UAB Blazers 2026 Season Preview

Year Two for Mortensen

A 4-8 finish with a 2-6 mark in league play and a power rating stuck at No. 128 is a rough on-field ledger, no way around it. What 2026 offers Alex Mortensen is simply time, a second year to show the direction is different from the results, since a first-year record rarely tells the whole story of where a program is headed. The tape from year one sets a low bar, and the honest read is that almost any step forward in conference play changes the conversation around this staff.

The Wrong Side of the Ball

UAB's offense was never the issue in 2025, ranking 27th in passing yards per game and 20th in third-down rate behind a passing attack that outpaced its 87th-ranked ground game. The defense sank the season, allowing 38.3 points and 6.54 yards per play (129th) while generating almost no disruption at 130th in havoc rate and run-stuff rate, and a minus-12 turnover margin buried what the offense built. Ryder Burton returns to run that offense after throwing for 708 yards and 7 touchdowns, but until UAB finds a pass rush or takes the ball away more than once every few games, his improvement won't move the record.

Jalen Kitna is gone after throwing for 2462 yards, and the job now belongs to Ryder Burton, whose 708 yards, 7 TD and 5 INT in relief snaps last season were shakier than the numbers Kitna posted. UAB's passing attack still ranked 27th nationally in yards per game and the offense moved the ball at 404 yards per game, so Burton inherits real weapons and a scheme that already produces explosive plays (1.33, 29th). The swing factor is protection: this line allowed 29 sacks, and if Burton takes that same pounding his interception rate will only get worse behind a group still finding its rushing footing at 139 yards per game.

UAB is replacing its entire rushing production, with Jevon Jackson, Isaiah Jacobs and Solomon Beebe all gone and the returning trio of Amari Brundidge, Marquise Collins and Drew Patterson carrying almost nothing to their names. Alex Mortensen rebuilt the room instead of trusting it, and Ja'Vin Simpkins arrives from Coastal Carolina with 590 rushing yards as the closest thing to a proven starter, flanked by three-star transfers Rod Robinson II, Bam McReynolds and true freshmen Jayson Moll and Hudson Higgins. That's a bet on Simpkins to stabilize a run game that already ranked 87th nationally, while a passing attack that hit 27th in yards per game carries the offense until he does.

Iverson Hooks (72 catches, 927 yards, 7 TD) and Brandon Hawkins Jr. (41 catches, 540 yards, 5 TD) are gone, wiping out the bulk of a passing attack that ranked 27th nationally in yards per game, and UAB is turning to a room with almost no proven production behind Kaleb Brown, who managed just 17 catches and 255 yards himself. That gap gets filled by transfers Ty Mims, KJ Daniels, CJ Smith and EJ Reid, none of whom have logged a catch yet, alongside blank-slate returners like Levi Brayton and CD Gill. Alex Mortensen's passing game carried this offense in year one, so how quickly that transfer quartet produces determines whether UAB's 27th-ranked air attack holds steady or falls off in 2026.

UAB's tight end room never produced much of a target last year and now loses its two most-targeted pieces in Elijah Lagg and J.C. Sivley, leaving Antonio Ferguson's 10 catches for 115 yards as the lone returning receiving stat in the group. Florida transfer Scott Isacks III and Toledo transfer Sean Persson arrive with no box-score history at UAB, but both come in as three-star pickups tasked with adding size and blocking that Gabriel Cline, Brayden Johnson and Joshua Rubin haven't yet shown on paper. With a passing game that ranked 27th nationally in yards per game, this position group is less about replacing lost production than about whether Isacks or Persson can turn into a real vertical threat Ferguson never was.

Alex Mortensen watched his line allow 29 sacks in 2025, a number that forced this offseason overhaul, and with 10 linemen out the door against 9 back, this is a rebuilt front rather than a returning strength. Kyrik Mason and Adam Lepkowski are the most experienced holdovers by class, but the fixes came through the portal in Keyon Cox from Oregon State and Cooper Young from West Virginia, both projected to start right away alongside juco and high school imports Hudson Reed, Wes Wiggins and Samuel Riddy Jr. The passing game held up fine behind that beleaguered line, 27th nationally in yards per game, so the new-look group mostly has to cut down the pressure and push a middling run game past 139 yards per contest.

