Why DC coach expects Defenders to get every team's best shot

ARLINGTON, Texas -- About a week before last season began, Shannon Harris was named the interim head coach of the DC Defenders when Reggie Barlow left to become head coach at Tennessee State. By the end of the season, Harris and the Defenders won the UFL championship.

Now the permanent coach, Harris knows things will be different for the Defenders.

"In the words of Nick Saban, stay away from the rat poison," Harris said. "That's the one thing that we do: stay away from the rat poison. We don't read that stuff. We just come to work every day with a hard hat, our lunch pail and our work boots, and approach every day the same way."

Harris said the attention to detail in the preseason has been what he has wanted.

"We have a lot of new guys on our team, but the culture is set," Harris said.

It helps the Defenders that Jordan Ta'amu is back for his fourth season at quarterback. Last year, Ta'amu threw for 2,153 yards with 17 touchdowns and four interceptions. In the championship game against the Michigan Panthers, he had 390 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for a score.

"I'm still driven," Ta'amu said. "I still want to run it back."

Though there has been roster change around the league with new teams in new places (Louisville, Columbus, Orlando), the Defenders believe they have continuity, starting with Harris and Ta'amu but continuing throughout the coaching staff and roster.

"For them to bring more than half our guys back, it's amazing," Ta'amu said. "I'm just happy we have our coaching staff back as a whole. I feel like we're ahead of the game compared to some of the other teams. We're just right now fixing our mistakes that we did last year and making ourselves better through that."

Here's a look at what is old, new and different about the UFL as it heads into the 2026 season.

Rule changes

It wouldn't be a UFL season without rule changes. The tush push has been banned. There is now a four-point field goal for kicks of 60 yards or more. Teams may not punt inside the opponent's 50 unless it's in the final two minutes of the half or the game. And the coffin corner punt is gone too, with those that end up out of bounds now going to the 20-yard line.

Game management will be even more important.

"There's a lot of different scenarios in this that are going to pop up this year that will be a learning experience, not only for me but for everybody just because this is all new to every coach," said first-year Birmingham coach A.J. McCarron, who was the St. Louis Battlehawks quarterback two years ago. "That's going to be the trickiest thing."

The UFL has sent kickers Brandon Aubrey and Jake Bates to the NFL in part because of their ability to make long kicks. The league's kickers had a competition in front of UFL boss Mike Repole in the preseason, which was won by DC's Matt McCrane.

"The four-point play, it definitely adds some incentive and value to it," Harris said. "I'm excited for it. We're still going to try to take our three points if they present themselves, but with the four-point play, we feel great about what Matt can do and his leg."

Repole hopes to see the UFL rules adopted down the road by the NFL. But he doesn't want to take the fun out of the game.

"There's not going to be any celebration penalties," Repole said. "I might have an extra point for the best sack dance. I'm going to bring back the Mark Gastineau sack dance. But the guy gets to the end zone and at the 5-yard line, points at a player and is going to get a 15-yard penalty? No. I think there should be a 5-yard reward. ... This is a game, man. Trust me, there's high stakes, but we can still make it competitive, intense and fun. We're trying to do that."

Venue changes

Finding the right stadiums mattered a lot to Repole.

Instead of playing in the 65,000-seat Ford Field in Detroit, the 64,000-seat Alamodome in San Antonio, the 50,000-seat Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium in Memphis, UFL teams in Columbus, Ohio, Orlando and Louisville will play in smaller venues mostly known as soccer stadiums.

The Columbus Aviators will play in Historic Crew Stadium (19,968). The Louisville Kings will play at the 15,304-seat Lynn Family Stadium. Inter&Co Stadium (25,500) will host the Orlando Storm.

"I'm calling it 'Arena football outdoors,'" Repole said. "If you've gone to any of these soccer stadiums, they're smaller, they're intimate. I like soccer, so please, this is not critical, but maybe every five or seven minutes you get a big play or big pass or you get a shot on goal, and the crowd goes nuts. And 20,000, you're right on top of it. In football, that happens every play. There's a hard hit. There's a drop. There's a touchdown. There's a broken play. There's a sack." Crowd noise, in other words, will be a factor.

"I love that we're kind of drifting towards soccer stadiums and smaller stadiums where you can pack it out, like Audi Field," Ta'amu said. "St. Louis, they have a great environment, but we're not going to Memphis any more playing in front of 10 fans. We're going to places where people are hungry for football."

Big move for coach Becht

For three years, Anthony Becht was the St. Louis Battlehawks coach, posting a 22-8 record. He and Shannon Harris are the only two returning head coaches in the UFL in 2026, although Becht is now with the Orlando Storm.

"Listen, I'm in this thing to win it," Becht said. "We're preaching 12-0. We're not scared to talk about success. We're not scared to talk about championships. We've been to the conference championship two years in a row ... so we've won."

Becht's biggest reason for optimism is his quarterback room with Jack Plummer, Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Hank Bachmeier. Becht is particularly high on receiver KJ Hamler, a former second-round draft pick of the Denver Broncos.

"He's totally bought into the league with his leadership and his play," Becht said. "He's an NFL guy. Like, he won't be here next year. He's been fantastic. To me, he's a dude."

In St. Louis, the Battlehawks had a true home-field advantage inside The Dome at America's Center. Becht hopes to create the same at Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando, Florida.

"When you're a general manager and a head coach and you're helping sell tickets, to have those things come together, that's a great experience for me," Becht said. "It's going to be fun and we have a good team. I really think we'll grow that market."

Sumlin back in Houston again

Since 1989, Kevin Sumlin had been in college football for all but one year -- 2022, when he was with the Houston Gamblers of the USFL. He's back with the Gamblers, albeit now in the UFL.

Sumlin was the head coach at the University of Houston (2008-11), Texas A&M (2012-17) and Arizona (2018-20). After his first stint with the Gamblers ended, he went to Maryland as Mike Locksley's assistant head coach.

In 2025, he didn't coach.

"For me, college football has changed," Sumlin said. "And NIL has changed a lot of things. ... This is completely different. We're here in Arlington. We're here for five months. You can help these guys. You got 10 games. You got two playoff games and see where it goes. This is a completely different situation. And there's no NIL here."

But some similarities remain. With his ties to college football recruiting, Sumlin still had the phone numbers for what he estimated were 14 or 15 players on his roster.

"And if I didn't have their numbers, I had their parents' numbers, and they were like, 'Oh, hey, Coach, here it is,'" Sumlin said.

Sumlin said his previous experience in spring football will help him in terms of logistics and setting practice schedules. There is more focus on the mental effort than the physical work, especially with most of the players having previous pro experience.

"For our team, it's wanting to get to the [NFL]," Sumlin said. "I think all 32 teams are represented in our meeting room by guys who have been on a roster, been in camps, been on a practice squad. For that reason, I think the quality [of play] is going to go up. I've had a number of players walk into my office, 'Coach, got a second? What do I need to work on? How can I get back to the league?' So that's the motivation of our players and coaches."