Reid’s Big Moment Comes Right on Time
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - September 15, 2026
UAB wide receiver EJ Reid stood at a lectern inside the multi-purpose room at the UAB Football Operations Building early Monday afternoon and talked with reporters about last weekend’s 26-20 victory over Louisiana-Monroe.
He described what happened on a 43-yard touchdown catch that provided what was ultimately his first college football game-winning reception. He talked about the route he ran and walked the reporters through his thoughts on a touchdown celebration that included a front kick inspired by Nick Cannon’s dance in the 2003 movie “Love Don’t Cost a Thing.” He knew all of it was coming after repping the route against a certain coverage all week in practice and seeing it being set up earlier in the game.
A few minutes later, answering a few more questions in a one-on-one interview, Reid was ready to turn the page to Saturday night’s visit to Louisiana.
“I’m a big guy on the next game mentality,” said the 5-foot-10, 180-pound Reid, who is from Woodbridge, Va. “Obviously we had a good win but there’s more games left in the season. So it’s pretty much just carrying that and putting in the work in the week so we can obviously have fun this Saturday and let that light show. That's pretty much how I look at it.”
For Reid it’s been some time since he stood out on game day. In fact, it was in high school when he helped Freedom High to back-to-back unbeaten seasons and back-to-back Virginia state championships. He did this while playing on both sides of the football – at cornerback and wide receiver – and serving as the team’s placekicker and kickoff specialist.
“I've actually never played soccer or anything like that,” Reid said when asked how he became the team’s kicker. “It started off when I was young, probably like nine years old. My team, my little league team, wanted to be different than everybody else and kick field goals. So they're like, ‘EJ, go figure it out.’ I used to go to my local middle school, Grant Park, with my mom and my sister. My sister used to hold the ball for me and I used to just practice. I'm a guy who, if there's a task in front of me, I have to be the best I can be at that.”
Reid said he mainly kicked extra points in that role during high school.
“I wanna say I only missed two,” Reid said. “And that's for a team that scored a lot, so I was out there a lot.”
Freedom scored 952 points in 15 games in 2022 and 813 points in 14 games in 2023. Reid was also busy on both sides of the ball. Over his final two high school seasons he had 78 catches for 1,566 yards and 23 touchdowns on offense and eight interceptions with another touchdown on defense. He drew recruiting interest on both sides of the ball as a three-star recruit. He liked the physical approach on defense but chose to sign with Wake Forest as a wide receiver.
In two years at Wake Forest, he participated on three plays. After last season ended, he entered the transfer portal looking for a new beginning. He found that with UAB head coach Alex Mortensen in Birmingham.
“Well, first, obviously looking at the background of the coaches here, like (wide receiver coach Kevin Garver), Coach KG coaching in the (NFL), getting around those players, around one of my favorite players (Antonio Brown),” Reid said. “Obviously that was a conversation we had. And then Coach Mort, him being at Alabama and being with those guys. I knew I was coming into great football minds, guys who love football and knew what they were talking about and knew how to develop people. As far as my development, obviously KG's gave me things as far as like coverages, how to look at the game, where to study. Coach Mort, him being the football fanatic he is, kind of taking in some of the stuff that he gave us kinda helped me develop a lot mentally.”
Reid had a hamstring issue late in spring practice and was banged up for part of fall camp. But he was healthy by the season opener and has a team-high seven catches for 91 yards with the lone wide receiver touchdown reception thus far.
“EJ's another guy that was a little bit beat up,” Mortensen said. “We've had just a kind of a weird rash of injuries at receiver and EJ falls in that category, too. He was out for a little bit. So much of the passing game is built on timing and trust between the quarterback and those that are running the routes. But I think EJ was really gaining a lot of ground before he was out for a little bit. Seeing him get back has been really positive.”