Week 1 is finally here for the 2026 UFL season as the Birmingham Stallions come in as one of the favorites to win it all.
It's a different-looking football team, as they are now led by head coach A.J. McCarron, who spent time in the XFL and UFL as the starting quarterback for the St. Louis Battlehawks. McCarron has compiled a roster that looks poised to compete and win a league title, something they have done three times in the last four years.
Now entering his first game ever as a head coach, McCarron and his Stallions are preparing to face the Louisville Kings on the road in the first game of the UFL season. Before facing the Kings, McCarron spoke with the media about several topics, including preparing for the game and the roster.
A.J. McCarron preparing for his first game as head coach
It's uncharted territory as the Stallions go into the game not knowing what they'll see from the Kings, since it's pretty much a whole new coaching staff and roster. McCarron shared what their approach will be for preparing for this matchup.
"Listen, it's tough. You kind of really just try to guess and take the two joint practices, and then it's a guessing game from there. I mean, it's going to be that way for a lot of guys that have new staffs, and you're not really sure what they're going to do. So I think it's more than anything, the first game comes down to, all right, can you take care of the football? Can you not hurt yourself? Can you not have stupid penalties where you're false starts offsides, bad holding calls, defensive pass interference when it's obvious. Like, it's little things like that that you can control. And if you can take care of the football— and then the other biggest thing is tackling. I mean, it comes down to— I think when you look at any level, whether it's high school, college, NFL here, the teams that can tackle the best and make those tackles are also successful in those probably first three games when guys are trying to get used to, you know, playing with live bullets. So to be honest with you, I don't know. I mean, you try to do the best you can."
Who is A.J. McCarron going to roll with at QB for Week 1?
This feels like an answer every UFL fan probably knows, but the Stallions have three quarterbacks on the roster between Matt Corral, Taylor Elgersma, and Michael Hiers. McCarron definitively decided who the starter would be at quarterback against the Kings.
"Yeah, Matty's our starter."
Not a total surprise, as Corral has the most experience among the quarterbacks on the roster, as he has played in seven regular season games, throwing for 1,142 yards and six touchdowns to six interceptions in two seasons. McCarron went deeper into why he is rolling with Corral over Elgersma and Hiers.
I think it's just from an experience standpoint. You know, my biggest thing with Matt is taking care of the football, put our team in a position to win the game, take care of the football, especially like I said, Throughout the season, but it's very critical in these first three games. If you can keep yourself out of bad situations, you can find success. So, listen, he has the most experience in this room. He's been great to have in this room. And that's who we're going to roll with.
Stallions' deep wide receiver room
There's been a lot of chatter on social media, with glowing reviews of the Stallions' wide receiver room, which includes Deon Cain, Laviska Shenault Jr., Justyn Ross, John Ross, Daewood Davis, Marlon Williams, and Jaydon Mickens. UFL NewsHub asked McCarron about how he will be navigating the wide receiver room with so much talent on it.
"Yeah, we're rotating everybody. We feel that same way about our tight end room. We feel the same way about our running back room as well as the receiver room. So, uh, I mean, that's why we built it, the team, this way. That's why I went after, you know, so many explosive playmakers from that position is I want guys fresh, and I want to see if defenses can, you know, match up with our guys for 60 minutes. So it's part of it. It's, you know, we'll have to decide from a sense of how many we want to carry into the active. That's still up in the air. But, yeah, I mean, the receiver room has been awesome. I mean, you know, every camp you're going to deal with some soft tissue and some little nicks and knacks there. But I mean, they've come in and worked their asses off each and every day, and that's all you can ask. Things haven't always been perfect, but we kind of have a rule: if you're going to mess up, mess up full speed. And they have no problem with that. So they can run. So it's been an awesome group to have. But, yeah, we'll keep guys fresh."
Kickoff for the Stallions-Kings game will be Friday at 8:00 EST on FOX. That will be the first time Stallions and UFL fans can see McCarron in action as head coach for the first time.