Stallions Navigate Personnel Changes Ahead of 2026 Season
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - February 10, 2026
By Steve Irvine
Life in professional football means that roster management doesn’t end once the draft process ends. This past week alone, in fact, Birmingham Stallions head coach A.J. McCarron had to manage some key personnel issues.
One of the most pressing issues was replacing a player – Steven Gonzalez - that was not only supposed to be the cornerstone of the offensive line but also on the offense as a whole and one of the expected team leaders. Gonzalez, a former teammate of McCarron’s with the St. Louis Battlehawks and former standout at Penn State, chose to accept a spot on the staff of his alma mater.
Obviously, that changed plans for McCarron and his offensive staff.
“It slowed down after the draft of course, but randomly (something happens),” McCarron said. “Like the other night, Gonzo calls (about) getting a job for Penn State. So he retires on you two minutes before you have your second Zoom meeting of install. Now you scramble to try to find somebody else. It's a numbers game, you got to cut some guys, you got to add some guys. It makes it tough from that sense because it's so late into it.”
The Stallions also suffered a big loss on Monday when All-UFL kicker and NFL veteran Rodrigo Blankenship was cut after opting to continue pursuit of a return to the NFL with a NFL Reserve/Futures contract. Blankenship was 21-for-22 with a long field goal of 58 yards for the St. Louis Battlehawks last season.
McCarron said before the Stallions Fan Day on Saturday that Blankenship had a Sunday deadline to make a decision on whether he was joining the Stallions or pursuing a possible futures deal. Coaches had until Monday at 6 p.m. to make unlimited roster decisions. After Monday, McCarron said they can make up to eight roster moves.
“My thing to him is he's wanting a futures deal with the Rams, they have an established kicker,” McCarron said on Saturday. “Why not come here, kick for the entire season, and get film and then go somewhere where you don't have to compete as much. He's done a great job. I'm not holding anything against him. It's just, we've got to get going and get everything established.”
The Stallions also drafted Jonathan Garibay. The former Texas Tech kicker made 13-of-14 attempts while kicking for UFL’s Arlington Renegades in 2024. He is part of a specialist group that include Stallions veterans Ryan Langan at long snapper and Colby Wadman at punter.
Another recent addition is wide receiver John Ross, a former teammate of McCarron’s in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals. Ross was with three NFL franchises since being drafted by the Bengals with the 9th overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft. One of the big reasons the former University of Washington standout was picked so quickly was his 40-yard dash time of 4.22 seconds that he ran in the NFL combine, which was a combine record at the time. Over his time in the NFL, he had 63 catches for 963 yards with 11 touchdowns. Ross retired in 2023 but chose to return and spent most of the 2024 season on the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad.
McCarron said the chance to add Ross “kind of came out of nowhere.”
“Me and him had kind of been working on that deal for about a month or a month and a half,” McCarron said. “It's been awesome. That's the fun part about it is kind of behind the scenes and the relationships I have with people over the years and everything. Being teammates with them and working deals behind the scenes is pretty cool.”
McCarron was asked what adding an accomplished player means for his team.
“It's massive,” McCarron said. “I hate it because we're having to release somebody without really having them in camp and kind of seeing what they can do. But it's part of the business. Everybody understands that. I know what John can do as long as we keep him healthy. That's our biggest goal. Like I told him, with the amount of receivers that we have, Justyn Ross, (Laviska) Shenault, Deon Cain, Daewood Davis, Marcus Simms, you go down our list, we’ve got some guys. The fact that he doesn't have to be the number one and get out there and have a crazy amount of reps. He can focus on his body a lot more and be a guy that rotates in and out because we're going to rotate our guys a ton and keep them fresh. I think that's big for him in getting back to the NFL and staying healthy.”
The work toward figuring all of that out – at least on the field – begins when training camp opens later this month. That will be the next step in his transition from quarterback to head coach, which McCarron said isn’t as perplexing as many suggest.
“Listen, when you play the quarterback position and you play the quarterback position for Nick Saban, you're a head coach,” McCarron said. “When you've played in the NFL, a quarterback has to understand clock management, analytics, when to go for it, when to ignore analytics and have a feel for the game, when to call timeouts, certain situations, when to go up tempo, when not to, right? That's what you do as a quarterback. So from a transition standpoint, from a player to a coach, I think the easiest transition is a quarterback to being a coach just because you have to be a coach on the field at all times.”