Parks’s Pulse – On sombreros, tushes, and knights

Each week during the season, Parks’s Pulse will present a smattering of thoughts on the previous weekend’s games.

Ranking the games

1. Battlehawks 26, Brahmas 9: It was a rough week for offenses, with only St. Louis showing consistent signs of life on that side of the ball. The UFL scoring rules kept San Antonio in it until late.
2. Defenders 17, Showboats 12: Memphis had some opportunities that makes one think their breakthrough is coming sooner rather than later.
3. Stallions 21, Panthers 12: Maybe it’s not time to anoint Bryce Perkins quite yet. Matt Corral played well on short notice but puts the ball in harm’s way too often.
4. Renegades 11, Roughnecks 9: The score says it all, doesn’t it?

Miller time: A UFL College Draft pick of the San Antonio Brahmas, that team relinquished Miller’s rights in the off-season, allowing the Michigan Panthers to sign him and bring him to camp. Miller balled out on Friday night, denying two pass plays downfield to the much bigger Jordan Thomas of Birmingham. Miller stands just 5’10”, while Thomas goes 6’5” and 277 pounds. On the same drive in which he made those two plays, Miller picked off Matt Corral on a 3^rd-and-long play with the Stallions in field goal range. The Kent State grad got a second interception in the fourth quarter, with the Panthers down one score, snatching a pass intended for WR Jalen Camp (6’2”). Not bad for someone that another team didn’t even want.

All-access moment of the week, part one: Defenders head coach Shannon Harris finds himself on this list once again this week. Oftentimes when teams get into a rhythm on offense, they like to go fast to put pressure on the defense. However, sometimes the offenses are that the mercy of the officials spotting the ball. The speed in which the ball was spotted on Saturday is what Harris took umbrage with. “He needs a sense of urgency when spotting that ball!” he told the referee during a time out. It’s a shorter play clock than in the NFL, one of the reasons XFL 2020 had a dedicated ball-spotter (though they also had an even shorter play clock than this year), with the expectation that many teams would want to go quickly.

Turnover sombrero: Throughout college football, teams have had fun when their defenses create turnovers. Perhaps best exemplified by the University of Miami’s Turnover Chain, other schools have offered similar gear, awarded on the sidelines to the player who takes the ball away. The Arlington Renegades have gotten into the tradition with a Turnover Sombrero. After a third quarter interception, Renegades CB Ajene Harris donned the sombrero during his television interview. One of the fun things about spring football is getting to see cultures created within each of the eight teams and the customs that come out of those cultures.

Houston tush push: While the NFL is considering banning the Tush Push play made famous by the Philadelphia Eagles, UFL teams have found success with the play. The Houston Roughnecks put backup offensive lineman Avery Jones in the backfield to help QB Anthony Brown move the pile for a first down on a 3^rd-and-1 play. Jones was used again later on a similar play, though lined up in the backfield as a fullback. San Antonio also employed their version of a Tush Push on Sunday night, with QB Kellen Mond successfully pushing his way forward for a first down.

Knights of Colombo: The name, publicly coined by St. Louis Director of Team Communications and Media Relations Brian Stull, describes the Battlehawks’ offensive line under first year position coach Marc Colombo. The line has been a key reason for St. Louis’s early-season offensive success, and Colombo is getting a lot of the credit. The “Knights of Colombo” nickname has even made it on the television broadcasts. The former first round NFL draft pick and offensive line coach of the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants is now putting his stamp on a group that returns four of its five starters from last season (with the only new starter, G Abdul Beecham, having been a backup on the team last year).

All-access moment of the week, part two

A big part of the attraction of spring football on TV is the unprecedented access viewers get of the games. Heck, it’s why I have an “all-access moment of the week” in this column. ESPN has taken their coverage into the coach’s box and onto the field, where sideline reporters roam free. So when those announcers get obtrusive, sticking their microphones in players’ faces at inopportune times, sometimes the players give them less-than-honest information. For example, when Sam Acho corralled Showboats QB E.J. Perry as he was going out onto the field for a 3rd-and-1 play, Acho asked him what play they were going with. “Taking a deep shot here,” replied Perry. Instead, it was a tight formation and Memphis ran to gain the first down. Hey, no one says players have to tell the truth as part of this all-access.

Greg Parks

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