The St. Louis Battlehawks will open the 2024 United Football League season on Saturday with a matchup against the Michigan Panthers. (Photo: Thomas Grove)
St. Louis Battlehawks – Gameday Info
Game No. 1 — St. Louis Battlehawks (0-0) at Michigan Panthers (0-0)
Date/Time – March 30, 2024 – 3 pm
Location – Ford Field — Detroit, MI
Broadcast – FOX Sports
Radio – FOX Sports on Sirius XM
Live Stats – UFL Stats Broadcast
Cedric Williams
Senior Editor
DETROIT, MI — Spring football is finally here. And the Battlehawks are back, baby!
That’s the prevailing thought coursing through the city on this Saturday, as the St. Louis Battlehawks prepare for their United Football League season opener against the Michigan Panthers.
Fans have been excitedly waiting for the return of the Battlehawks ever since it was announced that the two spring football leagues, the XFL and the USFL, would merge into one league called the UFL. The two leagues had a combined 16 teams, but the UFL plan was to move forward with just eight teams.
Most figured having a team in St. Louis was a sure thing. In its two previous XFL seasons, the Battlehawks had the highest home attendance and the city of St. Louis drew the highest ratings of any team in either league.
But bringing the Battlehawks back wasn’t definite, until it was officially announced back in November. Since then, fans have been waiting with great anticipation for the Battlehawks to take the field again.
That will happen today at 3 p.m., at Ford Field, when St. Louis takes on Michigan, as part of a UFL season-opening doubleheader. Game 1 will be a matchup of last year’s two league champions, the Arlington Renegades (XFL champions) versus the Birmingham Stallions (USFL champions).
That game will kick off at noon. Both games will be televised live on FOX.
Players to Watch: The Battlehawks had the best offense in the XFL last season and figure to be one of the best in the UFL this year.
Quarterback A.J. McCarron led that group by passing for 2,150 yards and 24 touchdowns, with just six interceptions in only nine games played.
Along with possibly the best QB in the league, St. Louis also believes it has the best wide receiver crew led by 6-foot-6, 225-pound catch machine Hakeem Butler, who caught 51 passes for 599 yards and a league-best eight receiving touchdowns last season.
Darrius Shepherd will also be back. He caught 48 passes for 519 yards and six touchdowns last year. St. Louis also picked up Blake Jackson from the Seattle Sea Dragons, as well as All-XFL wideout Jahcour Pearson, who will miss several weeks due to a knee injury suffered in the practice.
But St. Louis still has other dynamite pass-catchers, including No. 1 draft pick Ja’Marcus Bradley and former NFL draft picks Jerome Kapp and East St. Louis native Jeff Thomas.
The Battlehawks are going to throw the ball a lot and expect to score lots of points. That means Michigan is going to have to match them if its going to make Saturday’s contest a game.
The Panthers will be led by QB E.J. Perry, who was a late season signee for Michigan last year. But he did play in their final regular season game, which was a win and you’re in, lose and you’re out playoff situation for the Panthers.
And Perry won the game to get Michigan into the playoffs. They lost in the first round, but Perry played well — passing for 370 yards in an overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Maulers.
Michigan has a new offensive coordinator this year and will be running new offensive sets. So no one is quite sure what to expect from the Panthers. But they are an athletic group that figures to throw the ball deep a lot having a big-armed quarterback like Perry.
Defense is where the Panthers’ stars exist. They have linebacker Frank Ginda, last year’s USFL Defensive Player of the Year. Defensive end Breeland Speaks, who led the USFL in sacks last season. And cornerback Levonta Taylor, one of the USFL leaders in passes defensed, who also allowed no passing touchdowns last year.
A matchup of perhaps the league’s best offense facing its best defense is what fans will see in Week 1 when St. Louis battles Michigan on Saturday.
Up Next: The highly-anticipated Battlehawks home opener will be next Saturday, April 6, when St. Louis hosts the Arlington Renegades in a matchup at the Dome at America’s Center. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m., and a sellout crowd is expected, in what might be the most attended spring football game ever.