Spring Football ‘a Blessing’ for Stallions’ Yarbary
APRIL 24, 2025 - BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA
By Steve Irvine
Spring football has been a blessing for Birmingham Stallions defensive lineman Willie Yarbary.
The blessings can be counted by the number of championship rings he’s earned. He has three of those as a member of the Birmingham Stallions. The first two came in the USFL. Last season, the 6-foot-3, 292-pound Augusta, Georgia native was part of a Stallions team that won the inaugural UFL title.
However, his biggest blessing is simply the opportunity to keep playing a sport he loves.
“I think playing the spring has brought a purpose,” said Yarbary. “I think more so, not just being a little fish of a big pond, but being a big fish in a little pond, kind of mindset. I was just talking to my wife about this, not too long ago. I hope that the league succeeds and prospers in the future because at the end of the day, certain guys have made a name for themselves. Guys have had great resumes at this beginning. Hopefully down the line there are opportunities to come back or to be honored for their work. I'm thankful for this opportunity, a lot of guys' careers would have been over and had to move on to other things. But because of this opportunity, we've been able to fulfill a dream, to continue to play football, and I think that's all you can ask for.”
Yarbary has excelled at every level. He was a top 50 prospect in Georgia as a senior at Academy of Richmond County in Augusta but some questioned whether he was a big enough at 240 pounds. He answered those questions by contributing 116 tackles, 21.5 tackles for loss and 12 sacks in four seasons at Wake Forest.
“I think after you show that you can play, that (undersized) stuff shouldn't matter,” Yarbary said. “But the society that we're in is all about the numbers, is all about the potential part and not about what you've shown a lot of times. They try to see what the ceiling is and that's what they look at - the height, the weight, and I can't control that. I've been given this ability, given my measurements and you just have to go out and play at the end of the day.”
He had NFL camp opportunities with the Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Chargers before the Stallions found him. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that he found the Stallions. Either way, it’s been a great partnership. Yarbary is one of six players to play on all four Stallions teams since the first game in 2022. Over that time, he’s had 117 tackles and 12 sacks. This season he is fifth on the team and first among the defensive linemen with 20 tackles.
For now, his focus is on helping the Stallions win their fourth consecutive championship. At some point, though, Yarbary, who turns 29 years old four days after the 2025 UFL Championship Game, will have to leave football behind.
“I want to be able to leave on my time and not be forced out,” Yarbary said. “I think when you're in this position, you kind of got to listen to your body also. I know I'm not as young as I once was, but I'm learning ways how to play more efficiently. I don't want to say a year to three years. I don't know. It's just when I know it's time, I know it's time. And again, I want to do it on my time and not get cut or forced out.”
When that time comes, Yarbary will still have Pickleball to satisfy his competitive needs.
How did he find Pickleball as one of his passions?
It began with his love and skill for ping pong while growing up, continued with a little bit of tennis as a training option and transformed into Pickleball.
“I'm just good at recreational things,” Yarbary said. “I don't know why, but I just enjoy it. Honestly, I don't know why I enjoy it so much. I think it's just so fun and it's addicting. Probably because anybody can play it and anybody can win. It doesn't take, like, the young, fast person to do it. It takes so much amount of skill and technique. And you've got to have a little bit of speed.”
He said he’s certain that he’s the best Pickleball player on the team. But it’s a bigger challenge for him to compete against his group of fellow pickleball players when he returns home to Georgia, even though none of them are professional athletes.
“There are a lot of older guys,” Yarbary said. “The guy who runs the group, I want to say he just turned 80, and he is still running miles. His name is Rufus. I just spoke to him a couple of days ago, but he runs, he still runs miles, he plays pickleball consistently. He records everything and sends a video out so people can study what he's been doing and stuff like that. So it's deep of how much we play and how often we play. But it is a lot of older people that I play with initially, and I like playing with them also because they teach you technique and they teach you how to do certain stuff that you don't have to just run for it or just use effort.”