the markets. I think that's great. We're excited
to be here five of the five of the home games, and we only
have to travel for five, like everybody else has got to travel for every
single one, even if they're home games. So we're looking forward to it
and excited to see the fans out here for the opener. Is going to
be a great start to the season. Well, I'll be down there.
I appreciate it. Thanks for making the time today on the Sunday means a
lot, so I appreciate it. Thanks reading see you man Well. I
spent a good five minutes here trying to figure out which commanders had I wanted
to wear. Its the best Divestro Anthony Miller here. But if I wear
Commander's hat to trol the executive vice President of Football Operations for the UFL,
I can also do the same for you as we have Anthony Miller here.
Really nice because we like we a lot of shots back and forth in private
DMS. It's good to be on here and will be professional and polite today.
I really appreciate it. How are you, sir? I am doing
good. You know, my condolences on Cale. William's gonna bear down instead
of take command. But you know it's been good. I'm doing good.
You know. I read these scattered reports and we'll see, you know,
every day I kind of go back and forth of like I'm either heartbroken or
not so Anthony in Arlington here, he's going to join us next week.
We're doing our UFL show, had the chance to go to scrimmages last weekend.
Had been a part of a lot of the media calls with the coaches
and writing articles such for Its Illustrated, I have your one here talking about
the Arlington cuts today. So timeline wise, final cuts reduced South some of
the teams are rolling them out. Now, how are you? I guess
I always just ask a top welfare check kind of we're a week from kickoff,
like, how are we feeling? It's it's just a different feeling than
it's been in other years because I feel like there's if I feel like every
year that we're covering these leagues, there's more uncertainty because you just don't know
if you're gonna get to the next year because it's like, Okay, the
XFO lasted in twenty well at least this version of the XFL is twenty twenty
and twenty twenty three. USFL was twenty two and twenty three, and it's
like, Okay, we've done a couple of years of this, Like you're
kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop, Like when when is this
actually gonna just flop? And I don't want it to, like I'd love
for this league to work, but you know, there's just so much uncertainty,
but like, how is this year going to go? You know,
I'm really interested to see what what the attendance is gonna be, Like what
are the ratings gonna be? Like, I mean, there there's gonna be
a lot more games on national television, which is great, you know,
with with Fox kind of taking about half of the games on their network.
But there's just so much uncertainty that you know, I just kind of I'm
playing a wait and see thing. It's gonna be a week by week thing,
like let's see what happens in week one, Let's see what happens in
week two. You know, let's see if it's a leak and you know,
there's gonna be a dip in some capacity when it comes down to attendance
and ratings. It's just a matter of you know, is it going to
be a small percentage. It's a small percentage, and I think it's a
success if it. If it's a big drop, like you know, forty
fifty percent for both, you know, throughout the year, then I think
there's gonna be a lot of concern about next year. So I know,
like everyone loves talking about expansion. I get that's all we hear every week,
is everyone like, oh, we're gonna expand the twelve teams. We're
gonna expand it. Like, no, let's just let's get through this year.
Let's see if we can make a profit, and then you know,
maybe two three years down the road, let then we can maybe add two
more teams. But I just want to be I just want to see this
league be profitable with the eight teams they have now. Yeah, I almost
kind of did a rant on this podcast because I've recorded everything else and I
decided not to just because you know, kind of keep a professional with Darryl
and every went on here. But yeah, you know, obviously that's like
the hot button thing I don't to me, uh, save for the expansion
talk, I don't sense a lot of hotness right now about this, right
I think the Larry David on Rich Eisen today complaining about the goalpost and going
to the rock about it is probably the most I've seen about this league in
weeks. It feels like, and like I said, we're you know,
we're eight days from kickoff here. You know, we'll be in Arlington a
week from you know, a week from when this episode airs. So that's
where I am concerned. Opening game. I'm very concerned. I need to
look at ticket sales and how the maps are going. But I'm a little
worry ward. Yeah, so I was, Look, people love nostalgia,
So like when the XFL came back in twenty twenty, I think everyone was
super excited because, like, you know, what kind of XFL we're gonna
It's been twenty years since this has happened, so everybody was watching. The
ratings were really good, the attendance was good. You know, everyone was
excited to see you know, USFL twenty twenty two. I think people were
excited. It's like it's been thirty forty years since this league has come.
