Finally, UAB coach Mortensen will visit Illinois campus

Aug. 13—BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — When the UAB football team visits Gies Memorial Stadium on Sept. 3, it will be the first-ever visit for Blazers coach Alex Mortensen. Mortensen was the UAB interim coach for the last six games of the 2025 season after Trent Dilfer was fired. Mortensen was retained as the permanent coach and opens his first full season against Illinois three weeks from today. What Mortensen didn't realize until I told him a about this recently is that his late father, Chris, a star reporter at ESPN, reached out to Illinois in the early 2000s to gauge interest in Alex, then a standout high school quarterback in Atlanta. Chris Mortensen emailed me, asking if I could help him connect with Ron Turner's staff. "It doesn't shock me because Ron Turner was the head coach," Alex Mortensen said, "and they had had some success with Kurt Kittner." Alex never talked to Illinois and ultimately picked Arkansas before later transferring to Samford. "I never made it to camp up there (to Champaign-Urbana)," Mortensen said. After his playing career, Mortensen worked for Alabama legend Nick Saban for nine years. "I really learned a lot from him and a lot of people in that building," Mortensen said As he approaches his first full season in charge of the Blazers, what does success look like for UAB? "We want to win games, of course," Mortensen said. "We're looking to play with great effort. That's the first thing. The second thing is we want to play smart football and that involves being a disciplined team, a team that doesn't beat itself. Having good emotional control with that, call it poise, composure. Finally, we want to have a group that plays together. I think it's supporting each other on the field and communication in between series." Best guess Illinois has the same coach in Bret Bielema and same offensive coordinator in Barry Lunney Jr. as last year. "Coach Bielema has had quite a bit of success at multiple stops," Mortensen said. "I, obviously, respect him and respect the challenge that his teams present. I've coached against him when he was at Arkansas." The Illinois defensive staff is new, led by former Montana coach Bobby Hauck. And the changes he is implementing with that side of the ball. "First games present challenges because you're always trying to determine how much video you can rely on as it pertains to the opponent," Mortensen said. "If the coordinator doesn't return, you're watching two sets of tape. You're watching last year's tape to watch the players. And you're also having to watch this coordinator's tape to get the scheme and trying to piece it together." The portal adds another wrinkle to consider. "You've got a bunch of players from a bunch of different schools," Mortensen said. He likes what he sees of Illinois, both talent and style, ahead of the 2026 season. "We're going to be dealing with a pretty tough team," the UAB coach said. "But our focus right now has been figuring us out." Big challenge/opportunities UAB lost 31 players to the transfer portal and added 41. Only two starters return from a 4-8 team, both on offense. "We're at a phase right now where we're still learning about our team," Mortensen said. "You use camp to develop your team, but you are also maybe forming your identity. It feels like that process is a little slower than maybe in year's past because you take so many players out of the portal, and you're still learning about them. ... I do think we had guys develop over the summer, since the end of spring football." As of Wednesday afternoon, UAB is listed as a 271/2-point underdog for the Sept. 3 game, which starts at 8 p.m. and will be aired on BTN. Just tell Mortensen the time and his team will be there. "We're OK with it," he said. "I've been a part of Thursday night openers before and you still get ample preparation for it." Playing in a Power Four building is nothing new for the Blazers. They had a game in 2025 at Tennessee's Neyland Stadium, which seats more than 100,000. "I think the players are used to a multitude of venues," Mortensen said. UAB and its fellow American Conference teams have had a knack for pulling upsets in recent seasons, with recent wins against Florida, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. The Blazers will try to add to it with their trip to Champaign soon. "This is a really good league," Mortensen said.