On Friday March 20, the St. Louis Battlehawks were in town before the Saturday fan Event at Ballpark Village to spend some time with the younger audience members.
They hosted a short fan event inside the Magic Center in Kirkwood during the venue’s Free Family Night that it hosts every third Friday of the month from 5-8 p.m.
The Battlehawks came in full swing with the crew as Archie, Head Coach Ricky Proehl, and several of the Battlehawks players were there for pictures, autograph signings, and some fun temporary tattoos of the Battlehawks logo. They weren’t just confined to one corner of the building, though as they had personnel walking around, interacting with the kids and participating in some of the fun art centers where they had custom Battlehawks pennants set up for the kids to color.
Two of the players who were walking around and joining in the festivities were Defensive Back Daniel Isom and Running Back Kevon Latulas. While they were there, I was able to pull both aside for a moment and ask them a couple of questions as they were a week out from playing back in “The Lou”.
Q: How many years have you been with the Battlehawks?
Isom: This is my first year with the Battlehawks, I’m a new Battlehawk.
Q: What teams have you played for in the past in the UFL?
Isom: The past two years in the UFL I played for the Birmingham Stallions.
Q: Oh, okay, so you are coming from a pretty championship heavy team?
Isom: Yeah, I won my first championship with them in 2023
Q: So, what is the different mindset coming from the Stallions into the Battlehawks camp?
Isom: I think it’s a similar mindset. We got a championship mindset around here at the Battlehawks and I’m seeing a lot of similarities to our championship team. Just doing the small things, handling our business every day, making sure we’re attentive in both the meeting rooms and the field. So, I’m seeing a lot of similarities to championship teams.
Q: So, the Battlehawks have a first-year head coach, first-year offensive coordinator, and a first-year defensive coordinator. Does it kind of help to be joining a team that’s getting a fresh slate and being part of that new culture?
Isom: Yeah, I think it helps definitely joining a team with a fresh slate. Chamberlain, as far as the defense goes, defense is a little more familiar to me. I was with Chamberlain for the past two years. But what he brings to the table, bringing a new slate, allowing players to come in and learn his defense, which allows us to play fast, because we don’t do too much, but we’re going to play fast and we’re going to know what we’re doing. So, I think it’s been a good transition with the new coaches.
Q: Now I know that Birmingham showed up pretty well. However, St. Louis averages around 30,000 fans per game. Are you excited to get that large amount of fans in the stands and have those deafening sounds while you’re playing?
Isom: Yeah, I’m definitely excited to play in front of a bigger crowd. A great crowd always does something to you as a football player, as an athlete, and in general, great crowds bring great energy which ultimately helps us perform to the best of our abilities.
Q: What are you most excited to see out of St. Louis this season?
Latulas: I’m excited to see, really what this team can do. You know, there’s gonna be a new group of guys, there’s some returning players. The majority of the team is new, so I’m just excited to see what the new guys and with the with the older guys can bring to the team and bring to the table and see where we take each other. You know, I mean, see how we can build and grow.
Q: Is this your first year as a St. Louis Battlehawk?
Latulas: This is going to be my third year in St. Louis
Q: Okay nice, so I have to ask, are you kind of excited to play against AJ McCarron for the first time?
Latulas: Yeah, for sure I actually have nothing but good things to say about AJ. Honestly, he was here when I came in my first year. He was super cool and a great leader so yeah, I love competition so it’s gonna be fun just for the rivalry.
Q: Nothing but friendly competition though
Latulas: Exactly, it’s all love.
Q: So, you have a new offensive coordinator this year who is young, hungry, and kind of has something to prove especially with a first-year head coach with legendary St. Louis name Ricky Proehl. How does that kind of fuel the motivation going into the season and how you guys want to perform to prove that championship mindset?
Latulas: Man, shout out to coach Proehl and coach A.J. man. Two great men, big time competitors you know. It’s like when they’re on the field, you can just tell they still want to suit up and play themselves. So, that’s the type of energy that they bring day in and day out to the offense and just to the team in general. They just get us fired up every day to practice and they love what they do, and of course coach Proehl played in the Super Bowl and everything like that in the league and he just passes on his knowledge and his love for the game to us. You have no choice but to become great when you’re around greatness all the time.
Everyone from the coaches, the communication team, the social team, and the players was that everyone knew everyone’s name and made sure they were respectful of it. While that may seem like a moot point, it is hard to see an organization with such a strong cohesive team all around to where no one person feel out of place.
This year’s team feels like a 180 turn from last year and it might just lead into St. Louis finally bringing home a trophy that has already visited our field multiple times. The season starts on March 28th at 11 a.m. at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, MO against the D.C. Defenders or you can watch on the ESPN network.
