Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce announced his retirement from football with a tearful speech on Monday. On Friday, Birmingham Stallions running back Bo Scarbrough retired from football with a speech to his suddenly former teammates without a tear.

Instead of choking back emotion, Scarbrough spoke with clear gratitude for those who had helped him along the way during his football journey and encouragement for the Stallions to win a third consecutive league championship in 2024.

“You can love this game all you want,” Scarbrough said in a video released by the United Football League on Saturday, “but at the end of the day, the game can’t love you back because it’s not a person. It’s a ball.

“I have so much respect for the people that are still playing. But, you know, when it’s your time, you’ll know it’s your time.”

Among the many people thanked by Scarbrough during his nine-minute retirement announcement was his Alabama coach, Nick Saban. Scarbrough played on two CFP national-championship teams in three seasons with the Crimson Tide.

“I remember everything he said,” Scarbrough said. “One of the things that stuck with me is that: It’s not about what you want, it’s about what you’re willing to do to get it. And that’ll take you a long way if you can remember that.

“We got this thing called the fourth quarter – discipline, effort, toughness, pride and, most importantly, commitment. You got to be committed to play this game. If you’re not committed, it’s not going to work for you, so for me, in my heart, it was my time.

“It’s very hard for me to walk away from this game, but I’m walking away with my head held high, knowing that I have done some great things, been around a lot of great people.”

Scarbrough singled out his position coach at Alabama, Burton Burns, “for what he has taught me, the type of player to be, the type of person to be.”

Scarbrough said his Northridge High School coach Mike Smith had pushed him “to be the best player, especially in the weight room, working hard on the field and giving it my all.”

Scarbrough expressed gratitude for his time off the field with the Stallions, who used his local connection as a former Tuscaloosa prep star and Alabama ball-carrier in marketing, but also had Scarbrough in a front-and-center role in community outreach.

“You never know who’s looking up to you,” Scarbrough said. “That’s why you got to carry yourself with respect and honor because you got little kids that are looking up to you that you don’t even know.

“I’m going to tell y’all this story: Brian Robinson, he’s the running back at the Commanders. … When I was in high school, he was in middle school. I saw him at the gas station, and he said he wanted to be like me. At the time, I was the No. 1 athlete in the country and I was the No. 6 overall player. And I told him, I said, ‘Hey, don’t be like me; be better than me.’

“And as far as what he’s doing now, he’s doing way better than I did, and I’m proud of him.”

A Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa prep star, Robinson also played at Alabama. In his two NFL seasons with Washington, Robinson led the Commanders in rushing.

Scarbrough entered the NFL as a seventh-round selection of the Dallas Cowboys in the 2018 NFL Draft. He also spent time on the rosters of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Seattle Seahawks, Detroit Lions and Las Vegas Raiders.

In seven NFL regular-season games, Scarbrough ran for 408 yards and one touchdown on 95 carries.

Scarbrough joined the Stallions in the fifth game of the 2022 USFL season and ran for 352 yards and one touchdown on 84 carries to finish 10th in the league in rushing despite playing in only six regular-season games.

In Birmingham’s 33-30 victory over the Philadelphia Stars in the USFL Championship Game on July 3, 2022, Scarbrough had 135 yards and one touchdown on 13 rushing attempts.

A knee injury prevented Scarbrough from playing past the Stallions’ season-opener in 2023. But Birmingham went on to win the USFL championship again.

“This is going to be the last thing I’m going to say and then I’m going to let you guys go: Win that (expletive) another championship,” Scarbrough told his teammates on Friday. “That’s what I want to see. If y’all win it – I know y’all are going to win. It ain’t no ifs, ands or buts about that because this team that we have, we have a bunch of bullies. And when I say a bunch of bullies I mean a team with a mindset that’s ready to go play.”

The Stallions will be trying to win the United Football League championship in 2024 after the USFL and the XFL merged in the offseason, with each league contributing four franchises to the UFL.

Birmingham will kick off the inaugural United Football League season against the Arlington Renegades at noon CDT March 30 at Choctaw Stadium in Arlington, Texas. FOX will televise the game which matches the 2023 USFL champion against the 2023 XFL champion.

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