The UFL is mere days away from the final roster cutdown that will reduce teams from 64 to 50, leaving some tough decisions for Orlando Storm head coach Anthony Becht.
Unfortunately for Becht, he has been part of these tough decisions since 2023, serving as the head coach of the St. Louis Battlehawks for three seasons. To his credit, Becht has a good eye for talent, as he has finished each of the last three seasons with at least seven wins, so even if these are rough on him, he's been elite at building the perfect roster.
March 19 is the roster cutdown date, which doesn't leave Becht and his coaching staff much time to review their new, talented roster for the brand-new Storm team. He spoke with the media on Monday to share how things are going heading into the final week of training camp.
Anthony Becht on Orlando Storm Training Camp Entering the Final Week
Currently, among the Storm players who were originally from the San Antonio Brahmas team that moved to Orlando, only seven are back from that team. That has led Becht to completely reshape his roster, including bringing some of his former Battlehawks players to training camp. Entering the final week of camp, Becht is feeling good about the roster and the team's overall performance.
"Three weeks of camp are in the books. Really fired up about what we're doing here. These players have been working extremely hard, buying into the process, you know, picking up the offense, defense, and special teams, the terminologies. Again, building something from scratch. We do have a couple of players that have played with me previously, but the majority of the team, you know, 90% of them are new players. So we really feel like from top to bottom, we've built an incredible roster. I've been able to get guys that I feel like fit what we're looking for, and, and, uh, you know, offensively and defensively, it's starting to come together. We've been able to joint practice twice with two teams over three weeks, uh, really good showings. And, you know, so far so good on the health stuff. Our players are healthy, really, uh, trying to be efficient throughout each week, just keeping these guys at a competitive level, working level, but also you know, being able to monitor their bodies and the hammies and all those things that could come up as we lead into the season here with cuts coming up, you know, Wednesday evening, Thursday morning for the season."
UFL NewsHub asked Becht how he is making his tough decisions about who makes the roster and who will be sent packing. Becht is looking for three things from his players.
"It's alignment, assignment, and execution. Like, can you do that more than the other guy that's next to you, or going against you, or whatever that may be? You know, the best thing about this season in this roster is there's no preconceived notions about any of these players. So they really have an equal opportunity to go out there and prove themselves. And I tell them that every day. And if they have a bad practice, you know, practice five, that's okay, that's not going to hurt them. It's how you're going to respond and bounce back. So truly for me, you know, they're given the roadmap to make the football team. It's just really up to them. They dictate whether or not they're going to make it just off their everyday, the way they, you know, present themselves, if they're on time, you know, their execution in practice. Are they making plays? Clearly, that's going to help you separate yourself. But man, I'll tell you, every single guy has bought into the process. We have no bad apples, no cancers, you know, which is fantastic. It's always hard when you're building something from scratch. But, you know, to me, there are some areas where it will be tough. You know, I've traditionally never kept 3 tight ends. We have 3 good ones. So how does that— can we do that? Can we not do that? And who's going to pay the price because of that as well if we decide to go with 3 tight ends? So that's just an example of, again, how this thing works, and again, trying to, you know, keep your healthiest bodies, and you know, who needs more depth? Do we need more depth on the interior defensive line versus corners or vice versa? So those are the things we'll talk about."
Becht also talked about versatility being a key for players on the team. He's looking for guys that can play multiple positions for them so they can keep other players at key positions.
"You got to have a center, a backup center, right, on your game day roster. But he has to be able to play guard, but snap the ball. So you got to find those pieces where the guys are versatile so that when you're dressing seven linemen for games, you have a backup center and you have a guy that can play both guards. And then you got the swing tackle that has to play or be able to play both sides. So being able to work those guys in certain positions to prep them for that is monstrous."
Anthony Becht on the Storm's Retooled Defensive End Position
Last week, the Storm made multiple moves at defensive end, including releasing T.J. (Tautala) Pesefea Jr. and Maximillian Roberts and bringing in Chris Collins. UFL NewsHub asked Becht about what went into that decision and how he currently views the defensive end position.
"He's going to have three opportunities this week. He's going to get a lot of reps and to really show himself. And he has a unique opportunity. You know, we brought in (Delontae) Scott, kind of a vet of this league as well. He's been able to show what he can do. You know, as far as (Chris) Garrett and (Jasheen) Davis and (Keshawn) Banks, like, there are core three guys. You can only play three. We usually just dress three anyway, but we want to have four really good ones. So that door is still open. And, you know, that door may be someone that gets released from another team as well. Again, that's— those are the three angles we look at it. It's either in-house or if it's not in-house, you know, we can look outside of the league and we do have a list of guys And then obviously there is, okay, maybe there's a guy that gets released that we know systematically that can help us be more efficient than maybe the system he was at, you know, with the other seven teams. So it's on the table for the guys in the building. So, you know, Delontae Scott and Chris Collins have a great shot of making this roster, and we'll see how it shapes out. But Chris Garrett and Jasheen Davis and Banks, you know, we like those guys. Garrett's a baller now. You know, he's going to get a chance to be the dude, and I'm excited to see him play."
Orlando Storm QB Competition Update from Anthony Becht
All eyes this training camp have been on the quarterback situation in Orlando, with Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Jack Plummer competing for the starting job and Hank Bachmeier backing them up. Becht shared his update on it and how the competition is shaping up.
"Him (DTR), Jack, and Hank have been awesome. Collectively, it's the best room I've ever had. I feel like I have, you know, two starting quarterbacks. And, you know, listen, someone ultimately is going to play week one and someone won't. It's from a starting standpoint. I don't see myself as someone that's going to rotate quarterbacks in a game. But there may be a series or something where someone goes in, whether it's DTR or Jack or whatever that may be. But whoever goes Week 1 is going to get every opportunity to continue to be the quarterback and play the quarterback position. And again, you know, I'm not quite sure how I was able to get two starters. You know, everybody had an opportunity to pick these guys, and I was able to get a really good batch of players. And for me, you know, how every single day of practice we have a grading system. So our quarterback coach will grade our quarterbacks on every single snap. So that when we get to that day where I'm saying, hey, you're the starter, these are the reasons why, you know, just plucking a guy out and just saying— because both guys feel like they're going to have great camps, they're doing a good thing and they're doing, you know, what they need to do to be the starter. But we got to break it down a little bit and make sure they get like, okay, well, this is what we see, this is what we like. And those things can change. Now, the starter Week 1 may not be the starter Week 2, or the starter Week 1, 2, and 3 may not be the starter Week 4, and injuries happen, and all those different things. So I think 100% of the backup quarterbacks in our league, since I've been in the existence of this league, have always played. And I think 50% of the 3s have played at some point as well. So those are great odds when you're talking about it. And of course, last year our backup quarterback played seven straight games at the end of the season because of an injury, and we went 6-1 with him. So be ready for your moment when it comes. Just because it may not be the first game doesn't mean it's going to be no games at all. So it'll be a tough choice. But I think we do have the answers we need to have the best guy out, at least for Week 1."
Whether it's trying to figure out who the starting quarterback is going to be or who is going to make the final roster, Becht has some tough choices to make and doesn't have a ton of time to get it done. Regardless, though, he has preached that this is the deepest roster he has ever had, which should be a scary warning sent to the rest of the UFL on what's about to come.