Q&A With uab head coach trent dilfer

Photo by Ken Shepherd

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - June 4, 2024

The roster, for the most part, is finalized and ready to go for Trent Dilfer’s second season at the helm of the UAB football program.  

Finalizing the roster, in this case, meant adding nine transfer portal scholarship players after spring practice concluded. On Tuesday, while the UAB players participated in summer workouts, we sat down with Dilfer to talk about his roster and other subjects.

Seems crazy that we’re talking about freshly finished finalized rosters in June. With all the pieces in place, what are your thoughts on your roster?

“What are we, 17 months, 18 months into the job, I feel like after this May portal we finally have a roster that I would call my kind of guys from the traits, football character and social character standpoint. There are only 20 players here that (were inherited). I want to make sure that this is not a poor reflection of the players that were here and the coaches that were here. It’s just that there weren’t mine. Anybody who can’t understand that, then they can’t understand leadership. You want your likeminded, same-valued culture and system fit guys here. Until you get that, you don’t have total buy in.

We turned over 65 of 85 scholarship (players) in four (recruiting) cycles. I feel really good about how we went about recruiting, both in high school and in the portal. This year, 20 portal, 16 high school. We feel like we’re doing a job in balancing out in what was an unbalanced roster (by class). You had dramatic imbalances in recruiting classes when we came here. And then after parting ways with some players, we had some even bigger gaps.

As an example, I will use Jack Nickel at tight end. This is something we knew for a long time. We didn’t let anybody know we were recruiting a tight end. No other teams knew we were recruiting a tight end. We were very specific (that) we were looking for the right person, the right player and the right year, because we lose two (after this season). Then, you had Dallas (Payne) and JC (Sivley) that are spaced out differently. We needed another one that fit that room and now we’ll probably be heavy high school there to make it younger.

You have to almost do three things. You have to take the character of the team, the culture of the team, and make sure that (we bring) in, we call them ‘Firebreather’ qualities. We need to make sure they have certain qualities that fit us. Then you have to take their athletic traits and the kind of football players we can project them to be or the type of players they are right now. Then, you got to go room by room. Yes, we need to have the roster a certain way. Yes, they have to have a certain football temperament. But, they also need to fit within the room. For instance, linebacker, we have OC (Brothers) and Michael Moore, two last-year players. There was another fifth-year senior linebacker that is very, very talented that wanted to come here. I’m like, ‘No, we don’t need another (final year linebacker).’ That would stunt Trap’s (Everett Roussaw’s) development, that would stunt (Jason) Riles, Jax (Van Zandt) and Tylan McNichols, who are really good players that we have.”

How tough is it to turn down a player that you know can help you but doesn’t fit into the spacing of scholarships?

“It’s the hardest thing. The hardest thing is not collecting toys. We’re an attractive program. Believe it or not, portal players, high school players want to come here. They target us. We probably said no to from 4 to 8 very attractive players in the (spring) portal. I can even go back to the December portal. But specifically the (spring) portal because they didn’t fit us. They didn’t fit us in the room, they didn’t fit us in the culture or they didn’t fit where I think we’re going in the development of some young players.  

We don’t want to waste the fact that we played all those freshmen last year. I don’t want to do something that all the sudden Ricky Lee, (Roussaw), Chris Bracy don’t continue to develop or Miquan (Merriweather), Eamon (Smalls) don’t get to develop. They’re always trying to get better, every player knows that. In team meetings I say, we’re always trying to out-recruit you but we also want you to prove that we’re wrong. It’s something that is a constant conversation around here, prove us wrong. Yeah, we thought we brought in somebody that is more talented than you but prove us wrong.  

It's very difficult but it’s what I love. It’s probably the thing I love the most of the job so far is the complexity, almost a three-dimensional thinking, of putting together a roster. Everybody is involved, that’s the coolest thing. You want to talk about the synergistic building mindset. It’s personnel, position coaches, analysts, head coach. Everybody has to be kind of working together and thinking the same thoughts. When there is a breakdown in communication (it hurts). We had some issues in breakdowns of communication on my end, where I clearly didn’t communicate with certain people. Well, they get confused and get going in the opposite direction. You have to spend time getting us going back in the same direction.”

