The St. Louis Battlehawks have signed a quarterback who was a high school star in Coastal Alabama, but it wasn’t AJ McCarron. Not yet anyway.

The Battlehawks have signed Brandon Silvers, the United Football League announced on Wednesday night.

The Cincinnati Bengals released McCarron on Wednesday, leading to speculation that he was headed back to St. Louis in time for training camp later this month. The Bengals had no compelling reason to release McCarron because he was going to become a free agent on March 13 anyway.

McCarron played quarterback for the Battlehawks last year before returning to the NFL. At that time, St. Louis was a member of the XFL. But the Battlehawks and three other XFL teams joined with four teams from the USFL to form the United Football League, which kicks off its first season on March 30.

Silvers also played in the XFL last season as the quarterback for the Houston Roughnecks, one of the league’s four franchises that didn’t survive the merger with the USFL.

Silvers completed 156-of-262 passes for 1,551 yards with 13 touchdowns and nine interceptions in eight regular-season games with Houston in 2023.

McCarron was a prep standout at St. Paul’s Episcopal in Mobile before playing at Alabama.

Silvers is a former Gulf Shores High School quarterback who was a four-year starter for Troy.

With the Trojans, Silvers broke the NCAA freshman record for completion percentage, earned first-team All-Sun Belt Conference recognition in 2016, set the school career record for touchdown responsibility and helped the Trojans win 21 games, including two bowls, in his final two seasons.

Between Troy and the Roughnecks, Silvers was on the offseason roster of the NFL’s New York Jets and played quarterback for the Alliance of American Football’s Memphis Express, XFL’s Seattle Sea Dragons and Spring League’s Conquerors.

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