A new brand of football will kick off its inaugural season this weekend, and several former Alabama players will be part of it as members of the Birmingham franchise, the Birmingham Iron, which is one of the eight teams that make up the Alliance of American Football league.

The AAF will feature several players, whether former Crimson Tide standouts or from various other schools, getting their first taste of professional football at any level. But it is also about second chances for players that have been in the NFL to be able to revitalize their careers. The league will also feature some rules unique to the AAF and different from the NFL and college football.

In November, the AAF held a first-of-its-kind “Protect or Pick” quarterback draft where former Alabama signal caller Blake Sims was chosen by the Iron. Over 600 players competed for 416 roster spots (52 per team) at the AAF’s first-ever training camp, which took place in San Antonio.

The Birmingham franchise had first dibs to sign players that went to Alabama colleges, which gave the Iron plenty of local flair, including former Tide star Trent Richardson. The Iron’s head coach is Tim Lewis. The general manager is former UA offensive line coach Joe Pendry.

There are players and even general managers that have ties to Alabama, too, as wide receiver Richard Mullaney and former radio color analyst Phil Savage are members of the Arizona Shots.

Birmingham will kick off its first season Sunday, Feb. 10, against the Memphis Express. It will be the first pro football game played in Birmingham since the XFL’s Birmingham Thunderbolts in 2001.

“I’m hoping that they join us here,” Lewis said of the fans. “We’re going to put on a great show. We’re going to show them what that ‘Birmingham Iron Way’ looks like, and hopefully, they can cheer us on to a victory.”

Along with Sims and Richardson, here are the 10 former Alabama players playing for the Iron.

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