When the Birmingham Stallions play the San Antonio Brahmas on Sunday at Protective Stadium, they’ll have a new long snapper. But William Mote won’t be new to Birmingham.

Mote is a Spain Park High School alumnus who is set to make his pro debut in his hometown. Mote said his first game would be “really meaningful anywhere” but playing in Birmingham made it “super meaningful.”

“It’s a super big coincidence, I guess,” Mote said. “That’s where I’m from, and I was born there, and I’ve been out of football for about a year, so it’s been great to get in the building and kind of meet everybody and plug and play. And it just so happens to be right where I’m from and where I’ve been training. It’ll be great.”

Mote’s most recent game in Birmingham was his final one with Spain Park, a 42-10 victory on Nov. 1, 2018, at Shades Valley, about 10 miles from where he’ll play on Sunday.

“It was a lot of fun,” Mote said. “It was a rainy game actually. Really muddy. And I just remember that was the last game I got to snap it up with a lot of my friends from high school.

“I love Birmingham, and there’s where I’ve always been other than in college.”

After Spain Park, Mote spent five seasons at Georgia and played on the Bulldogs’ CFP national-championship teams of the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

But Mote hasn’t snapped in a game since the 2024 Reese’s Senior Bowl.

“Once a coach becomes comfortable with the long snapper, he really doesn’t want to change anything,” Mote said. “It’s just like any other job where if you have an employee that’s doing a good job for you, you’re not necessarily willing to take a chance on a younger salesman or something like that. You kind of just stay with what you got. …

“I had coaches tell me while I was at the (NFL Scouting) Combine that it’s probably the most difficult position to find an opportunity to play as a rookie.”

Mote has had to persevere to reach an opportunity.

“After Georgia, I got to go the Senior Bowl and the combine, got to go to the (Atlanta) Falcons’ local pro day,” Mote said. “Then after that, I got two rookie minicamp invites – well, I got three; you can only go to two – one to the Kansas City Chiefs and then the other to the New Orleans Saints. Did well at both of those places and really got no traction afterwards. Both of those teams have really good veterans. Afterwards, I kind of went on the workout circuit where I could work out for a bunch of teams at different camps and probably worked out for 20 to 30 teams this offseason and got really good film from those workouts.

“The GM (Paul Roell) and the special-teams coordinator (Chris Boniol) here said they got in touch with me from one of those camps, saw my film and thought that I would be a great fit. I jumped on the opportunity as quick as I could and got the call on Sunday and was on a plane within three or four hours later.”

An injury provided the opportunity for Mote. The Stallions’ long snapper since the team’s first season in 2022, Ryan Langan landed on injured reserve this week. Mote said he met Langan when he joined the team’s training center in Arlington, Texas.

“I’ve heard nothing but great things about him, and he does his job really well,” Mote said. “I mean, shoot, I think they’re three-time champions – back-to-back-to-back. I know from our meetings so far we’re looking towards the same goal and working towards it for sure.”

The Stallions face the San Antonio Brahmas in a United Football League game at 3 p.m. CDT Sunday. FOX will televise the game.

Mote said something he learned in Birmingham had seen him through to his first professional game there.

“I would say one of the things that my family, and where I grew up in Birmingham, instilled in me was my work ethic,” Mote said, “and just to not give up on what goals you have set in front of you. I walked on at Georgia and have a very similar story to my dad (who walked on to become Auburn’s long snapper), with him encouraging me. Something that was instilled at Spain Park from my coaches was our work ethic and how we were going to do things right. The same thing at Georgia, where coach (Kirby) Smart really honed us in on what our goals were and what our why was.

“I would just say that over time prioritizing my goals and trying to work wholeheartedly towards them is what’s been instilled in me since probably (Berry) Middle School, for sure.”

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.