But now that we've gone through it over the last couple of years, I
think people are just, I hate to say, like they're starting to lose
you know, patience and they're like, I don't really know if I believe
in this thing anymore. I mean, these leads aren't making any progress.
In fact, they merge and they cut half of their teams. So it's
kind of a you know, for the casual football fan, it's like,
you know, why should I be engaged with it? It seems like these
you know, teams are coming and going all the time. It's like,
why would I be attached to them? So, I mean, yeah,
I agree with you. I don't think there's been enough attention on this that
we've seen in the past. There was a lot of excitement with the XFL
over the last few years. There was more excitement with the USFL in the
last couple of years. The UFL is kind of like, you know,
they put this thing together in two three months and you know, just hoping
that there's going to get a lot of attention. They need to do a
lot more in the next week on you know, advertising and getting out on
these ESPN shows and Fox shows to really push for this product because right now,
I just don't. I agree with you, I don't really see enough
of it. And I've been looking at you know, Ticketmaster and seeing the
seats and you know, for like Arlington, and you know, at least
for Arlington, I've seen there's still a lot of open seats. I mean,
there's there's thousands of seats that are still open, you know, even
for Saint Louis, I still think there's a ton of seats that are still
open to be you know, bought. So I'm really interested to see what,
you know, they can turn it around in the next week and get
a lot of people in the stands. That'd be great. But yeah,
I think I'm trying to be a little cautious this time around and kind of
see how this thing goes week by week. Yeah, I think that's how
a lot of the people forget that Greg Parks has been on. I always
kind of judge a and it will talk real football here too, if people
are listening. I want to kind of I always like to set the stage
here with some of this stuff. I judge. Looking at other people's content
as well as my own writers are an upswing and YouTube views. You know
people are are they searching that? I don't feel that, and I always
kind of judge if I get out by a lot of like CFL people like
to come on their shows, like the Rod Peterson's of the World. I
did one podcast this week with my friend with Third Down Gamble, one of
the CFL guys. But like you know, normally the last couple of years,
hey, Red, like, tell me about this USFL thing, Hey
read tell me about all that stuff. I will say. Darryl in his
interview, I think was very transparent about, hey, we're doing the best
we can right now. We relate to the game is we're trying to build
all this in two months. You know, this is right, This is
a situation we are in and we really need to stop down going into next
year, which is great. The concern is always like, well what if
there is no next year? You know, that was why I was so
upset about the merch. When the merch came out and people said, well,
you got to give them time. Then one thing then that this stuff
has this time. So I think they're aware that this is not the ideal
timeline that they are in. But also, like you could have played this
season out or that. I mean, there was a myriad of things they
could have done to get to hear. But I do think they're at least
aware of like we're trying to do the best we can right now. So
that that makes me a little more encourage. That gives me more encouragement to
hear that they if they they're self aware, like, Okay, we know
this this year may not be the smoothest, it may not be the best
experience, but let's at least get something out on television and let's show,
you know, the players are gonna shell out at the end of the day,
Like, as long as we get the players enough time to go through
training camp and stuff like that, like the players are gonna ball out.