You brought in two offensive linemen during the spring portal. What was the need there and how do those guys fit into this group?

“Well, (Will Parker) is no longer with us. Willie made some decisions that were not culturally acceptable to me, so he’s moved on. We had a need. 

Offensive line was something we really felt good with what we did in December, but we’re constantly trying (to get better). To me, it’s the most important room in the building, personally, others may disagree. To me, it’s really the heartbeat of your team. They’re selfless, they do the dirty work, they don’t get praise. They get all the criticism, but, when they play well, your whole team plays well. We really like our young talent but weren’t sure if our young talent was ready to play this year.

With Zaire (Flournoy) coming back, we’ll count him as a portal player because we didn’t have him last year. He basically was (like a) portal player, a new player. Brady (Wilson) is the only player that I would say is an incumbent. There is competition at every other position, which is great. It’s veterans with youth. It’s a really good combination of veteran presence with youth.”

Is Trey Bedosky close to being healthy?

“He’s close. He’s not clear for contact, he will be by camp. We’re really excited about seeing him healthy and stronger. He looks great, he’s moving great. He’s big, he’s strong. There will be tons of competition at every position (for the starter), except at center with Brady. I would say DJ (Jones) kind of locked down a position. DJ earned it in the spring. DJ is competing against himself to play in the NFL. I’d say that’s where DJ’s competition is. Can you get better so you can play in the league?”

Will DJ play at left or right tackle?

“We want him at right. We very specifically want him at right. He can play left and he’s a good left tackle. He’s a fantastic right tackle. He’s done it for so long. It would be like, there are guys who are switch-hitters, but their average is .389 from the right and .172 from the left. Let’s bat him right. We want (DJ) at right.”

Are the two spring portal linemen (Baron Franks III and Calib Perez) playing tackle?

“Both are Swiss Army Knives, both are versatile. That was something I was very specific with. There were some straight tackles in the portal. There were some straight right tackles in the portal. There were some straight left tackles in the portal. There were some guards in the portal. They were good players that will be really good college football players.

It was very frustrating for some of the staff because I was very strong on this. I wanted versatility. Baron can play all five, that’s his value. He’s incredibly smart. He’s an elite athlete playing on the offensive line. He’s undersized right now. He’s underdeveloped but he’s got the lab to go into – Lyle’s Lab – for the next three months to play some catchup. One thing my teams are all about is we get stronger through the season. It’s one thing I’m adamant about. In high school, my teams always (had PRs) state championship week.  We’re going to PR bowl game week. We are going to get stronger through the season, so Baron is going to benefit from that. His versatility will be incredibly valuable.

Calib is guard-tackle. I don’t know (which one) to be honest with you. He’s done both at Duke. We talked a lot with their coaching staff. They did not want to lose him. They felt he was going to be a starter for them this year. They thought he was going to be a starter for them last year. He gets hurt. They thought he would be a starter this year but weren’t sure if it would be a guard or tackle. They want to see him at both and we’re kind of in the same boat.”

How do you bring the newcomers up to speed to be ready for fall camp?

“The challenge, this is a big part of where we’re going, is player by player. I knew it’s very risky to say no (to a portal player) in December and say yes in May. The data tells you the December transfers are far more successful than May transfers. We’re fighting data, so we got to outcoach data. That’s been a staff thing. We have to put our money where our mouths are. Now the challenge is on the staff to coach our tails off, basically double down on how we teach, how we coach, how we communicate, how we connect. No matter what they’ve learned before, they have to now learn our way. They have to learn the nuance of Blazer football and you only have a few months to do it.

If we struggle, this year, early, I’ll point back to that. We have nine players contributing at a high level that got here in May, still learning our way. If we’re successful, I’ll probably praise Kenwick Thompson, C.J. Cox and Matt McCants for coaching their tails off and getting those guys up to speed.”

You talked earlier about the 65 scholarship players you’ve brought in. What do the 20 scholarship players still here from the previous regime mean to you?

