Hot Hand Offense: Stallions Spread the Ball, Share the Spotlight
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - April 5, 2026
By Steve Irvine
Jaydon Mickens ended the opening UFL weekend as the leading receiver in the league. The Birmingham Stallions wide receiver had nine catches on nine targets in the season-opening win over Louisville.
However, with the Stallions approach to the passing game, there is no guarantee that he’ll be his team’s top receiving option in the second week of the season. And Stallions head coach AJ McCarron said that is fine with Mickens and everyone else in what is widely considered one of the most talented and deepest wide receiver rooms in the UFL. As McCarron often says there are seven or eight No. 1 receivers on the Stallions roster.
“Each and every week could be somebody's game,” McCarron said. “I don't think we go in planning to say, hey, we're game planning, you know, like when I was with Cincinnati or when I was with Houston. We're going to make sure that D-Hop (DeAndre Hopkins) or A.J. Green gets this amount of touches. Like ours is hey, we feel like we got seven to eight, number one receivers. Like, we're going to go out and play. (Matt Corral), you read it out the right way and whoever's game it turns into that's how we're playing. Our guys understand that.”
Mickens displayed that understanding in the postgame press conference after he gained 102 yards on his nine catches in the win over the Louisville Kings.
“I know I’m the one that's up here, but you got nine more weeks and hopefully another two after that,” Mickens said. “It's going to consist of first half, first time seeing this new defenses, defensive schemes (and) Matt getting everything we need out of the O-lineman. This is a receiver room by committee. You have John Ross, Justyn Ross, Laviska Shenault. I know I'm leaving out some guys, Jabre Barber. Any of those guys can be up here for a 200-yard game at any time. And they're going to have a great game and a great season this year as we go along.”
Dig a little bit into the season opener, which obviously put Mickens in the spotlight in his first game with the Stallions, and there were a ton of contributions throughout the wide receiver group. It wasn’t hard spotting Justyn Ross’ biggest contribution, which was the game-winning touchdown catch. Deon Cain didn’t have a catch until the fourth quarter but his third down grab late in the game was one of the biggest plays of the game-winning drive. John Ross had a key catch on the first touchdown drive.
“It's obviously a really good feeling because the trust is there with every single guy,” Corral said. “It's just whatever the play is called, we've got to execute that play. Sometimes it may be (Mickens), sometimes it may be Justyn, Deon. You know, the list goes on and on. Everybody's just got to do their job. We're all one of 11 and we put it all together.”
McCarron pointed out that stats don’t always show important contributions.
“It's been awesome to be a part of this and have this group because none of these guys are selfish,” McCarron said. “Of course, all receivers want the ball. Every play, they think they're always open. But where you really see the love for each other is when you have a love for the game routes, as we call it, you're just clearing out the defense. Just watch the effort on those routes to get their brother open. It's awesome to see. And I think each and every week could be somebody different for us to have a big game.”