After leaving the state of Alabama in 2013 as a 3x national champion with the Alabama Crimson Tide, A.J. McCarron will be making his long-awaited homecoming this Saturday. McCarron and his (5-1) St. Louis Battlehawks will be traveling to Birmingham, AL to take on the (6-0) Stallions in the season’s biggest game.
McCarron was initially a fifth-round pick to the Cincinnati Bengals back in the 2014 NFL draft but spent time in the league with five different teams. After over a year away from the game, McCarron was drafted to the Battlehawks of the XFL in November of 2022 and spent the 2023 spring with the team. McCarron was a superstar for St. Louis as he was the league passing TD leader, the completion percent leader and the passer rating leader.
The Bengals called McCarron in September of 2023 to join their practice squad to which he obliged. McCarron spent the remainder of the season with the Bengals, but asked for his release in February of 2024 to return to the Battlehawks.
This time, the Battlehawks are in the newly made UFL – a merger of the USFL and XFL, two formerly-seperate spring football leagues. With St. Louis coming from the XFL and Birmingham coming from the USFL, McCarron’s return to Alabama would not have been possible if not for the merger. It will be awesome to see No. 10 back in his home state for first time since 2013.
a homecoming a decade in the making. pic.twitter.com/RhOG6ChzJM
— St. Louis Battlehawks (@XFLBattlehawks) May 7, 2024
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