Bo Scarbrough leads stallions with talent, a winning mentality

By RJ Young
FOX Sports Writer

BIRMINGHAM, Alasha - Bo Scarbro was sitting to the right of Birmingham Stallions coach Skip Holtz in the press conference room at the Shelter Stadium.

As his teammate, security Jojo Tileri, fell from Holtz’s left side, Scarbro tried to move the microphone in front of his face. First, Scarbrough turned the microphone up, then down, until it fell off the stand and onto the table with a loud bang, accentuated by the sound of the speaker system.

Holz looked at Scarbrough from top to bottom, then returned to the media.

“I’m just glad it wasn’t football,” he said.

Scarbrough, like me, laughed. Stallions have a place to laugh, a place to enjoy the United States Football League.

After its sixth consecutive win, leading the league, Birmingham can secure a place in the playoffs with a win against the Pittsburgh Maulers on Sunday (14:00 Eastern Time on FOX) with three weeks to go.

In their win against the Michigan Panthers last Saturday night, the Stallions played without their best assault so far this season, CJ Marable’s tail. Instead, they leaned on Scarbro, and he held them with 16 assaults at 105 yards.

But that was only on the field.

Since joining the Stallions in the middle of the season, Scarbro has taken the lead, one Holtz and Tyler have been adamant that they want him in possession. When he speaks, the team listens.

Holz testified about that.

“I thought the speech he gave (Saturday) at the team meeting was real,” Holtz said. “It was real. And I’ll leave that to that - it’s known to the people who are on this football team who deserve to hear it. That was impressive. This guy is the real thing and I’m glad he’s part of our team. ”

However, he was almost not part of Holz’s football team. In the first five weeks of the season, the USFL teams could only have 45 players on their rosters and only 38 on match days.

Coaches across the league had to be prudent about how they chose to organize their depth tables. After Week 1, New Jersey Generals coach Mike Riley decided not to wear former All-Big Ten defender and Ohio state defender Mike Weber because his attack depended so much on the versatility of his tight ends.

For that reason, he wore three tight ends and only two defenders for most of the season.

Holtz had a similar problem that prevented him from selecting and signing one of the best tails the state of Alabama has produced in the last two decades.

Then, after the first week, Holtz had to give up taking over Scarbro in the middle of the season because he lost his starting quarterback due to injury.

“When Alex McGoff fell, it cost me a move because I had to bring my quarterback back here,” Holtz said. “So you’re scared to death of using draft pick, because what if someone gets hurt?” I can’t just use them to improve my team because I have to use them where I have to have them from the point of view of injury. “

Holtz was right to be scared - besides McGoff, Rallyback Marable and linebackers Scooby Wright and Nate Holly all missed time.

“About a week (after McGoo’s injury),” Holtz said, “they [the USFL] said we would give everyone three extra choices. ”

“When does it start?” Holtz asked.

“Now.”

“We’re choosing Bo - I want Bo Scarbrough.”

And Scarbrough ran up.

Most people can immediately see how physically impressive Scarbrough is. But he also came up with a winning pedigree, as he played college football right down the road in Alabama in two national teams for the college football title for Nick Saban.

In Tuscaloosa, Scarbro learned perhaps the most valuable lesson Saban had taught him.

“Do the right thing when you need to do it, where you need to do it, how you need to do it,” Scarbro said. “And those things kept me going from day one.”

In Alabama, Scarbro averaged more than six yards per carry, scored 20 touchdowns and became a top-class backfield leader representing future first-round draft pickers Najee Harris and Josh Jacobs.

As good as those numbers are, his work ethic and humble nature have made him one of the stallion leaders. Scarbro shared his backfield with Derrick Henry, Kenny Drake and Damien Harris as a freshman in Bama, but he didn’t sulk or ask for a curry.

Instead, he decided to trust his back coach, Barton Burns, who told each of his players that their time would come and that it was their job as players to stay ready. So while some people might wait in the bathroom browsing Twitter, Instagram or replying to messages, Scarbrough remained ready.

“If I were at home, sitting on the toilet,” said Scarbro, “I would have my performances glued to the back of the door. … You sit on the toilet and look at your phone, don’t you? So why can’t you stick plays on the door and see them as a text message? “

He transferred that work ethic with him into his professional life. Stallion running coach Larry Kirks has coached Scarbro in everything from his leg work when hitting a hole to where his hands should be when blocking quarterback passes.

His name and reputation resonate in the locker room, and his peers have shown that they will follow his example.

“You have to lead by example,” Scarbro said. “When you set an example, then you get guys to join. But if you talk and talk and talk and don’t show the guys how to do it, then the team won’t be together.

“But if you lead by that example and show the way, what is needed, what is needed to win, the guys buy. Then everyone starts to look like ‘Wow, he’s right, this is what we need to do. That’s how we’re going to win. ”

If nothing else, stallions know how to do just that.

RJ Young is an American football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and a podcast host. “1st ranked show with RJ Young. ” Follow him on Twitter at @ RJ_Ioungand subscribe to “RJ Young Show“on YouTube. He’s not on Stepmill.

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