STALLIONS RUSHING THEIR WAY TO TOP OF UFL STATISTICS

Birmingham Stallions RB Ricky Person runs away from Arlington Renegades defender for a TD in week one of the UFL season.

APRIL 10, 2024 - BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

By Steve Irvine

The inaugural UFL season is only two weeks old, which means a lot of questions need to be answered for all the teams. Right now, though, the Birmingham Stallions are the unquestioned leader in the running game.

The Stallions rushed for 171 yards in a season-opening win over the Arlington Renegades and gained 161 yards in a second week victory over the Michigan Panthers. That averages out to a UFL best 166 yards per games and is 332 rushing yards total. The next closest team in those categories are the St. Louis Battlehawks, who have 172 total rushing yards and an average of 86 per game.

Individually, Stallions running back CJ Marable is the league’s top rusher with 121 yards on 32 carries and Birmingham quarterback Adrian Martinez is second with 117 yards on 11 carries.

Stallions head coach Skip Holtz stresses that “there’s a long way to go” in the season but is happy with the way his team running the football right now. And it’s a success that is shared.

“It’s hard to talk about your running game without talking about your offensive line, without talking about your running backs, without talking about the legs of your quarterbacks, in the way that those guys are gelling together,” Holtz said.

It certainly starts up front with a revamped offensive line that includes Christian DiLaurio at left tackle, Derwin Gray at left guard, Cole Schneider at center, Zach Johnson at right guard and Alex Taylor-Priouleau at right tackle. Former University of Alabama offensive lineman Deonte Brown was the starter at left guard but he was injured in the opener.

Not only has that group cleared running lanes but has also allowed a UFL best one sack in two games.

“Offensive line is an unselfish group,” Holtz said. “I think they have a lot of pride in what they’re doing. They’re playing really physical and they’re doing a great job.”

Marable and Ricky Person Jr. have been reliable running backs. Put their numbers together and they average 82.5 yards rushing and 52 yards receiving per game. Person has a team-best two rushing touchdowns.

Another piece to the running game that can’t be overlooked comes from Martinez and Matt Corral at quarterback. Martinez averages 10.6 yards per carry while Corral gains 5.1 yards per rushing attempt.

This week, the Stallions face a Memphis Showboats defense which leads the UFL in rush defense.  Through two games, the Showboats are allowing 39 yards rushing per game. A big key in the Stallions home opener, which kicks off on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Protective Stadium, will be the running game.