St. Louis Battlehawks keeping door open for AJ McCarron

With an opportunity to clinch a spot in the United Football League playoffs, the St. Louis Battlehawks aren’t giving up on quarterback AJ McCarron playing on Sunday against the D.C. Defenders.

The former Alabama All-American sustained an ankle injury during the Battlehawks’ 30-26 loss to the Birmingham Stallions on Saturday.

“Right now, AJ came out yesterday, he threw the ball a little bit,” St. Louis coach Anthony Becht said on Thursday. “He’s such a competitor, a guy that we got to give him every single day to give him that opportunity. He’s feeling much better. He’ll go out today and see how it feels. We’re going to take it day-to-day and just see how it works and looks and try to make a decision when we feel certain about it, so we’re not going to rule anything until we get all the things we need to know.

“But AJ’s working his butt off to rehab, trying to get right and feel good, and so far that’s been really positive here the last couple of days.”

St. Louis’ other quarterbacks are Brandon Silvers and Manny Wilkins. Wilkins is in his second season with the Battlehawks. A former Gulf Shores High School and Troy standout, Silvers was the starter for the Houston Roughnecks last season.

Becht seemed to commit more to using both quarterbacks rather than either QB if McCarron misses Sunday’s game.

“All hands on deck,” Becht said. “For us, it’s all about flow, it’s all about feel, but we’ll see what happens. I don’t want to look too far ahead on anything. I want to stick with the plan and make sure all the t’s are crossed and the i’s are dotted before we really dive into the specifics. What I’ve told everybody is be ready to go and be able to execute the plan at a very high level.