Tight end Jace Sternberger, UFL Birmingham Stallions
After a victory in their first game, Birmingham Stallions tight end Jace Sternberger mentioned how his squad had taken the time to reflect before thinking ahead to next week’s game against the Michigan Panthers.
“We have a lot of improvements to make, and a lot of things that we can do to be better,” Sternberger said. “It was our first game, with all the emotions and the extra stuff on the field from pregame. I feel like we handled it pretty well.”
In the week 1 game against the Arlington Renegades, Sternberger caught two passes for 32 yards, the longest being an 18-yard gain on the very first scrimmage play for Birmingham.
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On Sternberger’s second catch of the day, he took issue with a low hit he received on a gang tackle by Arlington. Luckily, he was not injured, but he still conveyed his disappointment in a post-game social media post.
Sternberger’s post was widely shared and received plenty of attention, as he made a valid point.
Looking forward, Sternberger is eager to continue working with quarterback Matt Corral and the other receivers on the squad.
“We’ve got two new receivers playing besides me and Deon Cain right now,” “Sternberger said. “Now, I’m learning the chemistry of how they’re going to play and what concepts work best for us. I think it’s just going to take time.”
Sternberger is no longer a pro football rookie, and can easily be considered a journeyman player. After playing college football at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College, Kansas, and Texas A&M, he was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft. Sternberger scored his first NFL touchdown in the NFC Conference Championship against the San Francisco 49ers on an eight-yard reception from Aaron Rodgers. He was also a member of the Seattle Seahawks, Washington Football Team, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Buffalo Bills.
On January 26, 2023, Sternberger signed with the Birmingham Stallions for the 2023 USFL season, where he caught 33 passes for 517 yards and 7 touchdowns. On November 20, 2023, Sternberger re-signed with the Stallions for their 2024 campaign.
Despite making a name for himself in the USFL, and now the UFL, Sternberger is working to improve himself, and his game, mainly for the possibility of earning a shot at returning to the NFL.
“This is coming from a position coach,” Sternberger explained. “We kind of talked about, at the beginning of the season, is me cleaning up my route discipline and details. There’s a lot of times that I do stuff that works out, and it’s good, but it wasn’t necessarily the correct way. It’s a fine line between being a robot and doing exactly what you’re supposed to do written on paper.”
Sternberger also said he has been successful in building his physique.
“I was a little lighter last year,” Sternberger said. “I’m a little bit bigger this year — upper body, and that’s one thing I’m trying to show the NFL scouts.”
The Stallions are facing another road game this week, this time in Detroit. However, Sternberger cannot wait to get back to the city of Birmingham and play in front of the folks in Alabama.
“I’m so excited to go back to Birmingham. I didn’t know what to expect last year — what the city was like or anything. But after living there last year, I was sad to find out that we were going to be in Dallas this year because I was looking forward to being around Birmingham and all the great people and just how passionate everybody is there so I’m super excited. We’ve got to take care of Michigan this week but I’m super excited to go back to Birmingham next week ”
This weekend, the Birmingham Stallions travel to Detroit to take on the Michigan Panthers in a game at Ford Field, on Sunday, April 7, 2024, at 12:00PM ET, ESPN. Tickets are available on Ticketmaster or Stubhub.
