Alliance of American Football alums pursue their dreams with Panthers

[Sir Purr]

Ross and Arizona Hotshots teammate Thomas Duarte, a tight end who was a part of the Panthers’ AAF haul, both saw the new league as a vehicle to fuel their NFL dreams.


But they also were enjoying the ride.


“It was fun. I had a lot of fun,” said Ross, who immediately became a face of the league when he caught two touchdown passes in the AAF’s debut weekend days after the Super Bowl. “I was looking forward to going to the championship and winning the championship. I didn’t think it was going to end like that.”


It ended abruptly, two weeks before the playoffs. On April 2, Ross and Duarte were summoned Hotshots headquarters for a team meeting that foretold the day’s events.


“They called us in, sat us down and went through all the details as far as everything they knew at that point,” Duarte said. “When you go through training camp and are with guys every day, you start to form a bond. When you play on Sundays, it’s your team against the other team. You form relationships and get closer and closer.


“Then one day we’re teammates and the next day we’re going our separate ways. It’s tough.”


But when that door closed, another one opened – quickly.


“The last week has been a whirlwind,” said Brandon Greene, an offensive tackle for the Birmingham Fire one day, then a member of the Panthers’ 90-man roster six days later. “It was a good league for a lot of guys to get experience, like myself. I feel like it did its job.”


Greene and center Parker Collins, a South Carolina native and Appalachian State graduate, have been pursuing the pro football thing since both went undrafted in 2017. It’s been a grind but nothing like the gauntlet endured by O’Brien, who signed on the dotted line less than 72 hours after the AAF folded.


“It’s been a crazy adventure,” said O’Brien, who played in the Arena Football League for two-plus seasons after going undrafted in 2013. “And I’ve been married the entire time, too. I’ve got a really strong-willed woman who has stuck by me.”


Defensive tackle T.J. Barnes can relate. Upon signing, he had to scan his memory bank to recall if he’d been to Bank of America Stadium before.