Maybe maybe it may not be the best presentation. Maybe those fan experience may
not be as great as we want it to be, but hey, at
least these players are gonna go out, they're gonna put a good television product
and maybe we can start building for next year. So I'm at least glad
that they're you know that Daryl was you know, open about that, because
that I think a lot of us feel that same way. I just hope
that you know, they understand that and like, hey, let's you know,
we know there's going to be a next season. That's the that's the
concern is like like you said, like we don't have enough time, Like
is there really going to be a next season? If they're aware of that,
then that makes me think like they have to be like we have to
do this in twenty twenty five and maybe twenty twenty five is the deal breaker
year if they know this year is not gonna be it. Yeah, I
just like you said, I it's always you know, you put this out
and I don't you know, if it's not at the you know, there's
all you know, if we put something out at subpar or did it into
the like is there our people engage? You know? I saw h we
I mean I noticed that a lot with the USFL, the you know,
the twenty twenty two season where they have all those eyeballs on the weekend and
they had that truncated training camp and those games are really sloppy outside of the
home you know, the kind of the main kickoff one and you saw viewership
leg after that because you come out this is your one. But you know,
like hindbox and you'd say, you know, he feels, you know,
confident the teams are going. And Curtis Johnson was on last week.
I mean he feels you know, it seems like they feel that the teams
are kind of up to speed. Here. You went to the scrimmages last
weekend. First off, you know, fan interest wise, I know,
was raining. How was that? And then how was kind of the football
stuff you saw? You know, it took a little bit, you know,
I made the comment to you guys at first, like, oh,
there's not a lot of people here, so I was a little concerned,
like, Okay, it's not the best weather. But the rain held off
a lot. More fans started coming in around nine thirty ten o'clock, and
it was actually from a fan perspective, there was a there was a lot
of fans out there. There was a couple of hundred that were there,
and I think it was a really good turnout. I think it was just
as good of it ended up being just as good of a turnout as it
was last year. So one, I was impressed with that. Two,
I will say the Renning Gade practice this year, that team looks like they're
better than last year, and and I mean every team should be better.
There they've gotten. You know, when you cut half the teams and you're
inheriting all these good players like they do look you know, you should look
better. But I will say, like there returning players that are coming back
for Arlington. Like I remember last year when I came on your show,
I talked about I had major concerns about the receiving corps. I just didn't
think they had enough playmakers. This year, you got Tyler Vaughn's Javonte Payton
who were back from last year. Both of them looked great. Isaiah Win
said, who wasn't on the team last year, Isaiah looked great in practice.
Like there is a lot of good receivers on the team, you know,
that includes South Canel at tight end. Like this offense looks really stellar.
Louis Perez was near perfect in practice. He looked really good. Offensive
line is as strong as it's ever been. You know, Coach Highbuck's done
a really good job with that offensive line. That's why he's always been considered
the best offensive line coach you know in these spring leagues. But the offense
looked good. The defense was solid, Like I feel like, in general,
this running Gades team is really put together better than they were last year,
and I have a lot more confidence that they could play at a high
level like they did late in the season last year. So I think they're
gonna win the title. I mean, I don't think so. I think
there's other teams that are stronger than them, but I do think this is
this team is better than they were last year and they should be competitive.
Well, it's interesting because, like you said, you're getting the consolidation of
these teams, right, so we're kind of hand cherry picking the best players.
And then also you do get some of this continuity now right where we
saw that with the USFL going from season one to two and just having that.
You know, it's so hard to build that chemistry and you make training
camp and do all that stuff, but you know it's halfway through the season
before you're even and we even see that with NFL teams, right, and
so continuity to be able to come back, I think has to help it.
You know, And obviously there's kind of the mix and the roughnecks are
kind of all that, but you know, in general, you're kind of
gidding a lot of these guys back together. Well, I think the one
advantage the Renegades have over I think any team in this league is Coach Dukes
literally brought everyone back, Like everyone is back outside of the you know the
Jonathan Hayes and Tim Blue, you know Tim Blewett, they're not there anymore,
but everyone else is back. So this is the same coaches have they
had last year. I think it helps that you have someone like Louis Perez
who was in this offense last year. Plus Louis Perez has played for like
five million different teams and knows how to you know, jump on a team,
learn quickly, and move on. So that I mean he's I think
he's one of the smartest quarterbacks in the spring leagues because he's had to be.
