If not for an injury, Eli Stove might have been headed for the Los Angeles Chargers’ offseason program next week.

Instead, the former Auburn wide receiver is scheduled to make his USFL debut when the New Orleans Breakers play the Pittsburgh Maulers in Birmingham on Sunday.

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After catching 136 passes for 1,186 yards and six touchdowns and running for 554 yards and four touchdowns on 55 carries during his Auburn career, Stove was picked up as an undrafted rookie by the Los Angeles Chargers in 2021. That was widely reported.

But Stove quickly fell off the football radar. Nothing unusual in that. Most undrafted rookies don’t make it to the NFL’s regular season after signing contracts.

What wasn’t as widely reported: Stove never got a chance to make it. He never even reached the Chargers’ rookie minicamp. A torn anterior cruciate ligament kept Stove from passing his physical and signing with the NFL team.

On Sunday, Stove will be playing for the first time since he caught four passes for 29 yards and returned a kickoff 18 yards in Auburn’s 35-19 loss to Northwestern in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1, 2021.

On Tuesday, Stove posted photos of himself in his Breakers uniform on his Instagram account and accompanied the pictures with the Bible verse Proverbs 16:9, which says: “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.”

The Breakers will square off against the Maulers at 5:30 p.m. CDT Sunday at Protective Stadium. FS1 will televise the game.

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Last season, the USFL played all its regular-season games in Birmingham. This season, the USFL is playing in four cities, with the Breakers sharing Protective Stadium with the Birmingham Stallions. The Stallions kick off their season with a home game against the New Jersey Generals at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. FOX will televise the game.

The Maulers and Generals are based in Canton, Ohio. The Memphis Showboats and Houston Gamblers will play their home games in Memphis. The Michigan Panthers and Philadelphia Stars are playing in Detroit.

New Orleans will play six times in Birmingham during the 10-game regular season, including bragging-rights games against the Stallions on April 29 and May 27.

The Breakers also play at Protective Stadium against the Gamblers on April 22, Showboats on May 14 and Panthers on June 4.

New Orleans has four wide receivers on its game-day roster for Sunday, with Stove joining three who played for the Breakers last season. In 2022, Jonathan Adams had 31 receptions for 405 yards and three touchdowns, Johnnie Dixon had 37 receptions for 359 yards and four touchdowns and Lee Morris had one reception for 5 yards for New Orleans.

They’ll be catching passes from McLeod Bethel-Thompson. In 2022, the quarterback threw for 4,731 yards and 23 TDs in the regular season and helped the Toronto Argonauts win the 109th Grey Cup.

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