Corral Era In BirminghaM Ends as Stallions Trade QB In Hopes Of Jumpstarting Season

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - April 19, 2026

By Steve Irvine

The Birmingham Stallions will have a new starting quarterback when they play host to the DC Defenders on Friday night.

Matt Corral, who started the first four games of the season for the Stallions, was traded on Sunday to the Orlando Storm for backup quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson. Birmingham defensive end Amani Bledsoe is also included in the trade.

The Stallions became the first UFL team to be shut out in a regular season game on Saturday in a 16-0 loss to the Orlando Storm. Corral threw for 83 yards before being replaced by Michael Hiers in the third quarter. Stallions head coach AJ McCarron said after the game that “trades to QB change, everything's on the table.”

The answer was trading the struggling Corral to the Storm for Thompson-Robinson. Corral leaves after completing 71 passes in 110 attempts for 768 yards with five touchdowns and four interceptions over the first four games of the season. He had two-interception games in losses to Houston and St. Louis.

Thompson-Robinson played in one game for the Storm this season. He was 2-for-3 for 19 yards and had six yards on his lone carry in a win over Louisville on April 4. The 6-foot-1, 206-pound former UCLA quarterback in his first UFL season.

He was a dynamic dual-threat quarterback at UCLA, where he threw for 10,695 yards and 88 touchdowns and rushed for 1,827 yards and 28 touchdowns over 50 games with 48 starts. He was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft. He played in 15 games with five starts in two seasons with Cleveland and threw for 880 yards with one touchdown and 10 interceptions. He was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in March of 2025 but was cut just before the regular season began.

Hiers and Donovan Smith are the other two quarterbacks currently on the Stallions roster. Hiers, the former Samford standout, was ineffective in his UFL debut, going 7-for-15 for 60 yards. Smith, who played collegiately at Texas Tech and Houston, signed with the Houston Gamblers in January but was cut in training camp.