Jarren Horton “Excited” For New Opportunity With Showboats

Spring football fans across the scene were ecstatic to hear the news earlier this year: Jarren Horton is back. Horton, one of the USFL’s premier assistant coaches with the Pittsburgh Maulers, was left without a job following the USFL-XFL merger.

For Jarren, it was a frustrating season to not be coaching in the UFL a year ago. He earned USFL Assistant Coach of the Year honors in 2023, helping lead the league’s best defense to the Championship that year.

.@JarrenHorton and the D got us covered 🫡 #SHOWTIME pic.twitter.com/BxVCC61tcU

— Memphis Showboats (@USFLShowboats) March 4, 2025

After a year off, though, he now finds his way back to the spring scene. Horton has joined the Memphis Showboats defensive staff, taking over as Defensive Coordinator for Ken Whisenhunt. It’s an opportunity that Jarren is very thankful for – and doesn’t want to take for granted.

“It means a lot to have this opportunity. This league (the UFL) is a league of opportunity for players, coaches, front office, equipment people, video staff – it’s an opportunity for people to get involved in a football organization, and grow their craft. To be a part of something special. I think this team, having been around it for a little under a week, feels special.”

As for the overall outlook on the team and getting to work, Jarren is excited to get the ball rolling. It won’t be an easy process, but it’s one that he is tackling head on as Memphis rolls through camp quickly.

“I’m extremely excited to be working with Memphis, and getting to start with a whole new team. We’ve got a lot of new guys to the Showboats organization. I think we have only four returning guys on defense from last year. It’s fun to get an idea of where guys are looking to fit within our scheme, and how we can adjust our scheme to the guys we have on our roster. It’s a fun process.”

Defensively, the Showboats made a boatload (no pun intended) of changes this…