Alex McGough Excited For Reunion With Stallions and Skip Holtz
Marcy 8, 2025 - BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA
By Steve Irvine
To be precise, Alex McGough had UFL options. In fact, he had several options. But, in McGough’s mind, he only had one clear choice.
That choice was to rejoin Skip Holtz and the Birmingham Stallions.
“I knew that the whole time I was going to come back just because of what I had talked about earlier with Skip, the relationship that we have,” McGough said. “And then just the guys I'm familiar with (on the Stallions) and these guys they're familiar with me.”
McGough had two memorable USFL seasons with the Stallions. His second one may have been the best season ever put together by a spring football quarterback. He threw for 2,658 yards with 28 touchdowns and five interceptions and rushed for 551 yards and six touchdowns in 12 games to lead the Stallions to their second consecutive league championship.
McGough then went back to chasing a NFL dream with the Green Bay Packers. He spent parts of two seasons on the Packers practice squad, including last season when he spent time at wide receiver.
Now, not only is he back with Holtz and the Stallions but he’s back to being a full-time quarterback.
“Yeah, I mean, it was cool,” McGough said of the first couple of days of UFL training camp. “Just getting back to playing quarterback again has been not an adjustment, but kind of feels like a homecoming. You know, it's like kind of just what I'm supposed to be doing. I feel more natural playing it. And it was good sitting in a room with Skip again and, you know, hearing him talk and our relationship that we have. And then seeing all the guys was fun. But practice has been really good.”
McGough is part of what is probably the best quarterback room in the UFL, joining returnee Matt Corral and Case Cookus, who led the Philadelphia Stars into the 2022 USFL championship game. Corral played in four games last season and was unbeaten in his three starts. But it was Adrian Martinez who ultimately won the starting job and led the Stallions to their third successive league title. Cookus was added to the roster earlier this week after J’Mar Smith’s failed to report to training camp. Cookus played in 19 games with 17 starts for the Philadelphia Stars in 2022-23 and played in eight games with six starts last season with the Memphis Showboats. Over those three seasons, he threw for 4,618 yards with 34 touchdowns and 18 interceptions and rushed for 580 yards with a touchdown.
For Holtz, though, the biggest quarterback acquisition in the offseason had to be McGough. It wasn’t a quick process. McGough waited for the Packers decision on what to do with him. When he got word that he wasn’t in their plans, he called Holtz.
“What works I think there's a respect on both sides,” said Holtz, who will continue to coach the quarterbacks. “I think he's got a great understanding of this offense. From a personality standpoint, we click and I say we click because you can't take either one of us really too serious. We both want to have fun. We know that there's work to be done, and when there's work to be done, we go get it done. I really enjoy coaching Alex. I think you can coach him hard. I think he's respectful. He listens. He's a great student. He tries to incorporate what you're trying to tell him into his game. He doesn't have all the answers. But I think he's just getting better and better in this offense with what we're trying to do. I just have great respect for him. I really want him to get his (NFL) opportunity again, but I certainly enjoy having him on our roster with what he's able to do it with his talents and abilities.”
For McGough, the respect is mutual.
“I respect his coaching style,” McGough said. “I respect the way he calls the games. I respect the way he teaches players. He's not a big yeller or screamer. He just wants to help people. And he always says he's a teacher first, then a coach.”