What Alex Mortensen said before UAB's game vs. Charlotte

UAB head coach Alex Mortensen opened his weekly press conference by addressing the offense's pass protection issues following the Blazers' loss at South Florida. Mortensen said the unit is playing more conservatively than he wants. "Right now, I would say we're playing far more conservative than I would like to ever play, and would like to be far more aggressive than we are, particularly on earlier downs," he said. Mortensen described the trade-offs involved — keeping extra blockers in to help the tackles means routes stretch zone coverages slower, while getting receivers out faster requires the quarterback to process quicker and get the ball out on time. "You can't live in the middle there, where we are running a slow-developing route and we're not giving our line help, or we're holding onto the ball too long," he said. Diehard's PFF film room breakdown of the USF game detailed the same issues Mortensen addressed.

Despite the offensive struggles, Mortensen was emphatic about quarterback Ryder Burton. "Look, I don't care, like, I'm just telling you this guy's a pretty freaking good player, okay?" Mortensen said. He pointed to Burton's two-minute (offense) and overtime performance earlier this season in the comeback win over East Carolina and said he's confident the development will continue. Mortensen also offered a candid assessment of his own sideline demeanor, calling poise "a learned trait, something I've had to work on," and acknowledging he has "the capacity for volatility." Quarterbacks coach Danny Mitchell has been working with Burton on processing speed, using NFL tape to illustrate how the game's best quarterbacks get the ball out. "Sometimes you've got to tell them, 'Hey man, you can take the cape off,'" Mortensen said. "'You can't save every play.'"

The Blazers host Charlotte at 2:30 p.m. CT Saturday at Protective Stadium on ESPN+. The game is UAB's 10th annual Children's Harbor game — a tradition that began in 2017 under Bill Clark, with players wearing the names of Children's Harbor children on the backs of their jerseys. Charlotte head coach Tim Albin is in his second season after going 33-19 in four years at Ohio. Mortensen said the 49ers have improved significantly — they beat Temple 38-31 on Oct. 17 and took Tulane to overtime on Oct. 30. Quarterback Conner Harrell, a Thompson High School product from Alabaster, is playing well. Mortensen recruited Harrell out of high school.

Full transcript

Coach Alex Mortensen

On controlling the line of scrimmage:

Alex Mortensen: "For us to play better in totality outside of those two plays, we have to control the line of scrimmage better. And I think anyone that watched the game and knows anything about football would recognize that we've got to control the line of scrimmage better in both the running game and the passing game. And at a bare minimum, we've got to be able to do one or the other."

On the offense playing conservatively:

Alex Mortensen: "Right now, I would say we're playing far more conservative than I would like to ever play, and would like to be far more aggressive than we are, particularly on earlier downs. In terms of the pass protection thing, look, there's a lot of ways. One, we're still developing. That's one thing I'm so confident in — that we're going to continue to develop players through the course of the season. But we do have tools to help our guys. We have tools to help our tackles with extra protection, with the ability to chip and nudge. But there are also trade-offs with that too. When you add more people into protection, you're going to stretch zone coverages slower. And that's okay. Those are tools we've used at different points this year.

"Now, on the flip side, when you get people out faster and you do stretch those zones quicker, we have to have an understanding that the ball's got to come out, right? The routes have to develop fast. The quarterback has to process quicker. He's got to understand that. But you can't live in the middle there, where we are running a slow-developing route and we're not giving our line help, or we're holding onto the ball too long. So we've got to process quick and have awareness of what we're doing in protection there.

"At the end of the day, we've got a plan to obviously correct those things, but we should have executed them better during the game."

On the team's character and fight:

Alex Mortensen: "One thing that's been pretty consistent this season is the character of the team has been very positive in terms of fighting, playing to the end, our toughness. I think you saw that really in a lot of areas and that's something we certainly don't want to take for granted. But I also want to be clear — we're not really interested in stopping there. That is an important part of our program, building and developing the character and a team that plays really hard and a team that plays together and sticks together. But we want to accomplish far more than that in the short term and to the remainder of this season in 2026, and then over the long term in terms of development and the longevity of this program."

On Charlotte and the Conner Harrell matchup:

Alex Mortensen: "Coach Tim Albin has been there. He's in his second year. He had a great program at Ohio. He's had an outstanding coaching career. And their team, I think, has really improved, particularly in the last couple weeks, and you've seen them really get better on offense. They beat Temple, and then they took Tulane into overtime last week or in their last game. So they're playing very, very well, and their offense is improving fast. Conner Harrell, who's got Birmingham ties — I remember him when he came out of high school — he's playing really well for them. We're playing them at home at 2:30. It'll be at Protective, so really excited to be there."

On confidence in Burton and the offensive players:

Alex Mortensen: "I still really have a ton of confidence in our players obviously, but particularly our offensive players. I want to remind everyone that we're not that far removed from one of the best two-minute (offense) and overtime performances I've ever been a part of, with Ryder Burton staring down the gun barrel, making a lot of tough throws as he's taking shots. And not just his intangibles to perform well in a situation like that, but also his physical traits to make some really big throws and make some really good runs and play with courage. So I love the guys we got and I'm excited to go to work with them here going forward through this next stretch and particularly this week."

