Birmingham Stallions linebacker Scooby Wright appeared to be done with football. Skip Holtz, Birmingham’s coach, isn’t giving up on another season with the ‘SharkDawg’ on the pitch, but he’ll have to carry on in 2024 without one of the Stallions’ most important players. Wright has been placed on injured reserve due to a neck injury, and he has since deleted a social media image that showed cleats dangling from the goalposts’ crossbar.
Holtz said he isn’t taking the cleats as the final word on Wright’s football career.
“I know that he hung the cleats over the goal post, which I think was just iconic, which I absolutely loved,” Holtz said. “While we’re out at practice, you’re looking up at those cleats hanging there on the goal posts every day. It was so Scooby. He’s got such personality.
“I know on Twitter, I guess, he has made some statements. But from our standpoint, he’s still on IR. I’m still going to try to get him back next year. He’s going to have to tell me that he’s retired to not bring him back here next year. I think Scooby meant so much to the culture of this team and the way we built it from Day 1. His personality, his hard work, his talent, his ability, he was just a passionate player that was fun to be around.”
Wright has been with the Stallions throughout the USFL revival, and Birmingham won the league championship in both seasons before the merger of the USFL and XFL formed the United Football League for 2024.
“He’s a great player. He’s a competitor. He’s a leader. He’s physical. He’s tough. He can run. He’s got a great nose for the ball. I can’t say enough positive things about him.”
The Stallions play the Memphis Showboats at 11 a.m. CDT Saturday at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium in Memphis. ABC will televise the game
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