A lot has changed for the Michigan Panthers in just under a week’s time. Coming off a win in the season opener against the Memphis Showboats, Michigan welcomed their rivals and reigning UFL champions, the Birmingham Stallions, to Ford Field in hopes of finally getting over the hump against the dynastic squad.
Unfortunately for Panthers fans, it was a similar outcome last Friday, with Skip Holtz’s Stallions continuing their winning ways against Michigan in the 21-12 road victory. Adding injury to insult, Mike Nolan’s squad would lose defensive end Breeland Speaks and running back Matthew Colburn to injury – with both receiving an IR designation in the days leading up to the matchup this Sunday with the San Antonio Brahmas.
But each of these bumps in the road would pale in comparison to the seismic shock that would hit the league on Monday night. Initially reported by James Larsen of Pro Football Newsroom, the Panthers reached an agreement to trade All-UFL wide receiver Marcus Simms to the Houston Roughnecks in exchange for offensive tackle Cam Carter.
The timing of the announcement certainly adds to the initial sense of whiplash (or dismay). Losing both Speaks and Colburn to injury over the weekend – immediately followed by the Simms trade on Monday, is a significant facelift to Michigan’s playmaking identity just two weeks into the season. And while ire and panic might be natural first emotions for fans, it’s also a decision that makes a degree of sense when you consider that the team is trying to get over the hump and play for a championship this season.
Michigan’s pass protection woes have been well-documented – and they were on full display in the loss to Birmingham. Meanwhile, the Panthers’ depth at the skill positions means that, while no one on the roster can truly replicate what Simms brought to the table, it’s still an area where they can overcome losing a big name.
“I was definitely surprised by the news. Marcus is my guy,” Michigan wide receiver Siaosi Mariner told the media this week. “The people upstairs, if they’re making moves, I definitely feel that they have the best interests of the team. But Marcus is definitely more to me, and our relationship goes deeper than football.”
The Panthers will look to the likes of Mariner, along with Malik Turner and Jaylon Moore, to step up in the passing game in the wake of Simms’ departure. The team will also be heavily focused on evaluating their talent on the offensive line now that they’ve added both the aforementioned Cam Carter and guard Grant Miller to the roster.
“We’re a little heavy on offensive line currently,” Michigan head coach Mike Nolan told the media after the Simms trade. “We’ll probably have to do some finagling in a week or so, but for right now, it gives us a chance to look at a couple more guys.”
Nolan also emphasized that the UFL’s short training camp window and the demand for quality tackles played a big role in the Panthers’ latest acquisition.
“It’s tough to find good offensive linemen in our league, and this gives us a chance to evaluate another player and see how he fits. See if he makes us better.”
It’s somewhat refreshing to hear a coach as established as Nolan welcome the need to embrace change so calmly – even to the point that he isn’t making a guarantee that the change will pan out immediately. Ultimately, for the Panthers to be able to label this season a success, they’re going to have to show an upward trend from where they left off last year…and that means finding a way to win when it matters most.
But sometimes, you have to evaluate your experiments and decide whether or not to pull back. Case in point: in last week’s loss to the Stallions, Michigan experimented with utilizing a jumbo package in a few goal-line scenarios, which saw the likes of defensive ends Mika Tafua and Ron’Dell Carter getting their first snaps on offense. After the game, Nolan sounded bullish on the idea that we could see more of this going forward – but speaking with the media on Tuesday, it sounds like a review of the tape has changed his tune.
“I tried to get us to be something that I don’t really think we are, and that’s smash mouth,” Nolan said regarding the Panthers run package against the Stallions. “Our league isn’t really smash-mouth football. We got into jumbo personnel and put a bunch of big guys out there. We even used some defensive players, and down the road that might help us. But for right now – that’s not our personality, and it isn’t really with anyone in the league.”
Michigan’s opponents this weekend, the San Antonio Brahmas, are dealing with big changes of their own. After having a breakout year last season that saw them reach the UFL Championship game, they’ve hit a skid in 2025 that has them coming to Detroit with an 0-2 record. Making matters worse for the Brahmas, on Wednesday, offensive coordinator A.J. Smith announced that he was stepping down from his position with the team.
In what has been a fairly dubious first couple of weeks to the season league-wide, the Panthers have an opportunity to bounce back from a tough loss and buy credibility, both with the fans and internally, as they endeavor to move pieces on the chess board. A key piece that hasn’t gotten much talk thus far, quarterback Danny Etling, might be primed to step into the spotlight on Sunday.
“We need to stay a little truer to what our plan is,” Nolan said about the team’s view of maintaining a timeshare between Etling and Bryce Perkins – at least until one of them takes full command of the reins. “Danny got hit (in Week 1) and got the wind knocked out of him, so we backed off a little bit. But outside of that, we’ll stay with what we’ve been doing…until somebody takes the bull by the horns and says, ‘I’m the guy.'”
The Michigan Panthers host the San Antonio Brahmas this Sunday at Ford Field. Kickoff at Noon ET.
