After three seasons with the Carolina Panthers, former Alabama guard Deonte Brown joined the Birmingham Stallions for the 2024 United Football League season to get more game reps.

Since joining the Panthers as a sixth-round selection in the 2021 NFL Draft, Brown had played in three regular-season games with Carolina, and he didn’t have an NFL contract for the 2024 season after finishing 2023 on the Panthers’ practice squad.

“I had some talks with my agent,” Brown said on Friday, “and this was what we felt like was the best opportunity for me to get game film and to get live-action reps that teams in the NFL can see and, hopefully, sign me off that because most of my feedback after leaving the Panthers was I didn’t have enough game film. That’s the reason why they wouldn’t try to sign me, so that’s what I was trying to do.”

But as Birmingham’s starting left guard in the Stallions’ 27-14 season-opening victory over the Arlington Renegades on March 30, Brown sustained an ankle injury in the first quarter that landed him on injured reserve.

Brown missed the remainder of the regular season. He returned for last week’s 31-18 victory over the Michigan Panthers in the UFL playoff semifinals in a reserve role.

That victory advanced Birmingham to the United Football League Championship Game. The Stallions will square off against the San Antonio Brahmas at 4 p.m. CDT Sunday at the Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis for the league’s inaugural title. FOX will televise the contest.

“It’s going good,” Brown said. “Just happy to be back with the boys playing football. …

“I knew what I was trying to accomplish being here, so I knew I was going to be back at some time, I just didn’t know when. But I knew for sure I was going to make it back around.”

Brown said he stayed connected to the team even while recovering from his injury.

“My support for this team hasn’t changed,” Brown said. “My interactions with the guys in the locker room hasn’t changed. The only thing that was different was I just wasn’t on the field.”

Although his personal plan didn’t work out as envisioned because of his injury, Brown said he didn’t let that sour his outlook on the season.

“Just being resilient and just keep chopping wood,” Brown said. “No matter how bad things seem, always try to have a positive outlook on things. I’ve been through all that. Just like going from high school to college and that whole experience, so it’s not like I haven’t been faced with adversity before. I’m kind of used to it, so it wasn’t that hard on me.”

In 2015, Brown won the Alabama Sports Writers Association Class 6A Lineman of the Year Award as Austin High School in Decatur reached the AHSAA Class 6A semifinals. But he didn’t make his first start at Alabama until partway through the 2018 season.

“The college football scene is way different from high school,” Brown said. “You have a lot more eyes on you. You have a lot more responsibilities. I kind of had to grow up a little bit faster. Yeah, that’s when I really learned resilience and to be not too high, not too low.”

In Brown’s final game with the Crimson Tide, Alabama trounced Ohio State 52-24 in the CFP national-championship game to complete an undefeated 2020 season. On Sunday, Brown can become a champion again.

“I feel like we got a solid game plan,” Brown said. “We’ve already played this team once, so we kind of got a gist of what they would kind of like to do against us. I got confidence in our guys. I got confidence in our plan to win. And so we got to put it all together come Sunday.”

After that, Brown will decide what’s next for him in football.

“I haven’t really thought past Sunday yet,” Brown said. “I was going to wait until after the game and then see what my future holds then.”

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