XFL Houston Roughnecks

XFL Play of Week: Week 4

Published on March 16, 2023 under XFL (XFL)
Houston Roughnecks News Release


The Houston Roughnecks faced second-and-3 just past midfield in the first quarter of Saturday's game against the Orlando Guardians when offensive coordinator A.J. Smith decided it was time.

From up in the coaches' box, Smith relayed to the 11 Roughnecks in the huddle the play call: "Mike Leach."

"I was like, we'll see if this works - that's the PG version of it," quarterback Brandon Silvers said. "And you know what, it actually worked. It was a great play."

That play was the first double forward pass of the 2023 XFL season, with Silvers finding Jontre Kirklin, who then found a wide-open Deontay Burnett for the 49-yard touchdown to go up 20-0.

The play - run in honor of Leach, the legendary and innovative college football coach who died at the age of 61 in December - could not have been executed any better.

"It was a pretty neat play," Houston head coach Wade Phillips said. "We named it the Mike Leach play, obviously for Mike Leach, and what he did for football. We wanted to honor him with that play."

When Smith started his career as a football coach, he had four heroes: John Jenkins, June Jones, Hal Mumme and Leach. Smith then got the opportunity to work for Jones and Mumme as a graduate assistant at SMU, building a connection within that part of the coaching tree.

After the SMU role, Smith started working on a virtual reality business within the football world. Mumme told his protégé Leach about Smith and the business, and Smith was invited to meet with Leach in 2016 at Washington State.

"We stayed up till midnight," Smith said. "He knew I was from Louisiana so we talked about alligators for two hours. But we mixed in some football."

Smith believes Leach could see during that initial conversation that he was a true believer in Leach's system. From that year going forward, Leach invited Smith back to his office - first at Washington State and then at Mississippi State - every spring to talk football.

Smith and Leach discussed many plays during their annual meetings. The double forward pass play - which was designed by Smith ahead of the first XFL season in 2020 when he was an assistant coach for the Roughnecks under Jones - was not one of them. The play, which is allowed if both the first pass is caught and then the second pass is thrown behind the line of scrimmage, is an XFL-only rule.

When the playbook was being put together for this season and they were trying to figure out a name for the play, Smith suggested Leach's name in honor of his mentor and friend.

The Roughnecks had never run the play live against a defense before Saturday's game, Smith said; they had only done walkthroughs of it. But heading into the game, Smith knew if the situation was right, he would call the play.

"I told everybody if we get up, and we get second and short and we're across the 50 - the stars align - I'm calling it," Smith said. "I don't think people thought I was serious."

Lining up on the far hash, Houston had two wide receivers on each on each side of the offensive line with a running back lined up to Silvers' right. The two wideouts to his left were bunched in fairly close while the two to his right were spread out wide.

Kirklin was the far wideout to the short side of the field. Burnett was the receiver all the way out to Silvers' right.

"I knew we had something that had never been done," Smith said. "I was looking at the safeties and the corners. They weren't in press man so I knew we had some type of zone. I forget if it was two-deep or three-deep but it was some type of zone. I knew they would bite and it worked to perfection."

On the snap, Kirklin ran right across the line of scrimmage and then into the backfield to catch the shallow screen from Silvers. Slot receiver Cedric Byrd and running back Brycen Alleyne were his two main blockers in front of him.

Kirklin caught the ball about four yards behind the line of scrimmage. He secured the first pass, started slowing his feet, got set into a great throwing position and tossed the football high in the air towards Burnett, who was running a go route down the field.

"If I don't catch the ball, then we can't even start to play. You know what I'm saying? So, catch the ball first," Kirklin said. "Then once I caught ball, I know I gotta roll out to try to at least sell a run. I'm selling the run. I see the safety come down. Deontay popped wide open by himself. Then I just let it rip at that point."

Silvers described the second pass as looking like a punt because of how high it arched in the Orlando air. One week later and the Roughneck players might have found a Leprechaun's pot of gold at the end of Kirklin's 45-yard rainbow.

Instead, it fell comfortably into the arms of Burnett right around the 10-yard line. No defender was within at least seven yards when he caught the ball. It was an easy, unencumbered six steps to the end zone.

"I had already manifested it before it even happened," Smith said. "When he walked into the end zone, it was, like it's done. We did it. I went crazy in the booth and I knew before it even happened that this was going to be big and honor him. In a way, I was hoping that he was helping us up upstairs with it."

There are few players better equipped to be a pass-throwing wide receiver than Kirklin, who Smith called a "cheat code." He was a high school quarterback at Lutcher (La.) High School, throwing for over 7,500 yards passing, rushing for another 3,000 and winning a state title. But his future was not under center. The versatile playmaker first moved to the defensive backfield at LSU but later swapped sides to wide receiver.

However, his quarterback days weren't behind him. Due to redshirt eligibility rules, injuries and the transfer portal, LSU was without a scholarship quarterback for Kirklin's final college football game, the Texas Bowl in Houston on Jan. 4, 2022. So the Tigers called on Kirklin.

LSU lost in a 42-20 blowout to Kansas State but Kirklin played well in his return to the position. He was 7-for-11 passing for 138 yards and three touchdowns with an additional 11 carries for 61 yards. Only two other Tigers quarterbacks had ever thrown for at least three touchdowns in a bowl game: Joe Burrow in the College Football Playoff national championship game in January 2020 and Matt Flynn in the BCS Championship game a dozen years prior.

"Being able to have that quarterback background, I could be able to read and see that the safety was coming down," Kirklin said. "[There are] some guys that probably would just catch it, hurry up and panic and then throw it fast and mess up the whole play."

For those scoring at home, Kirklin got all the statistical credit for the touchdown pass in the box score.

"I'm still trying to figure out if I get a touchdown pass out of that," Silvers said postgame. "I guess I don't."

Kirklin finished with 49 passing yards and 49 receiving yards, including a 42-yard touchdown catch later in the game. Silvers finished with three touchdown passes and 239 yards passing as Houston extended its perfect start to the season with an impressive 44-16 win.

Smith is in the coaches' box during games so he got to celebrate the successful trick play with his fellow coaches but not his players.

The Roughnecks roster has more than a few players who played for Leach in college. One of them, running back Max Borghi, made sure to seek out Smith after the final whistle.

"Max Borghi finds me and grabs me and goes, 'Man, we honored him tonight.'" Smith said. "I said, "Yea we did.' That's pretty awesome."

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