He's been traded multiple times, He's bounced between teams, and he's had
to learn different offenses very quickly, and I think that gives him an advantage
over most quarterbacks in this league. So I think when you a lot of
the players are back from last year, the majority of the team that won
the championship is back. Outside of a few players like that, I think
having that commonuity is going to be an advantage for the running gades, because
I think this is maybe one of the tighter knit teams in the league compared
to the other seven you're talking. You know, Luis coming back, right,
that was a big you know, big news and Taomu coming back ag
mccerrn. You know, besides the Matt Kroll, Like you know, last
year, we kind of had some of the big names. Okay, we're
bringing in in the Benkurts of the world and all that. Are you surprised
that we're kind of just doubling down with more of the homegrown talent or is
there any quarterback stuff that maybe I'm I'm missing without another Roughnecks name, they're
they're starting quarterback. But you know, just uh, you always see these
people all bringing man's out, bringing up It seems like, you know,
hey, we got we got Louis Prez, we got these guys. They
kind of know what they're doing. I mean, how many times have they
tried to bring in a big name and then they do nothing Like I remember
Brent Hondley came in last year and was like, oh my god. You
know, the rumors work. He was the highest paid player in the XFL
and he was going to be the star of this league for the Vipers.
He ends up getting benched within like a week or two. Like does be
They're a big name, doesn't mean they're going to translate into having success.
Now. Do I think Matt Carroll could do well with Birmingham, Absolutely,
But I mean the reality is Jmr. Smith. I mean, coach Skipholds
talked about it a few weeks ago and in the media availability, he said
J Mar Smith has been in his offense for seven years. Like he's been
with Skip Holds in college, he's been with him with Birmingham. J Mar
Smith knows the offense better than anybody else, so it's a it's a natural
advantage for him to run this offense. He knows how to run it well
and he's done it to perfection because he's helped the team win a championship,
you know, when he was the main starter in twenty twenty two. So
you know, just because you bring in big names doesn't mean that they're going
to be an overnight success. I to me, you know, and I
know that there'll be a lot of this X and l USFL kind of rivalry
staff, especially kind of the opening game. But I am worried that Birmingham
it might steamroll a lot of this stuff? Is that? And I know
that you know practice it. You know it's hard with all this training camp,
but we don't get the same access he would normally. But like just
in terms of just uh, like you said, the continuity there, how
much do they know everybody? We're bringing everybody back, you know, I
know Scarborough retired, but like it just it feels like that's kind of a
force to be reckoned with compared to maybe like the new Luki of Roughnecks or
whatever. Well, I would say, you know, looking at the outlook
of each of the teams, I'll be honest, I think there's three really
good teams that I feel like can win the championship. That's Birmingham DC and
Saint Louis. I feel like there's a big separation between those three teams versus
the rest of the league. Like I feel like maybe Memphis and Arlington are
like right there in the middle at four and five, Like I think the
two of them are going to battle for that last playoffs spot. But just
what I see from you know, Saint Louis, d C and Birmingham,
those are the three teams I feel like they're going to dominate everybody in this
league. And I feel like they're the three best teams and they're going to
battle it out for the for the championship. I feel like everyone else doing
like Michigan. I mean maybe E J. Perry is the starting quarterback,
but Michigan's offense is a mess. Like they have a good defense, but
I feel like they have no weapons offensively, So I'm I think Michigan could
end up being the worst team san Antonio. There's so many, you know,
question marks that Waite Phillips has just come in there and just overhauled that
whole roster to bring in a lot of roughnecks, but you know, he
didn't get all the top roughneck players. So it's like, I mean,
who knows what's going to happen in San Antonio. Like I feel like,
you know, Memphis and Arlington they're going to battle it out for that number
four spot to see who's the fourth best team, but you know they're there.
