By Nolan Ruth
X – @RealNolanRuth
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Though the traditional football season is now over, for some the time to strap on the pads is just about to begin. The spring’s United Football League season is getting underway with a complete redraft of its eight teams. While some players will remain with their original teams, the league will look completely different in 2026 than it has in years past.
Most notably, there is a brand new franchise in Louisville, Kentucky called the Kings. The decision makers at Louisville decided to take its fresh new identity and run with it. In that spirit, the Kings selected their two quarterbacks with neither one having any spring football experience.
Mansfield Lake Ridge alumni Jason Bean and Chandler Rogers have reunited to make up the quarterback room for the new franchise. This will be their first season in the same locker room since 2017 when Bean was a senior and Rogers was a junior for the Eagles.
In that season, the pair was a quarterback duo that was nearly unstoppable. Bean threw for 1,682 yards and 20 touchdowns, while Rogers was more of a mobile threat while still throwing for nearly 1,000 yards. Their last season together came to an end in the regional final against eventual state champion Highland Park.
The two then went their separate ways. Bean went on to play for the North Texas Mean Green for three seasons before entering the transfer portal in 2020, ultimately landing with the Kansas Jayhawks for another three seasons. In his collegiate career, he threw for 5,969 yards and 55 touchdowns and also rushed for 1,344 yards and 14 touchdowns. He then signed with the Indianapolis Colts but remained a practice squad player for the last two seasons. The UFL’s Memphis Showboats (now the Louisville Kings) owned his spring rights until this season when head coach Chris Redman selected him.
Rogers was the lone starter for Lake Ridge in his senior season after Bean went to college. In 2018 he led Lake Ridge to the regional semifinals before falling to Amarillo Tascosa. That season he threw for 2,190 yards and 20 touchdowns, adding 1,204 yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground. In college, he was a journeyman. He had two carries in two games at Southern Miss before returning to the Lone Star State and the Blinn Buccaneers. After a season at Blinn, he went east to Louisiana-Monroe where he spent two seasons. Then, as a redshirt junior, he came back once again to play for North Texas in 2023, and finally ended his journey at Cal in 2024. Throughout his lengthy collegiate career Rogers threw for 7,213 yards and 53 touchdowns, adding 992 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground. He has not played since November 30, 2024 when the Golden Bears visited SMU.
After years of going down separate paths, Bean and Rogers find themselves as teammates again, keeping the 2017 Lake Ridge Eagles alive nine years later.
Other notable DFW names from the first phase of the UFL Draft include:
Columbus Aviators– Jalen Morton, Quarterback, Arlington Seguin; Clayton Tune, Quarterback, Hebron
Dallas Renegades– Sam Tecklenburg, Offensive line, Plano Senior High
DC Defenders– Spencer Sanders, Quarterback, Denton Ryan
Houston Gamblers– Anthony Hines III, Linebacker, Plano East
