What Alex Mortensen had to say at American Media Days

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Alex Mortensen made his first appearance at the American Kickoff as UAB's head coach. Mortensen took over as interim midway through the 2025 season, beat No. 22 Memphis in his first game and had the interim tag removed in December. He was joined by quarterback Ryder Burton and linebacker Ike Esonwune.

Here is what he had to say.

On being new to the podium

"I'm still a rookie here at the podium. I'm a first-time head coach and I worked for Nick Saban for nine years who didn't let us talk to the media. So take it easy on me."

On his connection to the media

"I do want to thank you and I want to tell the media thank you. My dad [the late former ESPN NFL insider Chris Mortensen] was a member of the media for a long time, over 40 years. He started off as a writer writing for papers, local papers, and ended up making the transition to television. I have a great appreciation for what you guys do for our game. I can remember being with him going to grocery stores and picking up those preseason magazines and now it's pretty cool to be on the other side of that. So really appreciate you guys and all the attention you bring to the game and to our players."

On UAB and the community

"In terms of UAB, I want to thank our school president, Dr. Ray Watts. He's someone that talks a lot about striving for excellence in everything we do and the growth at UAB under his leadership has really been remarkable, especially on the academic and medical side. It's been world class."

"Our community at UAB — our alum, our boosters, our supporters — tremendous support. They showed us during the time period I was the interim head coach and beyond. And I'm excited to see where we go. I really am. We got a community there that loves UAB. They love football and they love Birmingham."

On his vision for the program — individual, team and community

"We want to represent UAB with excellence on and off the field. The academics and the medical community we have is world class. As a representation of that, we want to represent it with excellence."

"We want to develop and win in three big areas as a program. One, the individual. Two, the team. And then three, the community."

"The individual — there's really three parts of that. There's the person, there's the student and then there's the football player. In terms of the student, our last two semesters here, we've had the highest academic GPA we've had in the history of the program. So that's been positive. We want to keep that going."

"The team. Unity, cooperation, working together, accountability. The team thing is interesting. When last year ended, I met with every guy on our team that I could. And here we are in this age of the portal, a lot of transfer, a lot of roster turnover, and I can't tell you how many of these guys — they crave being a part of a team. They crave being a part of something bigger than themselves. They crave — they want to get to know each other. And so that's something we're not giving up on, the idea of team. It's something we're greatly emphasizing even with the roster turnover and the shorter life cycle with a lot of our players."

"The community. We want to connect with and serve Birmingham, Alabama and beyond. But let's start with Birmingham. Look, I love Birmingham. I grew up south of Atlanta. Been familiar with it for some time. I think it's a great city. A lot of quality people there. The elite medical community. It's an awesome place to live. We want to serve the people there but we also want to connect with them further and then bring them along with us as we go forward."

On recruiting the region

"We want to recruit the area. I grew up south of Atlanta. I believe in the football in that region. If you draw five hours around Birmingham, I think there are a lot of really good football players. Whether you go into West Georgia, you go to South Alabama, you go to East Mississippi — there are a lot of really good football players."

"Birmingham is an awesome city. We've got 1.1 million people. You have the college life that UAB presents — 20,000 students — you have other colleges in the Birmingham area. So our student athletes can come and have a great college life, but you also have 1.1 million people in greater Birmingham. It's not a major city where we got to deal with two hours of traffic, but there's a lot to do. It's a fun city to live. A lot of people that go to other schools in Alabama, a lot of them move to Birmingham when they graduate. That's where they want to live and work. So I think we have a lot to recruit to as it pertains to the city."

"I think we have a strong alumni base. I think we have a lot of good supporters. I think there are former players that are behind us. I also think there are a lot of people in Birmingham that even if they weren't a UAB grad, they are pro-Birmingham people and want to get behind the program. So we're inviting them. Come on."

On what he expects from his coaches

"When I got done playing, I said, 'The coaches that had the biggest impact on me, what did they do? What were the commonalities?' I felt like there were three big things. Number one, they had a relationship with the players. They had a relationship with me. It's bigger than football. Number two, they were great teachers. And then three, be demanding. They expect a lot."

On being demanding in the portal era

"If you love someone — I worked for Nick Saban for nine years — the way he demanded of his players benefited them. That's a way you show love to someone, if you demand the best and expect the best from them. So that's something that we're not running from right now. I think a lot of people — 'Are these guys going to run to the portal? Do we give up on being demanding?' We are going to be demanding. And we tell them, look, man, if you don't like that, this is not the place for you. Go somewhere else. We're going to love our guys, but we're going to do it through also being demanding and expecting a high standard from them and confronting them if they don't do it."

On core values

"One, we want to work hard. I still believe in hard work. I think it's incredibly important. We want to play hard, all right, with great effort. We want to play smart and then we want to play together."

"Working hard — that obviously speaks to the preparation component. Being detailed, consistent, high effort in the way we work."

