Spring football is all about providing opportunities. For San Antonio Brahmas OC A.J. Smith, he’s taken full advantage of the platform he’s been gifted with the last few years. Smith has been one of spring football’s finest, innovating with a run and shoot offense that has been prolific in the XFL and UFL.
With all of the success he’s seen at this level, A.J. Smith has become a name that many are familiar with in this scene. It turns out that those outside of the league are paying attention, as well. EA Sports is now partnering with Smith to tweak and improve their run and shoot playbooks, for use in College Football 25 and Madden 25.
NEWS: @EASPORTS has partnered with @XFLBrahmas OC A.J. Smith to “improve the authenticity” of the run & shoot offense.@AustinJamesXFL is helping tweak and develop plays within the run & shoot playbook; which will include multiple plays from his #UFL/#XFL stints.
“GTFO”, the… pic.twitter.com/r7CP4yj06W
— James Larsen (@JamesLarsenPFN) September 20, 2024
In EA Sports’ latest article release, they highlight that they partnered with Smith for this development:
“Partnered with a current Run and Shoot coach to improve authenticity in the run and shoot offense, this will include some minor adjustments to pre-existing plays and the inclusion of new plays in Run and Shoot Offensive playbook.”
We’re told that these playbooks will feature some of the play designs that A.J. Smith has drawn up for the Houston Roughnecks and San Antonio Brahmas across his time in the XFL and UFL. This will include the infamous “GTFO” play call, which has been utilized in multiple key scenarios for Smith’s offense in spring football. It will be renamed to “GT Field Option” within EA Sports’ database.
This process has been an exciting and fulfilling one for A.J., teaming up with EA Sports to not just improve the play calling experience – but also to continue to promote spring football:
“EA Sports…