Finding the Mark: How Jack Plummer is Slicing Up the UFL with the Orlando Storm
Image depicted from Storm Queen Photography
Orlando is officially a football town again. Ever since the United Football League (UFL) announced the arrival of the Orlando Storm late last year, the anticipation has been palpable. And as the 2026 spring season has kicked into high gear, the energy inside Inter&Co Stadium has been nothing short of electric. The fans are showing up, the defense is hitting hard, and the offense is putting on a clinic.
But at the eye of this proverbial Storm is a 6-foot-5, 215-pound quarterback who is finally getting his chance to show the professional football world exactly what he is capable of.
His name is Jack Plummer, and right now, he is arguably the most efficient passer in the sport.
The Long Road to Becoming "The Guy"
Plummer’s journey to Orlando is a classic tale of perseverance. He’s a guy who has never shied away from competition or adversity. In college, he battled it out in the Big Ten with Purdue, moved out west to sling it for the California Golden Bears in the Pac-12, and then transferred to Louisville, leading the Cardinals to a 10-win season and an ACC Championship Game appearance in 2023.
Despite the collegiate success and a cannon for a right arm, the NFL Draft came and went in 2024 without his name being called. He signed as an undrafted free agent with the Carolina Panthers, spending a year fighting for scraps of playing time on the practice squad.
The transition from college star to NFL practice squad player is notoriously one of the most mentally taxing leaps in sports. In college, Plummer was the big man on campus. At Louisville, he was throwing five touchdowns in a single game against Boston College and dropping back 35 times a night against elite ACC defenses. But in the NFL, those precious game-day snaps vanish. You spend your weeks running the opponent's plays on the scout team, staring at clipboards, and hoping a coach notices your footwork during individual drills. For a competitor like Plummer, sitting on the sidelines had to sting. But it was exactly that behind-the-scenes grind that set the stage for his current breakout in Florida.
I recently caught up with Jack as the Storm navigated through a grueling stretch of back-to-back games. A photo recently circulated online from Queen City Media showing Plummer displaying some incredibly athletic footwork in the pocket. I asked him how his mechanics and footwork have improved this spring, and his answer revealed exactly why he’s finding so much success right now.
"I think really just my time in the NFL, it improved a lot just being there and getting coached up and kind of getting rid of some habits that I didn't even know were bad before I got there," Plummer told me. "And just being able to get practice reps... I obviously didn't get a ton of live reps. I didn't play a one regular-season snap. But just being able to use that experience that I learned there, and now getting thrown into this league where, hey, you are the guy. You are the guy getting all the reps. So now, all this stuff that I worked on in the past, now I can really show what I learned and get real reps at it."
That right there is the essence of the UFL. It’s an opportunity league. Plummer spent a year in the NFL essentially taking apart his game, getting rid of bad habits he didn't even know he had, and rebuilding his mechanics from the ground up. But he never got to test-drive the new engine. Now, with the Orlando Storm, he’s got the keys to the offense, and he is driving it flawlessly.
Slicing Up Defenses
When you give a talented quarterback the lion's share of first-team reps, magical things can happen. For Plummer, that magic is manifesting in the form of surgical precision.
He isn't just winning games; he is putting up completion percentages that look like video game numbers. Slicing through secondary coverage, reading blitzes before they happen, and putting the ball exactly where only his receivers can get it.
When a quarterback starts completing passes at a historic clip, you have to wonder where the success is stemming from. Is he developing an otherworldly, telepathic chemistry with his wideouts? Or is he just identifying defensive schemes pre-snap and picking them apart like a surgeon?
I asked Plummer point-blank about his surging confidence and sky-high completion percentage. In true quarterback fashion, he made sure to spread the wealth to everyone else in the building.
"It's a team game, so it's a little bit of everything," Plummer explained with a smile. "The guys being open, the guys trusting the system, the coaches calling good plays, putting good plays for us—whether that be formationing a play a certain way to get a guy a certain route. So it's just a culmination of a lot of things. And obviously, I feel like I haven't had too many errant throws out there, and being able to put the ball on the money more often than not... It's definitely a good feeling to complete the ball at a high clip like that. I don't know if I've had back-to-back games of above 75 percent ever, so it feels good."
A Storm Brewing in Orlando
Photo by Storm Queen Photography
"Putting the ball on the money more often than not" might be the understatement of the year. Back-to-back games completing over 75% of your passes in professional football isn't just "good"—it's elite.
What we are witnessing is a quarterback coming into his own. He has the size that professional scouts drool over. He has the arm strength that produced elite numbers at every level of his amateur career. As a three-year varsity starter at Gilbert High School in Arizona, Plummer racked up 6,913 passing yards and 69 touchdowns, while also proving his mobility with 572 rushing yards and nine scores on the ground. That production translated seamlessly to the collegiate level across his stops at Purdue, Cal, and Louisville, where he amassed a staggering 9,728 career passing yards and 68 passing touchdowns. He crossed the 3,000-yard mark in both the Pac-12 (3,095 yards and 21 touchdowns in 2022) and the ACC (3,204 yards and 21 touchdowns in 2023).
And now, thanks to the crucible of NFL coaching and the opportunity provided by the UFL, he has the footwork, the mechanics, and the processing speed to put it all together.
Head Coach Anthony Becht and the rest of the Orlando coaching staff have clearly built a system that plays to Plummer's strengths. By utilizing clever formations and trusting their signal-caller to make the right reads, they are maximizing the offensive output and giving the defense a chance to play aggressively with a lead.
The road from Gilbert, Arizona, to the UFL has been filled with detours, but Jack Plummer has finally found his perfect destination. He’s no longer the kid trying to hold onto a starting job at Purdue, or the rookie fighting for a practice squad roster spot in Charlotte. He is a seasoned, calculating professional quarterback leading a football team with absolute authority.
For the fans packing into Inter&Co Stadium this spring, Jack Plummer isn't just a former undrafted free agent looking for a second chance. He is the face of a brand-new franchise, the catalyst for a potent offense, and a clear sign that professional spring football in Orlando is here to stay.
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If Plummer keeps putting the ball on the money and stringing together historic performances, he won't just be leading the UFL in the record books. He’ll be leading the Storm straight to a championship.
Queen Media Sports Reports is sponsored by Backwater Royalty.