On sideline poise — a learned trait:

Alex Mortensen: "I confess it's a learned trait, something I've had to work on. Ryder probably spends more time with me than anybody. I think he knows that I have the capacity for volatility. I did work for someone who wore his emotions on his sleeves, and I do think you've got to bring a certain amount of intensity, and I do think the team, to a degree, takes on the personality of its leadership. I think most of the guys will tell you that I'm pretty intense and pretty competitive. But I also think poise is really important too. Even my last boss, Coach Saban, did talk about poise a lot with our team.

"I think back to some of the games I've been a part of that haven't gone well. When I was an assistant coach, I felt like we had teams that at times didn't have the emotional maturity to handle stress and would unravel. So I think it's important that if we talk about poise, I've got to try to embody that to some degree. But sometimes there's things going on inside that maybe I'm doing a good job of keeping bottled in too.

"We want to keep fighting and keep playing, down after down, and try not to press the panic button when things aren't great. And look, we've won some tough games this year, and I think part of it is that we have displayed really good emotional steadiness."

On developing a quarterback's internal clock:

Alex Mortensen: "I think it very well can be learned, and it can be taught. One, through experience. Look, Ryder's still — look, I don't care, like, I'm just telling you this guy's a pretty freaking good player, okay? But he's also going through his first run of really starting college football, and I think with every rep he's going to get better at that.

"The tricky part about playing quarterback to a degree is that it's built on faith and trust. Quarterbacks that stare at the rush, or are overly concerned about it — you've got to trust to a degree that we're going to be able to protect for X amount of time. Otherwise you're not going to be able to execute the passing game the way you need to. That is a real thing, and it's something we've talked about. We use that phrase — at some point that clock's got to go off in your head. A lot of coaches I've been a part of programs with will instill a clock in seven-on-seven, just so they're aware — two-point-whatever seconds, three-point-whatever — different times attributed to different pass protections that help them gain an understanding of when you want the ball to come out.

"Danny Mitchell put together a lot of NFL tape and training camp of some of the best quarterbacks in the history of the game. And one of the things that's very noticeable is the processing speed. But quarterbacks go through this kind of evolution where part of what makes them good is their self-belief. They've got a little bit of a Superman cape. And sometimes you've got to tell them, 'Hey man, you can take the cape off. You can't save every play, and you've got to process fast and be content with taking a shorter throw or throwing the ball away.' Even at worst a sack — we don't want to take sacks, but that's certainly better than turning the ball over."

On no finger pointing — team unity:

Alex Mortensen: "I think it's really important. There's four big things that we focus on and talk about a lot as a team — working hard, playing hard, playing smart, and then playing together and staying unified. And I think our guys have stayed together, both sides of the ball. There's not been finger pointing. We have a lot of high character players. Muaaz Byard sitting right here. Jo Pierce is in here. These guys are incredibly high character. When it's not going well, sometimes they'll grab me and say, 'Coach, we got you. We got this. We're good.' So I really appreciate that.

"On the offensive side of the ball, I think it's been pretty good, but it's something the leadership of the team's going to have to stay on top of. I think there's a point where peer-to-peer accountability can be positive, but at the same time, our coaching staff and starting with me is going to be very demanding. So I think it's more important that they are probably more positive in how they interact with each other. And let me be the bad guy a little bit."

On recruiting Conner Harrell:

Alex Mortensen: "Yeah, I recruited Conner a little bit out of high school, worked him out. Really liked him as a prospect and he had a really good camp. I really like Conner as a prospect coming out of high school and I'm happy to see him getting an opportunity and playing well."

On Charlotte finding its identity:

Alex Mortensen: "I think they're probably like a lot of teams that are still just with this portal thing and then getting players healthy, that are finding their identity a little bit. And players on their team are developing and getting better too. So yeah, I think they'd look a little different."

On the Children's Harbor game — 10 years:

Alex Mortensen: "We're celebrating 10 years of Children's Harbor and a partnership at UAB. It's a great tradition. It's a great cause. You learn more about what they do and their organization, which I think is really tremendous — what they do for families of children with serious illnesses. And then I also have come to see the blessing it is for our players and our people in our organization to get to know these families and the kids involved. It can be very moving and touching.

"I think anyone would tell you that your life usually gets a lot better when you get a little more focused on helping other people and kind of move a little bit out of only self-serving motivation. That's one of the things I've noticed — I think it's a week where our players are certainly focused on their goals and their individual goals, but you start going, 'Okay, you know what, this week I'm playing for that kid, that family.' And that's been a really awesome thing to see."

On the jersey exchange with Children's Harbor kids:

Alex Mortensen: "It's really cool. When the kids and the players and their families interact, both sides light up. There's a lot of smiling, a lot of happiness and laughter. It's really a neat thing to see. I can't tell you how many people I've bumped into that have been a part of this in the past that'll say, 'Hey, you know, we still got our jersey.' Going all the way back to Coach Clark, how much this game has meant to the family. Just even hearing it retroactively tells you how important it is too. And it's important to me and I think to our program and everyone involved with it, that we're really invested in it."