"Playing hard — that's relentless effort. Scrap, compete, fight to the end. And I think a prerequisite for playing hard is toughness. We want to have a tough team. And that's the expectation. There's a physical component to toughness, and we want to have a physical team, but then there's also this idea of what does it take to break you. And so we want to have a team that's got an unbreakable spirit."

"Playing smart — one, it's having the discipline to do your job. Two, I think it's having great poise and competitive composure no matter what's going on. And then three, I think it's not beating yourselves. If someone's going to beat us, let's make them beat us physically, but let's not give the game away."

On the players he brought to the Kickoff

"We've got Ryder Burton with us on offense, quarterback. And then we also have Ike Esonwune, who's a linebacker. These are two high-character guys. They're hardworking. They're leaders on our team."

"I've worked closely with Ryder because I work a lot with our quarterbacks. He's smart. He's hardworking. He's talented. He's got a live arm, accurate. And I'm really excited to have him in our program."

"Ike has been a joy to have on our team. He transferred to us from Oklahoma State in January. He's wasted no time. He leads the right way. He's a good athlete. He's explosive, instinctive and tough as a football player. So we're really grateful to have him a part of our program as well."

On quarterback Ryder Burton

"Very excited to have Ryder Burton here. Ryder is a guy we recruited a year ago. He's hardworking. It's cliche to say, 'Well, the guy prepares like the starter when he's not.' He really did. He really prepared at a very, very high level all year. And beyond the intangibles, he's talented. He's got a live arm. The ball's out quick, man. He's a good athlete. So we're really grateful to have Ryder. And I think he's also got leadership qualities."

"We have a really good quarterback room. We got Nate Rogers, Adrian Posse, Cam Jennings. We have some really good players in there. But Ryder, I think having the whole offseason here to go in and go out first and get those reps, that's something he didn't get the benefit of a year ago. So I think he's so much further along than he was a year ago. I'm really excited for him."

On Burton's confidence

"I think one, there's the preparation component, the hard work. I think Ryder puts a lot of work in. I think the second thing is he probably knows he's talented. Not in an arrogant manner. I talk about his intangibles and the work ethic and all those things, but man, he can throw it. There aren't — we feel like he can make every throw. He's a better athlete than I think a lot of people realize. He has the ability to extend plays and be creative. So if I had those traits, I'd be confident, too."

On his relationship with Burton

"I really appreciate it when he said that and it meant a lot. We have a really good relationship, a great relationship. I feel like we've got a great relationship with all of our quarterbacks, but Ryder and I really hit it off from recruiting on. This guy, he loves football. I love football. We love scheme. We love Xs and Os. We love talking about it. One thing I like about him is he can talk it and visualize it. I think that's a trait a lot of really good quarterbacks have — they can see it in their mind as they're saying it. So there's just a lot of things that I think we've really connected on and I'm really looking forward to continue to work with him."

On offensive flexibility

"I do think it's important to create an identity, but I think part of how you do that is through flexibility. Flexibility allows you to create an identity. What do I mean by that? We've talked a lot about this roster turnover and how many new players you get every year. One of the great things about our system — you go back to that time at Alabama — think about these quarterbacks. Blake Sims, Jake Coker. Then you go to a guy like Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovailoa, Mac Jones, Bryce Young. All those guys obviously are great players, and we were fortunate to have them, but they were all different. And so we were able to, yeah, still have a team that controlled the line of scrimmage, still physical, still tough, but we adapted to the guys we had. And so that's important that we have a system that can adapt."

"And then the other thing I'll mention is our first year at UAB, we set a school record on offense for total offense. And then Jacob Zeno, our quarterback, a lot of people are unaware of this — that 2023 season Zeno had at UAB, he completed just under 74 percent of his passes. That is 10th all-time in the history of the NCAA. So we feel very confident that we can adapt to our players."

On the running game

"We like to run the ball. The football, to me — we talk about turnover margin, all those things — it starts at the line of scrimmage. The game starts at the line of scrimmage. So we want to dominate and control the line of scrimmage. I did work for Saban for nine years and so teams are physical. We're tough. And so those are things we believe in and we want to run the football. We want to run it well and we also want to stop the run."

"It kind of starts with Adam Lepkowski, who's a center for us. I feel like he's a ninth-year senior. He might be today. I mean, you never know. It kind of starts with him, but we have a good group up there. It's going to be very competitive. And then we like our running back room. It's a deep room. We've got a lot of guys there that I think are really going to help us. Some of which have collegiate production already. Some have a thousand yards to their name. Some of which — high ceiling, haven't really done it yet. I think they will for us. So I'm pretty excited about that group."

On the receiver room

"Ty Mims has done a nice job. We have a lot of receivers right now that are competing and we're really excited about all of them. Very excited to have Kaleb Brown back. Kaleb suffered an injury in the spring, but he's bouncing back. We brought in CJ Smith, who we're also really excited about. KJ Daniels is another new guy. AJ Johnson returns. Lamar White's been coming on. It's a room that we think has some depth and it's going to be very competitive in camp, but I think they can all help us and we'll find ways to play all of them."

