On Saturday, June 13, the United Football League’s Louisville Kings will face the DC Defenders at Audi Field in Washington, D.C., in the United Bowl. The Kings bring familiar faces from the Baltimore Ravens’ Super Bowl XXXV victory.
The Kings’ head coach is Chris Redman, the former Ravens quarterback who was in the third round of the 2000 NFL Draft out of University of Louisville. Redman is one of many Louisville coaches with a Super Bowl XXXV ring.
Wide receivers coach Tony Banks, linebackers coach Brad Jackson, defensive backs coach Chris McAlister and defensive coordinator Jamie Sharper were all part of the 2000 Ravens’ Super Bowl victory. They’re now all looking to assist the Kings in winning a UFL championship.
“It’s been a great time playing and coaching with my friends who I won the championship with in Baltimore in Super Bowl XXXV,” Sharper said on Glenn Clark Radio June 10. “Coach Redman getting everybody and rallying the troops, he just put a great staff together and it’s been an incredible run after starting the season off at 0-3.”
This season marks the Kings’ first in the eight-team UFL. They have made their mark after starting the season off with three straight losses, ultimately making their way to the championship. Louisville only lost one game the rest of the way, allowing them to finish 6-4 in the regular season.
“You’ll see the defensive-line play or the defensive linebacker play on other teams and it just doesn’t compare to how our guys play because we play with so much great technique,” Sharper said. “Then, we build on that throughout whole season.”
Prior to joining the Kings, Sharper was a linebackers and special teams coach for the Defenders for three seasons, helping lead DC to a UFL championship last season.
After he became the Kings’ head coach, Redman called Sharper and said, “I want you to be [defensive] coordinator and then we’re going to try to put a lot of guys back that have that championship DNA.”
“That’s what you have when you’re talking about myself, Brad Jackson, Chris McAlister, who [have] gone through the ringers of NFL and Baltimore Ravens’ championship in 2000, knowing what it takes to actually build a team and to build technique that goes throughout the whole season and lasts.”
Redman is originally from Louisville, Ky., and went to college at Louisville, making this a perfect fit.
“The biggest thing is his love for Louisville, the [players] started grasping onto that, and that’s why they were talking about being kings and bringing a championship to the city,” Sharper said.
For more from Sharper, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Louisville Kings