We had some polls, you spoke, and we have a winner. We will be covering the St. Louis Battlehawks for the XFL this season! This is my third football related job and I couldn’t be happier. Let’s hope the XFL lasts longer than a half a season! Without further ado, let’s take a look at our roster and coaching staff headed into the 2020 season. #ClearedtoEngage
Coaching
The Battlehawks head coach and GM is Jonathan Hayes. Hayes is a former Tight End who played for the Chiefs and Steelers (woof). He was a 2nd round draft pick in the NFL in 1985. He played college ball at Iowa (go Big Ten!). Listen to this….he joined Marvin Lewis’s Cincinnati Bengals staff and won 4 AFC North titles on the way to 7 NFL playoff berths! Okay, this guy is good by me!
The offensive coordinator is Chuck Long, who crazily enough also went to Iowa and is in the College Football Hall of Fame. The defensive coordinator is Jay Hayes who is presumably the brother of head coach Jonathan Hayes (I can’t confirm this, might be fake news). **UPDATE** I did confirm this. Jay and Jonathan are brothers. Thanks for getting back to me, Mr. Hayes. Journalism, folks!
Players
The QB that was assigned to the St. Louis BattleHawks was Ole Miss’s Jordan Ta’amu who went undrafted by the NFL after passing for 3,918 yards at Ole Miss last year. Ta’amu will be able to hand the ball to Christine Michael who is a former Seahawk and has a ton of talent. A couple Missouri wide receivers will be at Ta’amu’s disposal with L’Damian Washington and Marcus Lucas being home town favorites. Other receivers include De’Mornay Pierson-El from Nebraska and Ishmael Hyman from James Madison. Player names are not helping out this journalism rookie!
Recent news has the BattleHawks signing QB Nick Fitzgerald from Mississippi State. Also, we traded for CB David Rivers and OT Brian Wallace.
There’s a lot of good out there and a lot of excitement. We will keep you on track as the season edges closer. The BattleHawks are opening up on the road at the Dallas Renegades at 4pm CT (5 EST), Sunday February 9 on ESPN. We will definitely be tuned in and looking forward to a great season! BattleHawk out. #ClearedtoEngage