NO Quit In UAB Senior Center Brady Wilson
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - October 11, 2024
In terms of impacting the final result, UAB’s final possession in last Saturday’s lopsided loss to Tulane meant very little. For Brady Wilson, though, that didn’t change the way he approached the 13-play, 75-yard drive that took nearly six minutes off the clock.
When the drive finished on Solomon Beebe’s first collegiate touchdown, Wilson jogged to the sideline and took his helmet off. The senior center had been on the field for every offensive snap for the Blazers. He wore a look of exhaustion but also carried a determination that he would go back out on the field if UAB got the football back.
Despite the 71-20 deficit, quitting was not an option.
“That's just how I was raised,” Wilson said. “I mean I'm not quitting until the game's over. And I won't quit this whole season. That’s how a lot of us guys are on this team, that's how the whole offensive line is. We're gonna keep pushing and pushing, no matter what the score says. Sometimes you lose sight that you learn through everything. You might learn something on that drive, so to speak. If you quit, you might not have the chance to learn it, (even though) people on the outside just look at it as a scoreboard-type thing.”
No one has to remind Wilson about the scoreboard. He feels the disappointment of his senior season not starting the way he expected. He’s also well aware that there are seven regular season games left on the schedule, including Saturday’s visit to Michie Stadium for an AAC game against unbeaten Army. Once again, quitting is not an option for Wilson.
“Right now, being 1-4 and everything, it's hard of course,” Wilson said, “But, shoot, I think in 2017 and 18, they started off rough too and then they end up winning a conference championship and made it to bowl games. In (2022), I think we were two games shy make it to a bowl game at the end of the year. I think we were just 4-6 and we end up winning the last two games and make it to a bowl game.”
Wilson is trying to put an exclamation point on his third season as either a full-time or part-time starter. He did not play in 2020 as a true freshman and saw action in two games the following season. In 2021, Wilson played in 11 games with seven starts while splitting time at center and working as the extra offensive linemen in the team’s Rhino package. Wilson started all 12 games last season and remained a fixture in the starting lineup this season. He’s been on the Rimington Trophy Watch List for the past two seasons and is a team captain this season. The 6-foot-2, 300-pound Wilson has been UAB’s most consistent offensive linemen over the past 17 games.
Not a bad career for a player that showed up at UAB with little attention.
Wilson was a standout player at Spanish Fort High in South Alabama but didn’t receive a ton of recruiting attention, partly because of his size.
“No, I didn't fit a lot of (the recruiting) boxes,” Wilson said. “In high school, I thought I was actually pretty big. I played left tackle and thought I was pretty big at 6-2. When I get up here, I see guys that are 6-8 tackles. I'm like, yeah, I need to move inside, get to center. But yeah, I've been told that, well, I'm not big enough for it. And hey, there's a lot of guys in NFL that aren't big enough, too, but they still compete. Jason Kelce, he's gonna be a Hall of Famer at center, he's the best there is. He's only 6-2. Anyone can play, it's just that they got the heart in them.”
Wilson played a couple of games at center in high school, because of injuries to teammates, but had a ton to learn after arriving at UAB.
“I realized that the guys in the interior are a lot bigger and a lot stronger, that's for sure,” Wilson said. “You just gotta get on them quick. It's a good thing I play interior because I might have a little shorter arms than these longer guys (on the outside) do, but hey, I'll get on them quick. It's just a dog fight every time.”