Sports fans have plenty of content to occupy themselves at this time of year.
March Madness is, of course, the headliner. The MLB season began this past Thursday. And the NBA and NHL playoff races are both heating up. Still, in a world where football is king, fans are often left pining for pigskin come springtime.
Fortunately, another spring football league has arisen to help scratch that itch. The UFL, which was born out of a merger between the XFL and USFL, will begin its inaugural season with this Saturday’s 1 p.m. showdown between the Birmingham Stallions and the Arlington Renegades. Per the UFL’s official Twitter page, that game will be broadcast on Fox. Each of these clubs emerged as champions of their respective leagues a season ago.
Some notable former NFL players, like Vic Beasley and Marquette King, will suit up for the Renegades this year. One you may or may not recognize is the Renegades’ quarterback, Luis Perez.
Who Is the Arlington Renegades’ QB, Luis Perez?
Perez has been a professional football player since 2018. Amazingly, this season will be the first in which he heads into a second year with the same team. And even that comes with a caveat.
Perez was traded from the Vegas Vipers to Arlington midseason a year ago. He’d wind up guiding the Renegades to a league championship and earning XFL Championship Game MVP honors in the process.
In all, the 29-year-old Perez has played in five pro leagues (NFL, AAF, XFL, USFL, and now the UFL) for a grand total of nine different teams. Per The Ringer, Perez is the only quarterback to win games in each of those aforementioned spring leagues.
As you’d expect, several of these stops wound up being for little more than a cup of coffee. For instance, Perez had stints with the Los Angeles Rams, Philadelphia Eagles, and Detroit Lions but never managed to make an active roster in the NFL. At least not yet.
We're kicking off the season with a heavyweight matchup 👊🏈@USFLStallions vs @XFLRenegades Saturday on FOX 📺 pic.twitter.com/Nlj7ALSuEh
— UFL (@XFL2023) March 26, 2024
“I’ve been so close,” Perez says. “If that’s my dream and aspiration, why would I ever quit when I’m that close? Quitting is not even a thought. Like, it’s not even an option for me.”
Part of the reason Perez’s pro football career has taken such a unique path is that he didn’t play the sport at the varsity level in high school. Instead, he was a standout bowler.
After graduating, he’d walk on at Southwestern College in California. Without much of a résumé, Perez began his time with the team buried on the depth chart. However, it wouldn’t take long for him to climb to the top.
Perez threw for 2,234 yards, 23 touchdowns, and just four interceptions in his season and change starting for Southwestern. He parlayed that success into an opportunity with Division II Texas A&M-Commerce. It was there that he took his game to another level.
Perez was a two-year starter for the Lions of Northeast Texas and posted eye-popping numbers in that span. He racked up over 8,300 passing yards, 78 touchdowns, and just 14 interceptions as the starter.
In fact, in 2017, he became one of just three collegiate passers to surpass 5,000 passing yards in a single season. His efforts helped Commerce to a Division II National Championship and earned Perez the Harlon Hill Trophy, awarded annually to the best player in Division II.
And yet he’s been bouncing around, largely in anonymity, in the years since. But that hasn’t deterred him from pursuing his ultimate goal: an NFL roster spot.
This Saturday will mark yet another opportunity for Perez to prove he belongs at the next level. The UFL season wraps up in mid-June, meaning Perez should have time to catch on with an NFL team before training camps begin if the opportunity is there — a possibility he’s certainly got his sights set on.
“When you’re in my situation playing in the spring, your goal is to make it to the fall season,” Perez says. “The last thing I want is for me not to be ready if a team calls me for a workout.”
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