freshman KAM shanks emerges as weapon for blazer offense in win over alcorn

Photo courtesy of Ken Shepherd

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - August 30, 2024

Kam Shanks role in the UAB offense was established quickly on Thursday night. To be specific, it took two plays to show what the shifty and speedy redshirt freshman means to the UAB offense and the Blazers football team.

Those two plays – a pair of passes from quarterback Jacob Zeno to Shanks – totaled 38 yards and moved the chains each time. By the end of the drive, which ended in the Blazers first touchdown of the season, Shanks had three catches for 48 yards. By the end of the night, he was targeted nine times with six catches for 73 yards. And he punctuated the breakout performance with a 57-yard punt return for the final score of the night in the fourth quarter.

Finding someone within the UAB football program who is surprised by that performance would be difficult. They saw this coming.

“I had a vision for what you could be,” UAB head coach Trent Dilfer said while looking at Shanks during the postgame press conference. “We've done everything that we said we would do with him in terms of helping him reach his potential and build things around him. I think you were told you're too small and this and that. All we see is one of the best playmakers in our conference. And, you know, with him and Amare (Thomas) and other talented receivers we have, and our backs, this was the year we felt what best highlight his abilities.”

Part of the process was easing the former Prattville High standout into college football, which wasn’t an easy thing to pull off.

“I kind of wasn't ready, but I was ready,” Shanks said.

The 5-foot-8, 180-pound Shanks played in the first three games and sat out until UAB played Temple in the 11th contest of the season. He was primarily a kickoff returner, gaining 93 yards on five returns. He was able to retain his redshirt status because he only played in four games. He had the talent to do more. 

“We all saw it,” Dilfer said. “It was hard. Like, we had a lot of conversations, in practice, like ‘Hey, man, I don't want to waste his year for you.’ But, you know, it was also we had a lot of people in his position. They needed to play. I don't know, it was hard not to play him last year after the four games. But he's a great kid to coach. He worked hard every day in practice. He embraced it and we're on the same page. You know, I had a promise to him when I recruited him because, you know, we're able to steal him from other people.”

Perhaps the best part of the plan was the approach that Shanks took to making sure he had a spot this season. He was not only was of the spring practice standouts but also was a star of postseason workouts.

“I took this offseason to get better and make sure I was ready to play,” Shanks said.

That showed on Thursday when he became the first Blazer to return a punt for a touchdown since J.J. Nelson pulled it off in a 2013 win over Northwestern State. Dilfer saw it coming. He also had a 36-yard return on the next punt negated because of a penalty.

“We kept score on everything (in the offseason),” Dilfer said while sitting next to Shanks and sophomore safety Chris Bracy. “I told them day one of offseason training, everything has a scoreboard. So every lift, every Wednesday, everything, classroom stuff, attendance, mentoring, I mean, everything was tallied. We have this really unique thing called the Blazer Rating. And it has their trustable score, which is their off the field score, along with all their football metrics and then their grades for practice. And you look at these two guys that graded out as high as anybody. Like all offseason, they're just tallying wins in whatever. These guys were winning everything. So it's not a surprise when you have guys that take the offseason as serious as they did and try to win everything they do that they end up winning in the football game.”