The Birmingham Iron makes its debut Sunday at home against the Memphis Express as part of the Alliance of American Football's inaugural kickoff weekend.

The new professional football league features eight teams, and Birmingham's roster includes 10 former Alabama players, five former Auburn players, and one player each from Samford, South Alabama, Troy and Tuskegee.

As the Iron gets ready for Sunday's game, set to kick off at 3 p.m., at Birmingham's Legion Field, let's take a look at 10 players to watch:

Vasha Hunt | AL.com

Chris Davis, DB

Davis is best known for returning a missed field goal 109 yards -- the play immortalized as the Kick 6 -- to lift Auburn to a 34-28 victory over Alabama in the 2013 Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

He totaled 192 tackles and 24 pass break-ups at Auburn and signed with Chargers as an undrafted free agent and spent his rookie season as a kick returner and reserve defensive back. He later spent time with the San Francisco 49ers practice squad, but hasn't played in an NFL game since 2016.

Davis is also a Birmingham native and played high school football at Woodlawn before signing with Auburn.

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Beniquez Brown, LB

Brown played high school football at Florence, playing safety and running back, before moving to linebacker at Mississippi State. He recorded 200 tackles, including 99 as a junior in 2015, and had three interceptions at Mississippi State. Brown spent time with the Green Bay Packers, but never recorded a regular-season tackle in the NFL.

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Nick Novak, K

At 37, Novak is one of the oldest and most experienced players on the Iron roster. He's played in 118 NFL games for the Cardinals, Redskins, Chiefs, Chargers and Texas. In 2013, he enjoyed his best NFL season by making 34-of-37 field goals and 42-of-42 extra points of the San Diego Chargers.

Novak hasn't kicked in an NFL game since 2017, and his career also included a stint in NFL Europe.

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Lawrence Okoye, DT

Okoye clearly has a unique story -- listed on the Iron roster as a 6-foot-6, 311-pound defensive lineman from Croydon, England, with no college football experience. He is a former rugby player and track star, who finished 12th in the discus in the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Okoye was signed by the San Francisco 49ers in 2013, but suffered a preseason injury, and he has since spent time on the practice squad with the Cardinals, Jets and Cowboys and has been on the roster and later cut by the Bears and Dolphins.

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Matthew Hinton | NOLA.com file

Trent Richardson, RB

Richardson ran for 3,130 yards in three seasons at Alabama and set a then-single-season school record with 1,679 yards in 2011 and finished third in Heisman Trophy balloting. He left Alabama early for the NFL, was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns and signed a four-year, $20.4 million contract.

The Browns traded Richardson to the Indianapolis Colts in 2013, but lasted just two seasons and was cut in spring 2015. He spent time in training camp with the Oakland Raiders in 2015 and with the Baltimore Ravens in 2016, and he played four games and ran 48 times for 259 yards and two TDs in 2017 with the CFL's Saskatchewan Rough Riders before an ankle injury ended his season.

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Quinton Patton, WR

A fourth-round pick by the San Francisco 49ers in 2013, Patton caught 73 passes for 880 yards and a touchdown in four seasons. He hasn't played in the NFL since 2016.

Patton, a Nashville native, played at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas and later had two All-WAC seasons as a receiver at Louisiana Tech. He clocked 4.48 seconds in the 40-yard dash at the 2013 NFL Combine.

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Luis Perez, QB

Perez spent time in training camp and on the practice squad with the Los Angeles Rams last fall before getting cut in September.

He previously won the Harlon Hill Trophy -- the NCAA Division II equivalent of the Heisman Trophy -- after throwing for 5,001 yards with 46 touchdowns in 2017 for Texas A&M-Commerce. In high school, he concentrated on bowling and later walked on at a junior college as a quarterback.

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Check this out: @aafiron QB Luis Perez didn't play HS football and taught himself the basics of quarterbacking by watching YouTube.@AMarkG1 profiles his amazing football journey: https://t.co/vvBAKOZyp1@aldotcomSports @TheAAF pic.twitter.com/ROuK7tsNIL — Josh Bean (@jbeanpoll) February 4, 2019

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Vasha Hunt | AL.com

Blake Sims, QB

Sims threw for 3,487 yards and 28 touchdowns at Alabama in 2014, leading the Crimson Tide to the College Football Playoffs. Sims' professional career has included stops with tryouts with NFL teams as a running back, time with the CFL's Saskatchewan Roughriders, a stint the National Gridiron League in Australia and time on the practice squads with the NFL's Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Bucs.

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Aaron Adeoye, DE

At 6-foot-7 and 260 pounds, Adeoye is a former college basketball player who played at Ball State, Western Kentucky and Southeast Missouri State. In 2015, he joined Southeast Missouri State's football team after giving up the sport to concentrate on basketball. He also played in an indoor football league for a team in Salina, Kansas, and his LinkedIn profile says he works as a youth mentor with the Honorable Young Men Club in the Cape Girardeau (Mo.) Public School District.

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Transition complete.



DE Aaron Adeoye (@Aye_Adeoye11) has made the @aafiron final roster, officially completing his journey from D1 basketball player to professional football player. Learn more about his story on his #SpringForward podcast episode. #tbt #TSLinAAF pic.twitter.com/zMPWMa7PIw — The Spring League (@TheSpringLeague) January 31, 2019

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Jeremy Faulk, DT

Once considered one of the nation's top prospects as a junior-college player in Kansas, Faulk's career was derailed after he was linked to a sexual assault accusation in 2016, not long after he arrived at Baylor. He has since sued the school over its handling of his case. He's had brief stints with the New York Jets in 2017 and the Cleveland Browns in 2018.

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Brynn Anderson | AP

Alabama players on the roster

LB Xzavier Dickson

DT Josh Frazier

OL Brandon Greene

OL J.C. Hassenauer

OL Dominick Jackson

OL Korren Kirven,

Long snapper Cole Mazza

RB Trent Richardson

QB Blake Sims

DB Bradley Sylve (above)

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Auburn players on the roster:

WR Quan Bray

DB Chris Davis

DB Trovon Reed (above) DB

Ryan White

OL Avery Young.

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Mike Kittrell | AL.com

Players from other state schools:

Samford: LB Shaheed Salmon.

South Alabama: TEBraedon Bowman.

Troy: LBJonathan Massaquoi.

Tuskegee: WR DeVozea Felton.

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Meet the @aafiron assistant coach who downplays her trailblazing role and simply wants to be the best d-line coach possible.

Meet Coach Lo: https://t.co/LVRVp7MgzT@aldotcomSports @TheAAF pic.twitter.com/05NniAUlAa — Josh Bean (@jbeanpoll) February 5, 2019

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Thank you ma'am, may I have another? Why I'm still pumped to go see another pro team play ball in Birmingham. https://t.co/1IgLOjTjJm — John Archibald (@JohnArchibald) February 3, 2019

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"In just a few days, we'll be right here at Legion Field, playing the @aafexpress. ⬇️#ForgeOn⚒🔥 pic.twitter.com/FQ1NAH3VEM — Birmingham Iron (@aafiron) February 6, 2019