Observations from Arlington Renegades Open Practice

Image via Anthony Miller

It’s that time of year again where I have the privilege to come out to Arlington Renegades practice to shape up how the team will be.

On Saturday, Renegades fans were treated to their annual open practice. This year, the team had the Houston Roughnecks join in as the teams took part in position drills, 7-on-7, and a scrimmage between the teams.

Since I have been covering these practices of the Renegades back in 2019 with their first mini-camp, I have always pulled up my notes app to type out things that pop out at me including individual players’ performances, best plays, and projecting the starting lineup.

Here are my observations from the Renegades’ practice:

Quarterbacks

Image via Anthony Miller

Starting with the spring football king, Luis Perez looked to play the part of starting quarterback the best of all the signal callers on the field. Perez showed pose and was accurate with his passes in the 7-on-7. During the scrimmage, he threw a nice touchdown pass on the outside to JaVonta Payton. While he did miss on some deep throws during that time, that’s a note I could make for all the quarterbacks on the field.

Holton Ahlers was an interesting watch as he showed off his athleticism quite a bit. I marked down a couple of plays where he threw nice passes including a back shoulder deep throw to David Durden during the scrimmage and he rolled out of the pocket to hit Juwan Manigo for a touchdown pass in the back of the end zone while the team was in the red zone.

Luke Lehnen was equally impressive. The rookie quarterback showed me something I was not expecting: a quick trigger. Lehnen has the quickest release of the football I have ever seen from a Renegades quarterback. While there are accuracy issues he needs to work on, Lehnen has all the makings of being a solid quarterback in the UFL, with some development needed.

Offensive Skill Players

The usual suspects stood out, with Sal Cannella and Deontay Burnett running precise routes, and Cannella being physical when getting open. It was great to see LuJuan Winningham get more time on the field during practice, as he is the perfect target to throw to in jump ball, 1-on-1 situations. Tyler Vaughns and Payton are still the projected starters, but this receiver group is deep this year with talent.

One of the biggest makeovers with position groups is at running back. Renegades head coach Bob Stoops have singled out Kalen Ballage as one of the standouts from camp so he’s in line to start. Dae Dae Hunter is the only returning back from last year and showed quick, elusive feet that fans got to see last year. The other rookie Ike Irabor will fit in nicely as a rotational back as he showed some good move as well.

Offensive Line

Another position group going through massive turnover is the offensive line. The only returning starters from the 2024 team is Adrian Ealy and Marcus Minor who are holding strong at their positions. If it hadn’t been for a season-ending injury before the 2024 campaign, Garrett McGhin would have started so the Renegades are happy to see him back. McGhin is wearing a knee brace which will be something to monitor during the season.

There are two new starters on the line with Rickey Lee taking over at left tackle and Jake Johanning. Lee was called out last week by Stoops as one of the new players having an outstanding training camp. Johanning seemed to fit well at center as he is versatile and can play guard if needed.

Defensive Standouts

Image via Anthony Miller

The defensive line appears to be the strongest position group on defense as they are deep. DaVontae Lambert and LaRon Stokes are trusted veterans who look up to the task at the tackle positions. Willie Taylor III and Tuzar Skipper were taking starting reps off the edges. I expect other impact rushers like Chris Odom and veteran Will Clarke to get reps as the team appears to have replaced Jalen Redmond and Vic Beasley well.

An interesting combo at linebacker was Donald Payne and Charlie Thomas III. The pair worked well together with good communication and really solid at stopping the run. Caleb Johnson I noted as being tough and physical in pass coverage.

The secondary needed the most work and they might have something special in cornerback Jayden Price. Of all the corners, Price was the best one as he was blanketing the Roughnecks receivers and swatting balls away. Veterans Jamar Summers and Ajene Harris also had good practices as I can see Harris back in the starting lineup and Summers rotating in at corner.

Special Teams

Last week, Stoops pointed out Lucas Havrisik as having a great camp due to his ability to nail 60+ yard field goals. I can confirm that Havrisik has a monster leg as he made five of six field goals in the practice.

Marquette King continues to prove to everyone that he is one of the best punters in spring football. King was bombing kicks from 70+ yards down the field and showed that he can nail a coffin punt with ease.

Antonio Ortiz doesn’t properly get praised enough for his work at long snapper. I can’t remember a time where Ortiz had a bad snap or put his holder in a bad position to adjust the ball off the snap. Ortiz is one of the best long snappers in the UFL and deserves his praise.

While there wasn’t much to observe in the return game as most of the work was focused on the new kickoff run, Manigo should still be the guy taking returns back this season. He ranked among one of the best in the UFL a season ago so anyone else taking over wouldn’t make sense unless Manigo takes a bigger role on offense.

Projected Starting Lineup/Depth Chart

Image via Anthony Miller

It’s important to note that these are just projections based on what I saw at practices with certain rotations being put on the field. All of these are pure speculation and could change before Week 1.

Offense

QB - Luis Perez, Holton Ahlers, Luke Lehnen

RB - Kalen Ballage, Dae Dae Hunter, Ike Irabor

WR - Tyler Vaughns, JaVonta Payton, Deontay Burnett, Isaiah Winstead, LuJuan Winningham

TE - Sal Cannella

LT - Rickey Lee

LG - Marcus Minor

C - Jake Johanning

RG - Garrett McGhin

RT - Adrian Ealy

Defense

DE - Willie Taylor III, Tuzar Skipper, Chris Odom

DT - DaVontae Lambert, LaRon Stokes

LB - Donald Payne, Charlie Thomas III

CB - Ajene Harris, Jayden Price

S - Joe Powell, Jamal Carter

Special Teams

K - Lucas Havrisik

P - Marquette King

LS - Antonio Ortiz

Returner - Juwan Manigo