Luis Perez Meets With Media Prior to Week 2 Texas Showdown
One of the most consistent aspects of spring football is that Luis Perez is going to be slinging the ball around the field.
Perez is coming off a solid first outing of the 2025 season against the San Antonio Brahmas on Saturday. He finished the game completing 20 of his 25 passes for 164 yards and one interception in the Renegades’ 33-9 win to move to 1-0 on the season.
His top target in the game was tight end Sal Cannella, who caught five passes for 45 yards and caught a two-point conversion. While speaking to the media on Thursday, Perez talked about his chemistry with his tight end over the last three years.
”Yeah, he's a playmaker. He puts in the work in the offseason. We have a good chemistry. We're going on year three together, so it's good. It's good to have him back, and he's a great target to have.”
Image via X @XFLRenegades
The Renegades offense finished the Brahmas game with 347 total yards of offense, but the surprise was how well the rushing attack did. Led by new running back Kalen Ballage, the Renegades rushed for 183 yards and four touchdowns in the win. Perez knows that even though the league is taking notice of the new-look balanced attack, the offense will be hard to stop.
”One thing is somebody taking notice, but one thing is people have to stop it, too. And again, when you're two-dimensional and you have Thunder and Lightning back there, you have all the skill position. We have a great offensive line. I'm back. I'm comfortable with all the receivers. I just feel like it's going to be hard to stop. It's going to be hard to stop if we're all clicking and doing our 1-11. And a big thing for us is, Hey, focus on ourselves. Do your 1-11, nothing more, nothing less, and everything's going to play out. We have all the pieces in place, the coaching, everything's there. We just got to execute.”
Image via X @XFLRenegades
Despite the St. Louis Battlehawks’ offensive line getting offensive player of the week, the Renegades’ line should get a ton of credit for their performance on Saturday. The Renegades’ offensive line led the way with an average of 5.9 yards per rush, and Perez wasn’t sacked once in the game. Perez praised his offensive line for its performance in training camp and in Week 1.
”They're all great, man. They're all mature. They're hungry to learn and get better. And you can tell when we're out there, there's a big emphasis. Hey, we want to have a good running game. We want to have the best offensive line in the league. And when your offensive line have that mentality, sky's the limit for those guys.”
Image via Anthony Miller
The quarterback room saw a slight change this season with rookie Luke Lehnen joining the team after Lindsey Scott Jr. made the change to coaching. Holton Ahlers took over the backup role and replaced Scott in running quarterback packages. I asked Perez about the quarterback room and shared how close the three players are to each other.
”They're awesome, man. They're both great dudes. Outside of football players, they're great dudes. You always want them in the quarterback room. Very positive, very energetic. Luke's a younger guy, still trying to learn. Holton and myself try to do our best to fill him in and just mentor him. And Holton is a great guy, good friend of mine, great guy. He has similar assets, but obviously, he can use his legs when he needs to. And we have a package for him, and he's done great. He's three for three when he's been in the game for touchdowns. So it's worked out our T-Bone formation. But they're awesome. They're great people, great football players.”
The Renegades will be at home on Sunday, facing the 0-1 Houston Roughnecks at 11:00 a.m. CST on ESPN.