A defensive line that finished 124th in tackles for loss and 130th in havoc rate needed more than a tweak, so UAB brought in five transfer linemen at once. Chris Burge, who posted 5 TFL and 3.5 sacks a year ago, remains the one proven disruptor, but the real bet is on Marlin Dean (32 tackles, 3 TFL at Georgia State) and Eli Hall (4 sacks, 4.5 TFL at Liberty) to give this front the edge pressure it lacked. With Denver Warren and Eamon Smalls both gone after combining for 7 TFL last season, Kyle Mosley and J'Quan Mason have to hold up inside and off the edge while the transfers find their footing against a run defense that allowed 192 yards a game.

UAB is replacing its entire linebacker corps that gave up 38.3 points per game, and the returning names on the depth chart carry a combined 2 tackles between them, so this group is really a transfer class in disguise. Shaun Myers and Muaaz Byard arrive as the closest things to proven quantities, each posting 37 tackles at their previous stops, while Ike Esonwune adds 28 more from Oklahoma State to help replace the departed production of Devin Hightower and Eddy Toussom. None of it moves the needle unless the tackling improves, because a defense that ranked 130th in havoc rate and 124th in tackles for loss needs these newcomers hitting the backfield immediately, not developing into it.

UAB rebuilt the entire back end by volume rather than star power, churning out five of five departed starters and bringing in five transfers to replace them. Darrell Sweeting (Marshall) arrives as the most productive newcomer with 37 tackles and a sack, while Jaylen Thompson (Memphis) and Diezel Wilkinson (Montana) take over at safety with no returning statistical production behind them beyond Delvon Gulley's 19 tackles at corner. Given a defense that allowed 38.3 points per game and ranked 130th in havoc rate, this group's ceiling depends on whether the portal newcomers tackle better in space than the unit they're replacing, not on any name recognition.

Jonah Delange already solved the one special-teams question that matters, hitting 10 of 14 field goals with a long of 46 in 2025, and he is back to handle the job in 2026 rather than leaving Alex Mortensen to sort out a new leg. The bigger hole is at punter, where Patrick Foley and his 41.6-yard average are gone with no returning punter listed to replace that production. Snapping stays steady with Evan Bishop and Caleb Moser both back, so the only real vacancy for Mortensen's second year is finding a punter to pair with an established kicker.

Almost a Whole New Roster

Jalen Kitna, Jevon Jackson, Iverson Hooks and Brandon Hawkins Jr. combined for the bulk of UAB's production a year ago, and all of it is gone, handing the offense to Ryder Burton, who threw for just 708 yards and 7 touchdowns in his limited look last season. UAB didn't restock through the backfield or receiver room in any notable way, instead pouring the portal haul into the front seven and secondary, with Shaun Myers, Marlin Dean and Muaaz Byard all arriving to replace Devin Hightower's 81 tackles. With a recruiting class ranked 135th, this roster is being remade almost entirely through the 38 transfers walking in the door, and Burton's growth without his top skill-position weapons will decide whether that trade paid off.

Ryder Burton

Ryder Burton takes over full-time after throwing for 708 yards, 7 touchdowns and 5 interceptions in relief snaps, and replacing Jalen Kitna's 2462 yards means UAB needs that efficiency to hold across a full season, not just a sample size. He gets Ja'Vin Simpkins, who ran for 590 yards and 2 touchdowns at Coastal Carolina, to lean on and Kaleb Brown's 17 catches for 255 yards as a target, but the offense goes as Burton's decision-making goes.

Backing In on the Road

UAB bettors learned to fade this team at home and back it away from Birmingham last year, and that split is the real story for 2026 under Alex Mortensen entering year two. The Blazers went 0-2 covering as home favorites while going 3-3 against the spread as road underdogs, a market that never trusted this group in front of its own crowd. Throw in a 2-0 cover mark against ranked teams and the picture is a squad that shows up for the sternest tests and flops when expected to handle business at home, a pattern books will be pricing again this fall.