Running back Bo Scarbrough, who won two national championships at Alabama and then returned to the state to win back-to-back USFL titles with the Birmingham Stallions, has announced his retirement from professional football.
“You can love this game all you want, but at the end of the day, the game can’t love you back because it’s not a person; it’s a ball,” said Scarbrough, per the UFL’s official press release. “I have so much respect for the people still playing.”
“We were blessed to have Bo as a part of our football family,” said UFL Head of Football Operations Daryl Johnston. “He is a champion on and off the field. He is an outstanding representative of his community and the state of Alabama. We wish him the very best in his retirement and know he will be successful using his passion for the game in the next chapter of his journey.”
Scarbrough is best known for his breakout stretch at the end of the Crimson Tide’s 2016 season, capped off by a 91-yard, two-touchdown performance in that year’s SEC Championship Game win over Florida. He followed that up with a career-high 180 yards and 19 carries — and two more scores — in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Peach Bowl against Washington. Scarbrough saved his best for last, recording four total touchdowns — two rushing and two receiving — on 100 total yards in Alabama’s last-second 35-31 loss to Clemson in the national title game.
While Scarbrough never recaptured those heights during the 2017 season, he still contributed to the Alabama team that went on to win the national championship that year in a thrilling comeback victory against Georgia. He also saw a bit of game action during Alabama’s 2015 national championship season, though he dealt with a knee injury and was lower on the team’s depth chart behind that year’s Heisman Trophy winner, Derrick Henry.
Scarbrough was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the seventh round of the 2018 NFL Draft but did not appear in an NFL game until 2019, when he made five starts for the Detroit Lions, recording 89 carries for 377 yards and one touchdown. He only appeared in one game after that, which came in 2020 with the Seattle Seahawks.
His next snap in a regular-season professional football game came in 2022, when he joined the Stallions in Week 4 of the inaugural USFL season. Scarbrough became a key contributor for the Stallions, who went on to win the league title that year, rushing for 352 yards and one touchdown on 84 attempts across six games. He recorded 135 rushing yards (including a dazzling 70-yard run) and a touchdown in the Stallions’ eventual title-game win.
Thanks to his on-field contributions and familiarity to fans in Alabama, Scarbrough became a fan-favorite in Birmingham and seemed poised to continue playing a big role for the Stallions in 2023. Instead, however, he saw limited action due in large part to injuries.
The inaugural season of the UFL — the all-new spring football league created by the USFL/XFL merger — begins March 30 on FOX between the two-time defending USFL champion Stallions and the defending XFL champion Arlington Renegades.
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