Trent Dilfer Returns To Practice Following Neck Surgery

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - November 20, 2024

UAB football head coach Trent Dilfer returned to work on Wednesday after taking a day off following neck surgery. Dilfer said the plan is still for him to be on the Protective Stadium sideline on Saturday for the Blazers home finale against Rice.  

“I'm definitely hurting right now,” said Dilfer after being on his feet for about three hours during his team’s practice in preparation for Rice. “I'm pretty sore and tired. I'll be fine. Guys are going through a lot worse than me.”

Dilfer had C-5-C-6 and C-6-C-7 fusion surgery on Monday morning. He had hoped to come to Tuesday morning’s practice but was in too much pain at the time.

“I was freaking out (not being at practice),” Dilfer said. “I mean, I trust the group. But I just felt like I wasn’t working and everybody else was. I tried to come in yesterday morning and my wife said no.”

Dilfer said he started to feel a little better around 7 p.m. on Tuesday night. He arrived at the UAB Football Operations Center at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, held a team meeting 30 minutes later and was on the practice field about an hour after the meeting. His practice routine was not much different than it’s been all season.

He said the pain from the surgery is more manageable than what he’s faced the past month or so.

“Very different,” Dilfer said. “All my pain I had before was gone, like, completely. That's good because I've been in hell for a month. I’ll take this any day of the week.”

Dilfer said he’ll be limited in what he can do for the next two weeks and, if things go as planned, will feel “back to normal” in about a month. As for Saturday, he said it will be business as usual “unless there is a setback.”

“I just can’t yell real loud, which is probably a good thing,” he added.