Spring leagues offer opportunities

My brother, Gary, is a former high school quarterback and a football fanatic who claims to be slightly depressed now that the college and pro football seasons are over.

I share his sentiment, especially for college football, my favorite sport. But there are now two spring pro leagues for those who can’t wait until August for the 2023 season and the rosters are dotted with players with Arkansas ties.

Do you remember Cole Kelley, the 6-foot-7 tugboat from Louisiana who played quarterback for the Razorbacks for two years? He’s with the Memphis Showboats of the United States Football League.

How about Alex Collins, the former Arkansas running back who has three years NFL experience with Seattle and Baltimore? He’s hoping a productive stint at Memphis will earn him another opportunity in the NFL.

Or, how about T.J. Hammonds, the Little Rock native who never had the breakout season at Arkansas many expected? T.J. now frolics in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee.

Not really. But he is a member of the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL.

Play began on Saturday with the Las Vegas Vipers against the Arlington (Texas) Renegades in the XFL, which concludes its season with a championship game on May 13. The USFL starts April 15 and ends July 2.

A handful of players have used the spring leagues as a springboard to the NFL, like Ka’Vonte Turpin who had a 44-yard kickoff return for the Dallas Cowboys in their playoff game with the 49ers. Former Arkansas State defensive lineman Chris Odom was voted the Defensive Player of the Year in the USFL last spring before resurfacing in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns. Professional football leagues have sprung up before in the spring and melted away like a late February snow. There are still questions whether the USFL and XFL can co-exist from a revenue-producing standpoint when the vast majority of sports fans turn their attention in the spring to baseball, softball, soccer, and golf.

Still, where there is opportunity, there is hope and no one took advantage of his opportunity more than Kurt Warner, who was bagging groceries before joining the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League. Warner was eventually signed by the then-St. Louis Rams and played for 12 seasons in the NFL, where he was twice voted the league’s Most Valuable Player and was inducted in 2017 to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. You don’t get more rags-to-riches in sports than that.

I also look forward to the 2023 football season that, for many Arkansans, will kick into gear when Sam Pittman appears behind the podium at the SEC Media Days in downtown Nashville, Tenn., on July 19th. In the meantime, I can get my football fix by watching some spring games on TV and checking on the progress of guys like former Razorbacks Devwah Whaley, Santos Ramirez and Ty Clary, former Red Wolf Jonathan Adams, and Randy Satterfield, who played at Lyon College in Batesville.

Like anything in life, all anyone can hope for is an opportunity, an opportunity combined with a burning desire that can lead to incredible success. Just ask Kurt Warner, a former bag boy making $5.50 an hour in 1994 whose bust now resides in the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.