UFL Media Day 2026: Defenders Start Title Defense as Battlehawks and Gamblers Open New Eras

The spotlights came on before the stadium lights did. With the 2026 United Football League season three weeks from its March 27 kickoff, players and coaches cycled through the league's preseason media day, a studio-style production of hard light, haze and oversized logos built to produce the photos and video that will carry the league through the spring. Undrafted photographer Cody Grubbs worked the sessions on March 5 and 6, as St. Louis Battlehawks, DC Defenders and Houston Gamblers players took turns in front of illuminated UFL and team logos and video walls carrying FOX and UFL branding.

The setting was promotional. The conversations around it were not. UFL News Hub, which interviewed players and coaches at media day, found a champion talking about the target on its back and a Houston staff still sorting out its quarterbacks. Every team was also racing a deadline: under league rules, clubs can carry up to 64 players in a camp that runs through March 20, when rosters must be cut to the league-mandated 50.

A Bullseye in DC

The Defenders arrive as the team everyone is chasing. DC won its first UFL title last season, routing the Michigan Panthers 58-34 in the championship game under Shannon Harris, who took over as interim head coach shortly before the season when Reggie Barlow left for Tennessee State. Harris has since had the interim tag removed, and he made clear that last year is closed. "We know that we're in a new season, and there's a huge bullseye on our back," Harris told UFL News Hub at media day.

His quarterback is back, too. Jordan Ta'amu threw for 2,153 yards, 17 touchdowns and four interceptions in 2025, but his completion rate slipped from 57.5 percent in 2024 to 54.4 percent, according to UFL News Hub. That is the number he wants to move. "This year, I want to focus on more completions, just being better than last year," Ta'amu said, crediting Harris and the offensive staff with breaking down his incompletions from a season ago.

Ta'amu, in his No. 10, liked what he had seen from the first weeks of camp. "We've been looking good, offense and defense. Everyone's been flying around, everyone's hungry," he said. He pointed to the return of receiver Keke Coutee, who missed last season, along with Erik Ezukanma and the speed of Montrell Washington, and he praised running back Xazavian Valladay, the former Arizona State back joining a room with Deon Jackson and Abram Smith. Tight end Ben Bresnahan, the former Vanderbilt captain who wears No. 87, is also back in red.

A Rams Legend Takes the Battlehawks

St. Louis starts over at the top. The UFL named Ricky Proehl head coach on Dec. 29, 2025, replacing Anthony Becht, who moved to the Orlando Storm. Proehl is a name St. Louis knows: a member of the Rams' "Greatest Show on Turf," he caught a 30-yard touchdown pass from Kurt Warner late in the 1999 NFC Championship Game on the way to Super Bowl XXXIV, and he later won a second ring with the Colts. He had coached the Battlehawks' wide receivers under Becht in 2023. "What brought me back is the people," Proehl said in a UFL feature after his hiring.

His staff includes defensive coordinator Corey Chamblin, offensive coordinator AJ Smith, special teams coordinator Frank Gansz Jr. and his son, former Battlehawks receiver Austin Proehl, who coaches the wideouts. The Battlehawks opened camp Feb. 23 at UFL headquarters in Arlington, Texas, and within days added a quarterback to a room that already held Brandon Silvers, back for a third spring in St. Louis, and Ben Wooldridge.

That addition was Harrison Frost, whose signing with St. Louis 3DownNation reported on Feb. 27, six days after the Hamilton Tiger-Cats released him. Frost threw for 6,730 yards and 50 touchdowns in two seasons at West Georgia. Wearing No. 11, he was one of the Battlehawks Grubbs photographed beneath the league's glowing logo. St. Louis opens at home against the Defenders on Saturday, March 28, at The Dome at America's Center, with an 11 a.m. Central kickoff on ESPN.

Sumlin Returns to Houston

In Houston, the old name is back and so is the old coach. The franchise, which played as the Roughnecks after the 2024 merger, returns as the Gamblers, and Kevin Sumlin is back on the sideline. Sumlin was Houston's head coach and general manager in 2022, the revived USFL's first season, and has also led the college programs at Houston, Texas A&M and Arizona.

The quarterback job is open. The UFL's preseason primer on Houston highlighted Hunter Dekkers, who threw for more than 3,000 yards and 19 touchdowns at Iowa State in 2022 and has spent time with the New Orleans Saints, and Donovan Smith, a 6-foot-4 passer who played at Houston. UFL News Hub reported Nolan Henderson is also in a three-way competition. Whoever wins it will throw to Jontre Kirklin, the No. 13 who returned to the franchise after playing for it in 2023 and spending time with San Antonio, and to Justin Hall, who has 10 touchdowns over the past three spring seasons. On defense, the Gamblers added linebacker Anthony Hines, an All-UFL pick on DC's title team.

Houston opens on the road on Saturday, March 28, against the Dallas Renegades at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, at 4 p.m. Eastern on FOX.

Three Weeks to Kickoff

The league's eight teams play a 10-week regular season that opens Friday, March 27, when the Birmingham Stallions visit the Louisville Kings on FOX. All 43 games, including two playoff games and the championship on June 13 on ABC, will air across FOX, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, FS1 and the ESPN App.

Before any of that, the cut to 50 comes first. The Defenders have a title to defend, the Battlehawks have a new voice in charge, and the Gamblers have a quarterback to choose. Media day gave all three their close-ups. The next three weeks decide who is still in the picture.

Photo Credit: Cody Grubbs/Undrafted