With three games left on their regular-season schedule, the Birmingham Stallions are getting back quarterback Alex McGough, according to the United Football League transactions report issued on Tuesday night.

McGough has been on the field when the Stallions won two USFL Championship games and earned the USFL Most Valuable Player Award for the 2023 season. After spending time with the Green Bay Packers, McGough returned to Birmingham for the 2025 campaign and started the first two games of the season.

But on the Stallions’ first snap of the second game, McGough sustained a shoulder injury that landed him on injured reserve and kicked off a parade of quarterback injuries for Birmingham.

Matt Corral took over for McGough, completed a 21-12 victory over the Michigan Panthers on April 4 and started the next two games. But in a 23-16 victory over the Houston Roughnecks on April 19, Corral left in the fourth quarter with an injury that sent him to injured reserve, too.

That put Case Cookus into the lineup at quarterback for the Stallions. Cookus has started the past three games, but he left Sunday’s 33-25 victory over the Roughnecks with a fourth-quarter injury.

That put J’Mar Smith under center for Birmingham. Andrew Peasley, the quarterback signed when McGough went down and elevated to backup when Corral got hurt, had sustained an injury in a 26-3 victory over the San Antonio Brahmas on May 4.

Smith was the Stallions’ original starting quarterback for Birmingham’s first season in the USFL’s 2022 revival. He answered the emergency call when Corral went down and was on the field for two touchdown series as the Stallions completed the biggest comeback in UFL history on Sunday.

When Peasley got hurt, Birmingham brought back another former player, Jalen Morton, who served as the emergency third quarterback on Sunday.

With McGough’s return, Morton has been waived, as has former UAB wide receiver Austin Watkins. The Stallions also have added outside linebacker Maximilian Roberts to the roster as a free-agent signing.

The Stallions play the St. Louis Battlehawks at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Dome at America’s Center. FOX will televise the game.

Birmingham and Michigan are tied for the lead in the UFL‘s USFL Conference at 5-2. The Battlehawks are tied with the DC Defenders for first place in the XFL Conference at 5-2.

In the USFL Championship Game on July 3, 2022, McGough threw a touchdown pass with 3:09 to play to give the Stallions the lead on their way to a 33-30 victory over the Philadelphia Stars. McGough was in for Smith, who had left the game with a leg injury. Playing for Philadelphia, Cookus went down with a broken leg with the Stars in front in the second half.

In 2023, Smith sustained a dislocated finger during the opening game of the season. McGough stepped in and won the league’s MVP Award. He capped the campaign by throwing for four touchdowns in Birmingham’s 28-12 victory over the Pittsburgh Maulers in the USFL Championship Game.

During the 2023 regular season, McGough completed 180-of-267 passes for 2,105 yards with 20 touchdowns and five interceptions and ran for 403 yards and five touchdowns on 70 carries in 10 games. McGough led the USFL in touchdown passes, TD responsibility and passing-efficiency rating at 108.3 while finishing sixth in rushing yards before signing with Green Bay.

In the new UFL, created by the merger of the USFL and the XFL, the Stallions captured another league title in 2024, with Birmingham quarterback Adrian Martinez winning the league’s Most Valuable Player Award. Martinez is now with the NFL’s New York Jets.

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