By Zane Miller

With the 2026 Arena Football One season less than one week away, the expansion Kentucky Barrels will look to not only begin their inaugural campaign with their first win, but also start off a season-opening three-game homestand on the right foot.

“You get a little momentum (starting at home),” Barrels head coach Cedric Walker said. “Now we get the people here in the Tri-State to understand what arena football is, also it will be good momentum with some great teams coming in here.”

Walker joins the Barrels on the heels of two strong seasons with the Billings Outlaws, notably claiming the #1 playoff seed in 2024 and leading the team to victory over the Albany Firebirds in ArenaBowl XXXIII for his first title as head coach. Walker made the move with the Outlaws to the AF1 for the league’s inaugural season, narrowly missing out on a playoff spot with a 6-6 record. At Thursday’s practice, he was overall satisfied with his team’s on-field performance.

“I liked our tempo,” Walker said. “We started off a little bit slow, but our guys picked it up and they were making plays.”

Quarterback Dalton Oliver will get his first shot as a starter at the AF1 level, as he was a backup with the Nashville Kats last season during their run to the AF1 Crown championship game, which ended with Albany avenging their loss from the previous year.

“Obviously, there’s going to be a little hangover being a part of a team that just came up a little bit short of the championship,” Oliver said. “You know what it takes to get there, but also you know the little bit that lacks to get over that hump.”

Oliver is also looking forward to the opportunity to build upon the hype that comes along with being an expansion franchise.

“As a first-year program, we’re able to lean in on this buzz and excitement,” Oliver said. “We had a good practice today and it seemed like there was energy in the building. It’s going to spread throughout the community and once that explodes, the home crowd is very hard to beat.”

One of Oliver’s primary targets, wide receiver Jalin Marshall, will make his AF1 debut after last appearing in the 2024 season with the Indoor Football League’s Tucson Sugar Skulls. A native of Middletown, Ohio, being able to play in the Cincinnati area adds another layer of significance to the upcoming season.

“It means a lot to represent my city,” Marshall said. “My family’s here and it doesn’t get any better than that.”

On April 12^th, the team will host the Michigan Arsenal for their Week 1 matchup. Based out of Saginaw in the Wolverine State, the Arsenal are also set to play their first-ever game as a team.

Michigan head coach Shawn Liotta will make his return to the role after serving as offensive coordinator for the National Arena League’s Wheeling Miners last season. However, Liotta is better known as the head coach of the Erie Explosion for several years, which included back-to-back Continental Indoor Football League championship seasons in 2013 and 2014.

Like Walker, Arsenal quarterback Malik Henry also spent the 2025 season with Billings, posting an impressive 1,248 passing yards despite playing in just six games.

“Michigan will be well-coached,” Walker said. “I know Coach Liotta well, he’s going to make sure the guys are right, they’ve got a good quarterback in Malik Henry, so I know they’re going to try to get at us.”