The UFL has reached week five of the spring football league season and some trends have emerged. The Birmingham Stallions are the class of the league being undefeated at 4-0. The St. Louis Battlehawks and San Antonio Brahmas are each 3-1. The Battlehawks are a Michigan Panther Jake Bates 64-yard field goal away from being undefeated themselves.
A great side note as we get started on the team reports. The fan engagement of the UFL is up 100% after the XFL and USFL merged.
Team Notes on all eight league teams
Birmingham is not only leading the USFL Division, they are dominating their division by two games and a few things stand out.
- The Birmingham Stallions have outscored their competition 100-59. Its the largest point differential in the USFL after the first month of the season. Only the St. Louis Battlehawks have scored more points with 106. Coach Skip Holtz has unleashed a two headed quarterback monster on the league with Adrian Martinez and Matt Corral. Both Martinez and Corral have NFL ties but they have rotated at the QB spot with Martinez looking to run first and Corral to pass after scrambling. The interesting thing is both QB’s have nearly identical stats in total yardage, TD’s thrown and completion percentage.
- Photo: UFL
The St. Louis Battlehawks have been winning the small battles all season and this is just fine with head coach Dave Becht. Looking over team stats, they are a mirror stat wise of the teams they have played from penalties, sacks, first downs and the list goes on. Where the Battlehawks shine is with QB AJ McCarron. McCarron is leading the UFL in several categories from his completion percentage, TD’s thrown and TD/Int percentage (8/1). If St. Louis continues to get this play from McCarron, St. Louis could find themselves in contention to win the league title.
| 2 | AJ McCarron |  St. Louis Battlehawks | Comp 138 | Att 97 | Comp. 70.3% | Yds. 838 | 8.6 | 6.1 | TD 8 | Rush 53 | Int 1 | SK 8 | Rat. 209.5 |
The San Antonio Brahmas find themselves at 3-1 after four weeks and former NFL coach Wade Phillips has players tearing it up on both sides of the ball. Brahmas’ wide receivers and defensive players are among the leading players and this is key to San Antonio’s hot start. QB Chase Garbers leads the league in completion percentage at 70.5 percent, and the short dink and dunk passing game is working wonders for the offense. Three of the top wideouts in the league reside in San Antonio. Jontre Kirklin leads the UFL with 28 receptions on 40 targets. Cody Latimer has 21 receptions on 28 targets and Marques Stevenson has 17 grabs. None of the three players are averaging over ten yards per reception for this effective short passing game.
Leading UFL Receivers
On the defensive side of the ball, Phillips team has three of the top ten tacklers in the league including Jordan Mosley who also has an interception and forced fumble and recovery. Jordan Williams and Tavonte Beckett are also league leaders for San Antonio.
Leading Defensive Tacklers
The Arlington Renegades are 0-4 this season and coach Bob Stoops troops have been getting beat by an average of six points per game (75-100). The Renegades can certainly throw the football. QB Luis Perez leads most of the categories that McCarron does not. He leads the UFL in total passing yards at just over 220 per game. Wide Receiver Tyler Vaughn has 18 catches for 191 yards and a TD and is good for 7th in the league. On the defensive side of the ball, Donald Payne is 7th in tackles with 26 including 16 solos. Arlington ranks 7th in the league in defense which sounds right for a team that has not gotten in the win column.
| 1 | Luis Perez |  Arlington Renegades | 4 | 125 | 79 | 63.2% | 881 | 11.2 | 7.0 | 5 | 51 | 2 | 7 | 220.3 |
The Memphis Showboats (1-3) are paced by QB Case Cookus and that is a double edged sword after four games. Cookus has been sacked 13 times this season (tied for last with Michigan). Cookus is 7th in the UFL in QB rating. Jonathon Adams is his favorite target and has 13 catches for 174 yards and no touchdowns. The Showboats have no player among the top ten in rushing this season. For coach John DeFilippo, his defense has no player among league leaders and his defense ranks last in the UFL
The D.C. Defenders (2-2), coached by Reggie Barlow have some pieces to make a run in the playoffs. QB Jordan Ta’Amu is ranked third in the league in league standings. Ta’Amu is third in total yards passing with 787, and has six TD throws and two interceptions. On the downside, he only completes 52 percent of his passes. RB Cam Ron Harris is 10th in the league in rushing with 137 yards and one TD. WR Kelvin Harmon is 4th in the league with 200 receiving yards on 13 receptions. On the defensive side of the ball, Anthony Hines III has 29 total tackles (18 solo). DC is tied for second in the league in Tackles for loss and they have forced and recovered four fumbles.
Houston Roughnecks- (1-3) Houston started the season winless after three games and coach CJ Johnson takes a team ranked second in the league in total defense into the last six games of the season with something to play for. Houston has been outscored 84-67 after four games and its big plays that have kept the Roughnecks in football games. They have five forced fumbles (two recovered) with three interceptions to rattle opponents. QB Reid Sennett is fourth in the UFL in passing. He has only three passing touchdowns. There are no Roughneck players in the top ten in receiving the football. Running the football, TJ Pledger IV is 8th in the league in rushing. The Roughnecks can move the football, but so far this season, they are not finishing with scoring plays.
The Michigan Panthers are 2-2 this season and Mike Nolan‘s troops are pretty inconsistent this season. The Panthers start games off slow with QB EJ Perry finding his rhythm as the game moves along. Michigan has several players with standout performances starting with Perry. Perry is averaging 160 per game passing, but he has only two TD throws on the season including a 76 yard underneath route to Marcus Simms who leads the league in receiving. Perry’s real threat is running the football on scrambles and designed running plays. Perry is fourth in the league in rushing in yardage and has scored four times. Running back Wes Hills is 5th in the league in rushing. Perry has been sacked 13 times in four games and this has ended many Panthers drives. On the defensive side of the ball, Michigan has two players (Kai Nacua and Frank Ginda among the league leaders. Ginda is third in the UFL with 30 tackles with 18 being solo. Nacua has two interceptions and is always around the football.
Week five is coming up. Here are the standings and schedule