I think the only concern I have is there's a big separation between the
top teams and then kind of the I don't want to say the bottom tier
teams, but like the average teams well, it was right, was Mike
Mitchell The other day we were talking that they had their scrimmage the defenders and
then Mike covers them and like they just steamrolled, Right was it Michigan they
played, they scrimmaged against and it was like they just totally steamrolled them,
Like it wasn't even close. And like you said that that co signs with
kind of your assessment. But yeah, you get that. And as good
as his talent is in these groups, I mean it still is. You
know, it's kind of scring football talent and fools. We're trying to kind
of work through here. But uh, with DC, what is impressing you
there? And and I mean I assume the taalmu ride is kind of is
going to be the start of that show. I know Abram Smith got hurt,
so I don't know what they're going to do the kind of address that
I know they brought in some people, right, Yeah, I think the
running back situation will be interesting in DC. But I but I think people
got to remember this, Like I'm not trying to knock on Abram Smith,
but let's face it, he had like one game where he had over two
three hundred yards rushing against Saint Louis and then really the rest of the season,
you look at the stats and he was averaging like almost fifty yards a
game, like he wasn't I'm not I'm not saying I'm not trying to downplay
his loss because it's a big it is a big loss. But at the
same time, like I look at someone like you know, Mark Thompson with
the Houston Roughnecks. He was a lot more consistent last year, averaging seventy
eighty ninety yards a game. Like I'm looking for a running back like that
versus you know, someone like Abram Smith who had one big game and then
you look at the stats the rest of the season and it really wasn't that
great. So I'm looking for someone to a little more consistent. But I
I yeah, DC is really put well together. I mean, they basically
got the bunch back Jordan Tamus, one of the best quarterbacks in this league.
Margie Barlow has really coached a very disciplined defenders team and they put you
know, Vawn Hutchins has really put a good roster together. So I mean,
you look at this defense, you look at the offense overall, Like
I think DC should be considered one of the best teams in this league.
Yeah, and talking like you said, san Antonio and that's kind of my
team, and you know, obviously trusted Wade and AJ. But like I
see like no buzz at all about san Antonio, like at all. It
just doesn't even seem like anything's going on right now. I don't know.
Is it just because I don't know if the media people on some of these
teams are pushing out more stuff. I'm seeing more of it, but I
don't send it's a lot of a lot of excitement around the San Antonio fan
base right now, except for you know, there's some fan accounts to go
for it. I think there's just so much uncertainty, like we just don't
know that this may be the team that I feel like is the most confusing
because we just don't know like what we know what they're capable of. I
mean a J. Smith is, you know, one of the smartest offensive
minds you know in all of spring football. But you know, we we
just don't know like what kind of team. I mean, we know we
have John, they have John te Kirkland, who's one of was one of
the best receivers in the XFL last year before his injury, Like, we
know he's got big play mentality to him, but you know, they they
haven't been named us starting quarterback yet, like we don't. You know.
The defense, you know, went through a major overhaul and the offense went
through major overhaul. So you're not going to really know what's going to come
from the san Antonio team until maybe two three weeks into the season. Everyone
else you can kind of predict, like where they're gonna go, Like I
think everyone kind of predicts. You know, Michigan's maybe one of the bottom
teams. You know, you look at Saint Louis and DC and Birmingham like
those are the obvious top teams. But like san Antonio, like you're just
shrugging your shoulder, like I don't, I don't know what's going to come
for the team. You can expect good defense because Waite Phillips is a good
defensive mind. But you know outside of that, can a J. Smith,
you know, be able to put this, you know, all these
different pieces into this offense together and you know, make the high flying offense
that the Houston Roughnecks were last year. Yeah, because I'm looking at you,
so I mean, isn't going to be Dormity. I know, And
it's so hard because like it's it's basically like preseason and training camp, but
like we don't know, you know, we're it's all like I guess seeing
in the substance at this point. But France Wills or Dormity, right,
I mean, is that who we're rolling with with san Antonio Just see I
remember when they were doing kind of the initial drafts, like oh, they're
going to bring in someone or they're going to get benkru or whatever. It
just doesn't seem like they've ever like that's that's who we're rolling with. I
mean, it could be. I would think Dormandy would be the favorite.
