Panthers, Defenders, UFL Leadership Take Part Media Day

June 13, 2025 - United Football League (UFL) News Release

ST. LOUIS - On the eve of the 2025 United Football League Championship Game Presented by Underdog, the time for talking about the game is almost over. But with the game still a little more than 24 hours away, the Michigan Panthers, DC Defenders and UFL leadership took the time to talk with the media about the build to the title game and the future at Friday's UFL Championship Game Media Day.

St. Louis Special to Signal Callers

DC Defenders quarterback Jordan Ta'amu and Michigan Panthers field general Bryce Perkins both have connections to St. Louis that make playing in Saturday night's championship game extra special to them.

Ta'amu began his professional football career with the St. Louis Battlehawks in the 2020 XFL season that was canceled midway through the season due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite that relatively short period of time, Ta'amu quickly built an affinity for the UFL Championship Game's host city.

"Being back in St. Louis, just that being my first opportunity as a professional athlete, for it to come back full circle where I'm playing my championship game five years later, is amazing," Ta'aumu said. "It's just such a huge blessing and how God works. He's bringing me back here for a reason. I didn't know I was gonna be playing back in the Lou, but this is such an amazing feeling to be back here."

Ta'amu said he feels very comfortable in the environment of The Dome at America's Center, after having played in the facility numerous times over the past few years.

Meanwhile, Perkins' mother Ore is from St. Louis. He spent plenty of time in the Gateway City growing up and still has a great deal of family in the area.

"I'm glad that they were able to come see me this week because the last time we played in St. Louis, a lot of them were out of town," Perkins said. "I grew up a St. Louis Rams fan and I always loved coming here. I'm excited that my mom gets to come out here and see her family as well. So it's going to be exciting. I'm glad that a lot of my family who are coming are going to be able to see me play for the first time."

Perkins' affinity for St. Louis is so strong, he even tossed a shoutout to long-time local favorite Emo's Pizza.

Coaches Look Forward to Challenge

The two coaches in Saturday's title tilt will enter the game with vastly differing levels of experience, but both are looking forward to the chess match.

The Panthers' Mike Nolan has NFL head coaching experience and has been leading the Panthers since the revival of the USFL in 2022. Nolan boasts 88 games as a head coach in professional football and has led his team to the playoffs in each of the four years he has been at the helm of the Panthers. DC is led by interim head coach Shannon Harris, who had never served as head coach in a game at any level of football prior to this season. Harris took over the Defenders one week prior to the 2025 season when former head coach Reggie Barlow stepped down to take over the program at Tennessee State University.

Nolan is excited for his group to earn its way to a championship game, after falling short in the playoffs each of the past three seasons.

"The excitement that I have is certainly not an individual one at all. As a matter of fact, that's about the last thing I would think about," Nolan said. "It's collectively looking at our players and our coaches and everybody (who have) sacrificed so much just to get here. So if the game was to mean something to me, it really is, it's about the team and their opportunity to win a championship. Right now, it's all about the team. And football is the ultimate team sport. So for those reasons, it's got a lot of meaning to me."

Harris,who was named UFL Coach of the Year earlier this week, was also appreciative of his staff and team for their buy-in through the coaching change and throughout the season.

"The coaching staff and all of us, the players themselves, we've been pretty consistent throughout since Week One all through camp," Harris said.

Rematch Of Week Six

These two teams squared off earlier this season, with Michigan taking a 38-14 victory in Detroit in Week Six. But Nolan says the Defenders are a much different team at this point in the season than they were then.

"Their football team, in my opinion, plays a lot like their head coach," Nolan said. "They've got a lot of energy. They're exciting to watch. They play extremely hard, very passionate when they play. So I think it's a better team than we faced midseason. They know they are as well, so it will be a real challenge."

Harris expects an intense battle, noting how well the Defenders have played of late.

"We know this game is going to be physical," he said. "It's playoff football, right? So you got to make sure, man, you bring your hard hat, your lunch pail, your work boots, especially against this team we're about to play tomorrow."

Garcia, Brandon, Johnston Address Media

UFL Owner Dany Garcia, President & CEO Russ Brandon and Executive Vice President for Football Operations Daryl Johnston also addressed the media on Friday. The trio spent much of their time fielding questions about the future.

Garcia and Brandon answered questions about expansion and the starting date for next season, respectively, but their answers could have covered numerous topics about the growth and future of the UFL.

"The passion for what we believe this league is going to be drives the decisions and the work that Russ and Daryl and the rest of our executive team is doing," Garcia said.

"We're going to take a look and see what makes sense," Brandon said. "Not only the player feedback, but our consumer feedback as well. We'll go through that process as we're going to go through all of our business and football recapping process over the next few weeks and continue to make decisions."

One thing all three made clear is that the UFL is a long-term proposition for them, while noting that the UFL is technically only 15 months old.

"Our league was started with passion and grit and discipline, knowing that to be in the football ecosystem, you don't just buy a ticket, you need to have the rigors, you need to have people around you understand this is a three-, five-, 10-, 15-year commitment and have the flexibility, the imagination, the creativity to weather that movement," Garcia said.

"It always starts with ownership," Brandon said. "We are incredibly blessed to have the ownership group that we have led by Dany. When you look at Redbird capital and Gerry Cardinale, Fox sports with Eric Shanks, and Dwayne Johnson, we have an incredible ownership group and Disney, obviously, that have put us in a position for long-term sustainability and growth. We are building this the right way, as Daryl said, with sound discipline."

"You look at the people that are a part of the UFL on the football side and the business side, and everybody's extremely passionate about what they do, what their job responsibilities are and we know how important success is to them," Johnston added. I go back to the day that we opened up HQ ... to see where we were as the UFL today is just amazing. Where is this league going to be in three years, four years from its start? If we go back and look at where we were ... that day at the merger to be able to project out for the UFL is very exciting for us."

While there was plenty of talk of the future with the UFL brass, they made a point of noting how important it is to finish out the 2025 season strong with Saturday's championship game.

"The biggest thing for us is to finish this weekend, complete our second season and do it the right way," Johnston said. "So for us to be present for a couple of more days and to celebrate and honor the coaches and the staffs and the players that have been so important to us in season two."

Garcia said she is looking forward to Saturday's championship game and then continuing to build on the UFL's plan for continued growth.

"What I want to see is actually what we all want to see, this league clicking in with its consumer, its audience, this league continuing to be that opportunity for athletes where their performance here matters, where they know they're expressing their love of football and their incredible skill," she said. "And it is being appreciated. It is enjoyed. It is being celebrated. My vision is that culture translates out to our fandom, not just from our athletes who are living it, but that it becomes a movement and that when you (are wearing) a UFL shirt, you're representing something that is very, very different, meaningful, grounded, and all about what's next."

United Football League Stories from June 13, 2025

• Panthers, Defenders, UFL Leadership Take Part Media Day - UFL
• Michigan Panthers Quarterback Bryce Perkins Named 2025 United Football League Most Valuable Player - Michigan Panthers

The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.