Alex Mortensen — son of late great NFL reporter — makes most of UAB debut

Like one of his mentors, Nick Saban, Alex Mortensen didn’t seem to quite love the celebratory Gatorade bath after his first career win on Saturday.

Mortensen, a former Alabama staffer during the Saban dynasty days, felt undeserving of the dousing and even cautioned afterward it was only one game. Focusing too much on the result, after all, would be antithetical to “The Process.” 

But after an emotional week for UAB football following the firing of third-year coach Trent Dilfer, a 31-24 win over No. 22 Memphis was certainly worth celebrating. In his first game as a head coach, Mortensen helped deliver the biggest Blazers’ win in years. You could see the big smiles on players’ faces celebrating with Mortensen on the field. 

“I thought they did a great job of really refocusing and bonding together,” Mortensen told CBS Sports. “You end the week a little bit joyful to see them play the way they played in that game. It was emotional and hard, but also good to see the players have the success they had.”

It was a hard week for Mortensen, too. 

Dilfer, after all, gave him his first chance to be an offensive coordinator at the college level. He hoped they’d get a chance to work together for a long time and appreciated the way Dilfer treated the staff, the players and everyone else around the UAB program. Dilfer ultimately failed at UAB, going 9-21 and never making a bowl game, but Mortensen was working his hardest to try to turn it around. He wanted to be a head coach one day, but he didn’t expect it to happen like this. He admits the whole experience, from Dilfer getting fired to getting asked to be the interim head coach, left him a bit shaken initially.

“At first, it was really pretty somber and disappointing,” Mortensen said. “It wasn’t something to be celebrated by any stretch of the imagination.”

But he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity. It became a big part of his message to a team undergoing a massive leadership change amidst a season that wasn’t going the way anyone wanted. 

Ahead of undefeated Memphis, a popular pick to make the College Football Playoff, Mortensen stressed the opportunity ahead of everyone. Whatever the players had in mind for their futures, whether that was the NFL, staying at UAB or transferring elsewhere, they’d benefit from a strong performance against the Tigers. From just an individual standpoint, it gave everyone a reason to play with strong effort against a team that was heavily favored (23.5 points) to beat the Blazers. Collectively, Mortensen stressed playing with poise, giving relentless effort and sticking together no matter what. This team had already been through a lot and needed to stay resolute in the face of adversity. 

If the effort shown Saturday against Memphis is any indicator, that message certainly resonated. 

UAB’s offense was terrific against the Tigers, totaling more than 450 yards for the first time all season. In his first career start for the Blazers, quarterback Ryder Burton threw for 251 yards and three touchdowns — all to receiver Iverson Hooks, who finished with 172 receiving yards — in a debut as good as Mortensen’s. Burton, who had previously been at BYU and West Virginia before landing at UAB this season, stepped in and performed marvelously in place of injured starter Jalen Kitna. 

After going back-and-forth with Memphis in the first half, UAB jumped out to a 10-point lead in the third quarter on an 81-yard Solomon Beebe touchdown run. The Blazers later extended their lead to 31-17 with only 4:06 left in the game but the Tigers’ furious late-game push tested UAB’s resiliency. 

First, Memphis scored on a 37-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 31-24 with 2:19 left. After a quick UAB three-and-out that only ate up 29 seconds, Memphis got the ball back with a chance to tie the game. It looked like it had on a Greg Desrosiers Jr. run that initially looked like a touchdown but was ultimately ruled down at the Blazers’ 1-yard line. 

It prompted an interesting strategy question: Do you let Memphis score and give yourself about a minute of time left to try to win the game in regulation? Or do you go for the stop and risk Memphis burning all the time, scoring and going for a two-point conversion to win? 

Mortensen and UAB opted for Door No. 2.

“Our feeling was, in that moment, see if they can score on us,” the UAB coach said. “They’ll probably go for one and if they go for two, so be it. But we’ll see if we can. We’re comfortable taking the game into overtime if we needed to. Really was awesome to see the guys rally like that.”

It worked even if it was nerve-wracking to get there. Memphis had two false start penalties and a delay-of-game penalty that pushed what started as first-and-goal from the 1-yard line to a fourth-and-goal from the 11. Memphis QB AJ Hill’s final pass attempt had no chance, and the Blazers secured the win.

It capped an emotional, hectic week for Mortensen and everyone involved with the program. For the first time in years, UAB had the kind of win that generated national headlines and attention. 

And for those who saw UAB’s win and recognized the last name, it reminded them of the late, great ESPN reporter Chris Mortensen, who passed away in March 2024. Chris deeply loved his son and would have loved to see him become a head coach. 

But as Alex thought of his father after the win, he thinks he would have had some mixed feelings about it all. As ESPN’s long-time NFL insider, Chris covered more than his fair share of firings and knew the human impact on not only the fired coaches but on their families. He would have felt for the Dilfer family before he could be excited about what it meant for his only son. 

“Seeing a coach lose his job — a good coach and a good person — would have been hard for him,” Mortensen said. “And then I also think he, obviously, would want to support my efforts and our efforts as a team. But I really, really believe that’s how he would have been.”