On hiring Todd Grantham as defensive coordinator

"Really excited to have Coach Todd Grantham with us, and I also think it speaks to our program that we're able to attract a coach like that."

"Coach Grantham is one — I think he's smart. He knows a lot of football. I think in this day and age you have to be flexible because your roster turns over. So you don't want to be so married to a system that you can't adjust and then we stick square pegs in round holes. He's got the ability to adapt. Secondly, he connects with the players. I think the players know that he can help them. He connects with them. He understands the relational part of it. And then finally, he's demanding. We're not running away from the demanding thing just because there's a portal. And so I really appreciate that about him."

"We worked together under Nick Saban at Alabama in 2022. I worked for Coach Saban for nine years. Coach Grantham worked for him at Michigan State. So we worked for him twice. So we also have a shared background. There are a lot of philosophical things that work. So we're really fired up to have him."

On fixing the turnover margin

"It is three phases. They got to get it out, but offense has got to protect it, too. And so it's both. When you look at winning and losing, one of the things that correlates the most is turnover margin and then after that you get to explosive plays."

"I used to hate hearing this when I was a player — 'Hey, more games are lost than won. Don't beat yourself.' There's so much truth in it. It starts with that. Being a disciplined team. If someone's going to beat us, make them beat us physically. Let's not give the game away. So that's an emphasis for our offense and it's also going to be an emphasis for our defense to disrupt and get the ball out."

"Can we affect the quarterback? Sometimes you may not always sack them, but we talk about affecting the quarterback. Can we move them off a spot? Can we hit them? Can we disrupt them? That's a big thing. And then on offense, there's technique things there and then there's decision-making things there, too. So we're going to coach all that every day."

On special teams

"John Jones is our special teams coordinator. He's in his third year as being the coordinator at UAB. We've retained John. John's a really bright, good young coach that I'm really excited to work with again and really enthusiastic about what we're doing there."

On expectations for 2026

"We know there's work to be done in the short term for the 2026 season. A lot of work to be done. And then there's also a lot of work to be done to close the gap as a program to get the program where we want. It's a challenging schedule. We have a challenging nonconference schedule and we also are playing in a very challenging league. I have a lot of respect for the coaches in this league and the quality competition."

"I do step into this position with optimism and hope, but I'm not making any wild predictions either. And though we are certainly — and I say this joking — we're certainly not going to war. In the words of Winston Churchill, we have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. So we'll start there and we'll see where that gets us."

On having a full offseason vs. last year's midseason takeover

"I think having a whole offseason to try to create a culture is really helpful. I give our staff a lot of credit. I mentioned our strength and conditioning staff, Lyle Henley. I think they've done a really good job. You have so many new players that show up in January. And I think how you establish your way of doing things, how you set the tone — if you start too loose, man, it's hard to get it back. I think he did a really good job before the coaching staff ever even got their hands on them."

"I've been pleased with our staff, but more importantly, I've been pleased with the players. It's so cliche — 'Hey, you got to have a player-led team.' It's true. And I think our guys — they've taken it upon themselves to make sure that they're holding each other accountable. So I think all those cultural things, having a runway to the season helps."

On the 2026 team

"No wild predictions. We have a lot of work to do. But I do think we have a hardworking team. They've been competitive and they have really grown together and that's been positive. I saw really good intensity from our first spring practice to the 15th."

"I should have mentioned Coach Lyle Henley earlier. Very grateful to have him here. He's been a part of some very successful and great teams at UAB running the strength and conditioning program. He's doing a great job with our group right now."

On slow starts

"It's like, what's important — the first part of the game or the fourth quarter? People talk about the middle eight. It's all important. I want to win every play we play."

"Take some of the games we won. The Memphis game, my first game as the interim — we took our opening drive right down and we scored and started fast. We ran the ball well and we threw it in. The Tulsa game, another game we won — we scored early in that game. So I think we are capable of that."

"But at the same time — man, it's hard not to talk about Saban when you've been around the guy for nine years. I'm a little bit brainwashed. But everything was, 'Hey, each play has a history and life of its own.' I was a part of some games where we fell behind big early and there was no panic. There was a great amount of poise. So we also want to realize — I'm old enough to at least remember my dad showed me 15-round fights, not the 12-round fights — that the game's not won or lost in the first quarter. We certainly want to start fast if we can and prepare that way, but we're also not going to panic if we don't."

On the biggest lesson from Nick Saban

"Wow. That's a great question because there are so many things. But I think if you were to say, man, it's hard to summarize a man that remarkable and that accomplished. But it felt like everything we were doing was always to try to help our players. It was driven towards what can we do to help them, help our team, help the players succeed — whether it's psychologically, whether it's in school, whether it's development as a person, whether it's helping their technique as a football player. How can we teach it better? I thought it was always driven towards that and trying to find a better way to do it."