“They’re everything. They’ll be ones that I have pictures in my retirement office on. I freaking love Iverson Hooks, Terrell McDonald, Bryce Damous, Dallas Payne, JC Sivley, Trey Bedosky, Quez Yates. Quez and I have been through hell together, in a good way. I’ve yelled at him more than any human on this team and he’s yelled back. We love it. Zaire, what he’s gone through, A-Train (Adam Lepowski). Ryan Gunter, we think he’s developing. It’s going to be a long path but he’s developing into a really good player. He bought into the old five-year plan, which nobody buys into. Nobody in football buys into it anymore. We don’t travel him to Georgia. Guess who the first person we see in the stands when we look up at Georgia? He’s with a bunch of kids that he drove down to Athens with. You got to love those guys. AJ Brown, Trey Miles, with what he’s gone through. Obviously, (Jacob Zeno). (Harrison Barker), Lee Witherspoon, Lee Beebe.

That’s the heartbeat of your team. They just completely bought in. They’ve done everything since day one that we’ve asked them to do. TJ Jones is a different human being. Zeno is a different player. (Terrell McDonald) is a different player, Bryce (Damous) different player, Miles different player. Of all the players who have improved on this team, I’d put Zeno and Quez at the top of the list and Michael Moore would be there. These guys have bought into what’s really hard and uncomfortable. The way this building works, there are no bad days but every day is hard. And they’ve just bought into it. I love those guys.”

When you look at that list, are there a lot of guys who had good options to move on to another program?

“I would say, without using names, 10 were offered significant amounts of money from the last portal cycles. Significant. Not like $5 grand, like $50-plus with, obviously Zeno offered $400 grand. Pretty interesting.”

Where are Armoni Goodwin and Isaiah Jacobs with their health going into the summer?

“Armoni is full go. We were very careful with him during the spring. He was not hurt. I would put him in the boo-boo category in the spring. I went outside my nature and allowed the boo-boo to trump (him facing contact). I know he can run the football, you know what I mean. I put on my NFL hat. I’ve seen it. I don’t need to see that much. I’d rather he gain some confidence in his health. He’s battled three pretty big injuries at LSU. The last thing you want him to do is come in, get nicked and have him say ‘Oh God, here it comes again.’ You watch him move, in the workouts and walkthroughs, he’s an NFL talent with the way he moves, explosive qualities, his balance.

Isaiah is very close to being fully cleared. You would think he’s fully cleared. If he didn’t have the knee brace on you’d think he’s better than he was when he first got here. But, there he is also a guy who played on an ACL for a full game. So it’s kind of like, let’s slow your roll a little bit.”

Where is Iverson Hooks with his health?

“He looks normal and then he fatigues a little bit. I think having a strategic plan with Strap (Hooks) is important. He’s frustrated to watch it. As successful as he was that last game and to see other guys kind of elevate, I think there’s a frustration there. But, he’s been an awesome teammate. He’s worked his tail off. My guess would be end of camp, early in the season, he’ll be better than he was before he got hurt.”

When you look at this roster, are there any positions where you still question the depth and/or talent?

“I think inside linebacker depth is our biggest concern. But, I also think we have some developmental players there that have a chance to fill that depth if they expediate their development. Riles, Jax and Eddy Toussom (are examples). Even the freshman (Tylan McNichols). Tylan has a lot of Amare Thomas in him. That quiet confidence that is not obnoxious swag. He’s a great learner. He makes plays when he gets an opportunity. I think you got four guys competing to be number 4, 5 and 6. And you end up playing four or five linebackers through the season. I’d say inside linebacker depth is the one that we went with development over go get an older guy. Like I told you at the beginning, we had an opportunity to do that. But the last thing I wanted to do was stunt their growth. They all can be really, really good players. Eddy should be a clone of Michael Moore as he develops. I think Tylan will complement (Roussaw) really well. I think Riles is in that same category. Jax is more of an OC type. They all kind of fit a particular type of player.”

Is OC Brothers healthy?

“He’s healthy and cleared. If we had contact now, he’d be cleared for contact, but we obviously don’t. We’re being careful with him. OC Brothers could have gone anywhere he wants, but he wanted to sign in December. If he would have waited until May, he could have been in a Big 10 or SEC program. But we took the risk (with his shoulder) in December that he would get better. And he has.”