Reggie Barlow left the Defenders less than a week before the 2025 season to take the coaching job at Tennessee State, which opened late in the offseason hiring cycle after Eddie George was hired for the same job at Bowling Green.

The DC Defenders are heading to the UFL Championship this weekend. Their path to the title game is a powerful story with a layered HBCU storyline. After a 36–18 win over the St. Louis Battlehawks, the Defenders will face the Michigan Panthers for the league title.

Barlow (Alabama State) and Harris (Tennessee State) are both HBCU alumni who guided the DC Defenders into a chance to win the league championship. In 2023, Coach Barlow's DC squad was a 6.5-point favorite to defeat Arlington, but Bob Stoops' team won the XFL Championship, 35-26, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

Former NFL player and current D.C. Defenders player, Kelvin Joseph, is facing charges for his involvement in a crash that killed a female motorcyclist on a Dallas-area freeway, The Dallas Morning News reported.

The DC Defenders, led by quarterback Jordan Ta'amu, defeated the Battlehawks at The Dome at America's Center Sunday, 36-18, to claim a spot in the UFL Championship.

The Michigan Panthers and DC Defenders square off in the UFL Championship on Saturday. Jeff Kolb and Jess Nevarez talk with coaches Shannon Harris and Mike Nolan, Panthers quarterback Bryce Perkins and Defenders DE Malik Fisher about the big game.

The United Football League has named former HBCU quarterback Shannon Harris, now head coach of the DC Defenders, as the 2025 UFL Buddy Teevens Coach of the Year. As a former quarterback at Tennessee State, Harris made his mark in 2001. That year, he set a school record for total offense in a season with 3,137 yards.

The UFL playoffs are here! DC is taking on St. Louis in the XFL Conference title game on Sunday. Here are the highlights!