Image/UFL Battlehawks

Ricky Proehl made the game-winning catch in the 2000 NFC Championship Game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which propelled the St. Louis Rams to the Super Bowl and the eventual Super Bowl Championship. Now, as head coach of the St. Louis Battlehawks, Proehl hopes to lead the team that failed to make the UFL Championship Game in the last two seasons and make it to the UFL Championship Game under former head coach Anthony Becht, who now coaches the Orlando Storm.

The team offense will have a new signal caller in Bradon Silvers, who has played in various Spring League teams from the Defunct Memphis Express, Seattle Sea Dragons, Houston Roughnecks, and spent time as a backup with the New York Jets. The Battlehawks roster also features the returning wide receivers Hakeem Butler and Gary Jennings, along with 2025 UFL Sportsman of the Year Travis Feeney. Also returning 2025 All-UFL selections center Mike Panasiuk and Defensive Player of the Year Pita Taumoepenu. The return of Hakeem Butler is welcome news for the former All-League selection, who remains one of the UFL’s premier offensive playmakers.

For St. Louis, they hope to start 1-0 against a team that has won two straight games at the Dome, the D.C. Defenders. The League Champions, led by former Battlehawks quarterback Jordan Ta’amu, are hoping to repeat as champions of the UFL and have boasted one of the stingiest defenses the last couple of years, led by Defenders head coach Shannon Harris. Even though coach Proehl is coaching for the first time, he knows about winning in St. Louis and the Dome at America’s Center, which holds a special moment for the former wide receiver. He was a member of the “Greatest Show on Turf” version of the St. Louis Rams that won a Super Bowl.

“St. Louis is just such a great city, and they deserve to win, and I want to win for them,” said head coach Ricky Proehl, who was an assistant coach for the team in a previous season. “That does make me a little anxious, a little nervous because I want it as bad for them as I do for our football team and us.”

The Battlehawks open their season this Saturday at The Dome at America’s Center with an 11 a.m. CT kickoff against the defending UFL champion DC Defenders on ESPN, for which the team has sold 31,500 tickets, with rapper Nelly and the St. Lunatics set to perform at halftime. There’s no doubt the dome will be rocking Saturday.