XFL Season Preview: the XFL East Conference

Mar 22, 2023 5:39 PM ET | By: matan

The XFL East Conference Preview

Vince McMahon knows how to entertain people. The popularity of the

WWE is evidence of that and is one of the reasons why sports fans are looking forward to the debut of the new and improved XFL.

We may not have a clue about what we are going to see just yet. But the rule variations sound interesting, and in some cases, exciting. So, while it is going to be football, it is not going to be the same old thing we are accustomed to seeing.

But what are we going to see? We have all the names on the rosters, but most of them are not names the average football fan is familiar with. Does that mean they are bad? Of course not. It just means we haven’t been exposed to them yet.

So—who’s going to win it all?

Until they start playing games, that is going to be a hard question to answer. But with what we know about the coaches and the names we recognize, we can come up with a few conclusions about each team.

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The Best XFL East Conference Preview

Head coach Pep Hamilton made his name as an offensive coordinator at Stanford before moving into the same position in the NFL. The Defenders are going to be hoping he can work the same kind of magic he did with Andrew Luck, and do this time with Cardale Jones and Tyree Jackson.
He’ll have a pair of talented college running backs to work with in former San Diego State standout Donnel Pumphrey and former LSU standout Nick Brossette. At wide receiver will be a group with a lot of potentials as well in Eli Rogers, Simmie Cobbs Jr., and Malachi Dupre.
A lot of writers seem to think highly of the Defenders front seven, but the strength of the defense is the secondary as they hope stifling opposing pass offenses will lead to an XFL title.

With Kevin Gilbride as their head coach, expectations may be higher for the Guardians than some other teams in the XFL. He had a brief stint as a head coach in the NFL but spent most of his 30+ year career as an offensive coordinator—including a ten-year stint with the New York Giants, where he helped the team win two Super Bowls.
At quarterback, he will have Matt McGloin, a guy that was highly touted when he entered the NFL but never lived up to expectations. In the backfield with him will be Tim Cook and Justin Stockton. Both looked good during their time in the AAF last season.
But while there is reason to believe Gilbride can get the offense up and running sooner rather than later, he has been retired for six years. Is his offense going to be outdated?

Head coach Jonathan Hayes is the least experienced of all the head coaches in the XFL, having no head coaching experience and no time as a coordinator. He coached tight ends and special teams for Oklahoma for three years before coaching tight ends for the Cincinnati Bengals for 15.
That’s it. But if Hayes can coach as well as he must have interviewed, the Battle Hawks may be the dark horse team to bet on.
He will have some promising talents on offense. Nick Fitzgerald was a talented college Q.B. during his days at Mississippi State, as was Jordan Ta’amu at Ole Miss. The backfield will be one of the more experienced in the XFL with Keith Ford, Matt Jones, and Christine Michael.
All three were college standouts and have NFL experience. Plus, if you are a believer in style points or looking good to play good, the Battle Hawks helmets have the entire internet ready to tune in to see how good they are in action after salivating over them after their reveal.

Marc Trestman heads up the Vipers—and that could be a good thing or a bad thing. He made his name as an offensive genius as a coordinator in the NFL and then as head coach of the Montreal Alouettes. He impressed enough to get back into the NFL as the head coach of the Chicago Bears—where he failed miserably (there is a solid debate that he could blame Mitchell Trubisky; an argument you won’t find countered here).
But then he did well enough with the Toronto Argonauts to get another chance back in the U.S. with the XFL.
He will have a great college quarterback to work with in former Georgia star Aaron Murray. Lining up at running back will be another former college Q.B. standout, Quinton Flowers or Mack Brown. Murray may have the best tandem of receivers in the XFL in Tanner McEvoy and Antonio Callaway.
With the talent Trestman has on the roster, he will have no excuse if his team fails to move the ball.

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