I mean just because he came in last year, everything that he went through
with Orlando and it was able to be one of the top quarterbacks in this
league. So I it feels like that it should be him. I mean,
Francois, I mean, no, I don't. I don't really see
him being in the running. Chase I think Chase Garber's is still on the
team as well, like he could be in the running. But I think
when Dormandy is the one that I think should be at least the favorite to
win the job. But you know, then again everyone thought recent it was
going to win the his rough next job, and Jared ended up winning that
job. So I guess you never really know until they set the depth chart
up. Yeah, let's talk about that a little bit. I have your
article here that them naming Mark Thompson kind of a lot of a lot of
flucks. Right now. We had Curtis Johnson last week, and what do
you make of them naming Jared as the starting quarterback? You know, he
has a lot of upside. He's got good size for a quarterback. You
know, I think he's got a strong arm, and you know, I
think what they really like about him, and from my understanding is they love
his potential. They love his upside. You know, they the If you're
a Houston Gamblers fan, you've spent the last two years trying to go through
an influx of quarterbacks. You know, you had Clayton Thorson in twenty twenty
two, and he was all right, but he wasn't great. Then he
got hurt and Kenji Barhar came in there, and you saw the potential with
Kenji Barhart, you know, being that he was with the Baltimore Ravens,
like, oh, maybe you could be the next to Mark Jackson. And
you know last year he got to a hot start and then he got got
that ankle injury against the field up his stars, and then his season kind
of fell apart, and then they ended up moving on from him, uh
during training camp. So I think they're looking. I think coach Johnson wants
to have a more of a proto type quarterback that fits the bill. You
know, tall, long stature, strong arm, and I think Jared's got
that. And you know, he had some success with Tennessee. It wasn't
always smooth with the volunteers, but he's got the potential to be a really
good quarterback. And he's got weapons. I mean, Justin Hall was one
of the best receivers in the USFL last year. So he's got the weapons
on offense. And you know, hope, you know, for the Roughnecks
offense, you you hope that Mark Thompson can you know, be ready for
Week one. I mean this this guy was the USFL Offensive Player of the
Year last year. For the last two years, he's been one of the
top five running backs in you know, spring football. So the Roughnecks really
need him to be back. Otherwise you know, they can go with TJ.
Plager, who you know, he he came in las year to fill
in for Mark Thompson when he was out with a couple of weeks with an
injury. And Pluger is a solid running back, but Mark Thompson is a
difference maker. He can you catch out of the backfield and he can just
run you over. So you know, they they certainly have to hope that
they can get Thompson back. Yeah, ufl. Twitter certainly runs through Mark
Thompson's fingers right now and his keyboard well is he was he he was complaining
about like the field or the turf. I'm like, do we do we
need to get into all this fright? Like I don't you know, this
isn't a Cashman field scenario, Like let's you know, I mean they're playing
on like high school, right, I mean they're playing on like this shouldn't
be an issue, right, Yeah, I mean he's I think he made
the comment like Arlington's field is the worst or something like that. I mean,
I don't I don't know like what the field is made of. I
don't know, you know, how it's all set up, but you know,
injuries happen, and you know, unfortunately Mark Thompson, you know,
had an you know, he was injured last year, so I don't want
to say he's injury prone, but this is the second time he's been heard
in two years, so I mean, there there is you know, that
part of his game. You know, he put he plays a physical position
at running back, so he takes a lot of hits and he has to
make a lot of cuts and stuff like that. So injuries are a natural
part of the game. It doesn't sound like it's gonna be something that he'll
be out for the season four because they haven't played someone on the injured reserve
list yet, you know alias from this recording. They haven't done it yet,
so it feels like, you know, if he is going to miss
time, it doesn't seem like it's going to be too much. So hopefully
he'll be back sooner rather than later. I haven't hear any of the Arlington
right there, and they finalized today. They're kind of ahead of the curve
some of the teams. You have this salary day to do it. Any
