Rollercoaster Ride Continues For Stallions Offensive Line

APRIL 19, 2025 - BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

By Steve Irvine

It’s been a rollercoaster ride through the first three weeks for the Birmingham Stallions offensive line. And that rollercoaster is still moving.

The season began with the eight sacks allowed in the first game, although the blame didn’t solely land on the offensive line. The Stallions followed that by not allowing sack in the next two games. Injuries have also turned the line into somewhat of a musical chair situation at times. This week, the Stallions will be without starting center Cole Schneider and Jarron Jones, who were each hurt in last week’s win over the Arlington Renegades.

“Cole Schneider went out of that game, (tackle) Christian DiLauro (was out), Jones went out in that game,” Holtz said. “We were down to five linemen. We have had a number of lineups. (Keaton) Sutherland has played left tackle, left guard and center as a new player (to the Stallions). We've just it seems like we're really struggling just developing that consistency that I talked about. We've got guys playing a lot of different positions. I'd really like to settle in on who we are and what we are. But it hasn't been as much us moving them around as it's been injuries. We’ve just had a lot of moving parts.”

Southerland is a great example. Until this week, he’s been listed on the depth chart as the backup at left tackle, left guard and center. Jones got hurt on the final play of the first half against Arlington while on the punt block team. Southerland began the second half playing left tackle. Schneider left with an ankle injury during the opening drive of the second half and Southerland had to slide over to center and Lachavious Simmons came on to play left tackle.

“I think our O-line does a great job of just adapting,” said Stallions quarterback Matt Corral. “(Offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo) has them switching out every position. Even in camp, they were playing every position, even though that's not the primary position. He's got them rotating and they do a good job of just getting it done. I wasn't worried one bit (in the second half against Arlington), it was just a matter of, we're going to have enough linemen.”

Schneider and Jones will not play in Saturday’s road game against the Houston Roughnecks but DiLauro is back in the lineup. The Stallions also picked up former Birmingham offensive tackle Darius Harper, who will serve as the backup at both tackles. Sutherland will remain at center while guard Barry Wesley and tackle Armani Taylor-Prioleau, who started on the right side last week, will switch over to the left side. The right side will consist of Deonte Brown at guard and DiLauro at tackle. Simmons will back up both guard spots and Brown will play center if something happens to Sutherland.

“When I look at our offensive line, I think many of the troubles have been much more fundamentally than they are talent,” Holtz said. “Again, I talked about all the guys playing different positions, the different calls, the different fundamentals that go into each position. And that's where I think if we could get some stability, we can improve fundamentally. I think we, you know, we're not going to make them bigger, faster, stronger. But I think we have a lot of talent on the offensive line.”

It’s no secret the most needed ingredient is for the improvement.

“I would really like to hopefully we can stay a little bit healthier and we can start to continue to improve, instead of feeling like every week you're having to hit the reset button,” Holtz said.

For the offensive line, though, hitting the reset button in pass protection has been a good thing. Holtz said that decision making by Corral and the receivers over the past two weeks has been helpful. But, the main thing is the offensive line has stepped up, no matter what the lineup looks like.

“I think from a physical standpoint, the one-on-one drop back matchup games, those guys have done a really nice job after the first week,” Holtz said. “I think they really responded to the challenge that was given to them after week one.