surprises on that because I remember who was I talking to one of the recent
interviews about just you know, the line of you don't feel necessarily safe for
maybe last season. You're sitting, Okay, I'm gonna I look around and
I can see the talent, but where the talent level is so high on
some of these teams, you know, we're really kind of niitpicking to get
this cut down. Any surprises with the Arlington cuts. Devin Darrington was a
big surprise. You know. He he took him in Devion Smith where they
were splitting the carries last Saturday when I went to their open practice, so
I kind of just assumed that maybe he was going to be the backup running
back. I mean, it's Debbie on Smith's job. He he fits what
you know, Bob Stuke wants in a running back in his offense. So
I thought it made sense for you know, him to start and Devin Darrenson
to be the backup. But you know, with Devin being released, I
think it's probably gonna be Leeddy Brown probably being his backup again. He was
the backup late last year for them, and he performed pretty well in that
role with Debion Smith, though, I'm going to assume Leeddy Brown probably comes
in. I know Stup likes dad A Hunter, who was the third running
back on the roster, so I mean Hunter could be seeing some playing time
as well. Really, other than that, I mean Christian Sam. I
know he was placed on the suspended list, but he was a guy who
played well in the USFL last year and I thought maybe he could make an
impact on the linebacking course. So yeah, I don't know what happened with
the suspension. Nothing's been really said about that, but with him being placed
on that list yesterday, I guess it shouldn't be a surprise. But at
the same time, he's a talented linebacker and you know, whatever the suspension
is, if he can if another u UFL team can pick him up and
bring him on their TOLM, I think he could be an impactful player.
But really, I think the big one was Devin Darrington. That that was
was a very surprising move because he's so versatile and that was a I don't
know if it was a hit on the offense because I think Leeddy Brown can
come in there and be that verstile back they need, but that was a
surprising cut. How how is coach Stoop said? Does he seemed to be
enjoying the process this time around, you know, I mean, he's the
one right his wife doesn't want him at home or whatever. I mean,
does he seem to be enjoying us? I know he brings us up a
lot of the times where he's that people are asking him, you know,
how are you enjoying it? He's like, Hey, I don't have to
go to like appliance meetings. I don't have to deal with parents or anything
like that. I don't have to deal with grades like these are adults,
you know, I don't have to worry about them. They you know,
they're adults. They come into work when they need to, they do what
they need to do, and then they go off on their own. So
I think he enjoyed. I think the sc fits him perfectly because you know
he's going to work, you know, for a few months yere. Then
you know, he's basically off for the rest of year, and he could
do his job, you know, from wherever he wants to. So I
think he the last couple of years, I've seen a difference in him from
twenty twenty. I think twenty twenty he was just a little more serious about
it because this was basically his first professional job, and it seems like he
wanted to be, you know, really good at it. Now, I
think getting into twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four, he seems to be
a little more relaxed, really enjoying, you know the moment of being a
head coach. And I think helping the championship last year really helped because I'm
sure it gives him the confidence and gives his team the confidence needed that they
can come in here and you know, try to repeat as champions. Yeah,
a lot of pressure on that, you know, and the iblock eye
was photo shopping photos of them with it, you know, with the trophy
to get ready for the episode, and you know, targets on your back,
you know, and I think I know they take a lot of pride
in that and being able to do that, and you know how they have
the season turned out for them last year, So a lot of pressure on
that. Any other stories, any other tidbits before we get out of here,
I know, well, like I said, we'll convene here next week
before they kick off and all of that, But any other things you're tracking
right now. The one thing I'm interested with the Renegade's is how they used
Lindsay Scott. I know when Mike and I were on the media availability last
week, he had asked about Lindsay's god and Stoops had said that there could
be some packages for him. We'll see. He tried to keep it as
vegue as possible, but it really does seem like they may use him.
My assumption is they're going to use him very similar to how they use Kelly
Bryant last year, and how they have some packages where he may be just
running the ball or he could be rolling out. I will say when I
saw from Lindsay Scott in practice, he looked solid. I think, you
know, at the beginning there were some times where he was trying to force
deep balls and he was trying to force passes and double coverage. But I
will say when he rolls out of the pocket, he is very accurate with
the football. So I wouldn't be surprised if they used him for some you
know rpo styal plays, maybe rolling him out of the pocket on you know,
play action. He could be very good for that. So I'm really
interested to see if Lindsay Scott gives his offense a little more creativity and be
able to you know, use his ability to run the football well, and
obviously with the new you know, offensive coordinator Insteff as well. I know
that last year you were a little lament about you know, some of the
the a little bit more in Arlington offense. So maybe this time around that
it could be a little bit more exciting that way. But yeah, different
different quarterback than press. So it's exciting to see. But you know,
you can't doubt Luis how you have it. So I guess I'll just ride
it out here and we'll have to see. He's a spring football king.
I mean we all know. I mean, he's been in been in a
million of these leagues and he's been successful every time. So I'll be interested
to see if this is his last go around or if he's going to continue
doing this. But I mean, if I was him, I wouldn't keep
rolling with it because he's been one of the top quarterbacks in these leagues.
Well, Anthony, enjoy the week here. I will see you in in
Texas next week. I'm sure we'll have a shinderbocker two here after the game.
Enjoy your clean shaven Jalen Hurts quarterback and your tiny hands. Kenny Pikett,
we'll we go, you know, we'll go get Drake May or something,
and that it should be exciting. I think NFC East is going to
be exciting this year. They're talking about the Cowboys or mat at Dak Prescott.
I think lots of excitement there with Daniel Jones and everything else. Yeah,
it should be sooth standing for the Eagles to win that division. So
I appreciate it. Anthony Miller, I said, check him out Sports Illustrated
everything else. The hardest working man on there except him and Mike Mitchell.
So I really appreciate it, and I have a good night. Thanks appreciate
it. Huge, special things for everybody, all the work it took to
get the episode together today. Shout out Jeff. Everybody over at the UFL
getting the Jel Johnson interview setup means a lot. I know there's lots of
spinning plates and things in motion, so means a lot. You guys setting
that up. Daryl taking the time to come on, busy guy getting ready
for the season. You're talking getting the league going here in less than two
months, so it means a lot. Certainly appreciated. Thank you to Bianca,
everybody over at the Arlington Renegades. Get you coach Heinbox set up again
him coming on on the weekend, taking time on a Sunday morning before you
know, God knows all the stuff he's working on. So thank you Coach
Heinbach. Shout out as well. His five is one offensive line training and
then his podcast. And with that being said, you know, coach Heinbach
is is a fellow a football content creator, so I always want to make
sure we get that shouted out. I'll put the links in the description.
Thank you very much. And then, like I said, Anthony Miller here
taking time to come on. All the work and articles and the endless supply
of things that he is providing right now content wise with him and Mike Mitchell
over at Sports Illustrated so means a lot. We'll try to get Anthony I
think involved next week as well with the kickoff episode. But we certainly enjoy
kind of the sit down and deep dive that we're able to do on this
you know, this format here. Like I said, that will do it
for me today, Like and subscribe Big UFL kickoff episode next week live from
Texas. I'll post during the week, but if you're you know, subscribed
on here, turn on the bells, kind of all that stuff. You'll
get the notifications and then I'll be posting everything on Facebook and Twitter. But
it should be a good guest list, should be a lot of fun.
Like I said, we this not the first rodeo with all this stuff.
And then stay tuned like I said, the weekly UFL recaps here coming out
during the season. So hope you guys have a great weekend. Thanks again
and take care.