Grantham Likes UAB’s Grit, Wants More Precision
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - September 17, 2026
Statistically speaking, it’s been a mixed bag for the UAB defense is their first two games under defensive coordinator Todd Grantham.
The Blazers are 11th in the country in passing yards allowed per game at 119 but the 175.5 yards per game they allowed on the ground is 113th in the country. Put it together and UAB allowed a 294.5 yards per game in the first two weeks, which is a credible 51st in the country. UAB’s first two opponents averaged 31 points per game, which is 119th in the country, but some of that came because offensive mistakes and special teams plays led to either defensive points or a short field for the opposing offense.
UAB has been good on conversion downs for the most part, particularly in last weekend’s win over Louisiana-Monroe. The Blazers also have spread out the production heading into Saturday’s visit to play Louisiana in a non-conference game at Our Lady of the Lourdes Stadium in Lafayette, La. Linebackers Muaaz Byard (20 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss) and this week’s American Conference Defensive Player of the Week Ike Esonwune (15 tackles, interception, pass breakup, two quarterback hurries) and safeties Jeremiah Jordan (14 tackles) and Jo’Tavion Pierce (12 tackles, one tackle for loss, pass breakup) lead the way. But it’s been a team effort throughout that has Grantham enthused about his offense.
Grantham stopped by after practice Wednesday to talk about the first two games and look ahead to Saturday’s challenge against Louisiana quarterback Lunch Winfield and the Ragin’ Cajuns offense.
On what he likes about the defense thus far: “Our grit. I think we have some fight to us, some grit to us. We respond to situations that aren't always positive. If you go back in the last game, we have a sudden change on our side of the ball with a dropped punt and an interception. We stopped them on a 4th-and-1 on one and we made them kick a field goal on the other. So responding to situations like that. Then when you go to the first game, I mean, the first two (drives) of the game when they ran the ball, they got like 68 yards. Well, the next 22 carries they had 58 yards. Guys keep playing. So I like our grit, I like our fight. I just think that as we move forward, like I've told them, grit kind of won us that (ULM) game because wemkind of beat those guys at their game, meaning they tried to bully us and they tried to fight us. At the end of the day we beat them at their game. But if we had better attention to detail, it wouldn't have been close. For us to take the next step, we got to continue to have the grit because that's our standard, but then we got to work on attention to detail (and) eliminate penalties. You know, there's gonna be things that come up that are, ‘Hey, you gotta manage this or you gotta handle this," but you can't (allow) any freebies. You gotta be honed in a little bit and locked in. I just think as we move forward, our ability to have attention to detail can allow us to take another step.”
On what attention to details means in this situation: “That means don’t jump offsides, OK. I mean you're right there in front of the center and you jump offsides or you're outside and you jump offsides. That's not good ball. That means if you're supposed to go right, go right. That means that if you got the B gap (assignment), you got the B gap. That means communication, meaning, whatever we call, if we all are on the same page, (we can make) plays. But we can't have, ‘Oh, I thought this,’ or, ‘I thought that.’ It's communication. So attention to detail is just kind of meaning you're exact in your fundamentals, your technique and your communication with the people around you.”
On the way they’ve played defensively despite it being a new group: “Well, they've only been together two games. Another thing is there's always gonna be nuances that happen in the game. So I think our guys have done a good job of working the game, meaning, if you look really in the first game we played better in the second half than the first half and then this last week they had three points in the second half. We always talk to guys about you come off to the sidelines, you got to work the game. I mean, you have video (on Ipads) now, you can see the plays right away. They're only gonna have so many plays. You got to understand back location, tight end location, what's that mean, what plays are coming and work the game. Our standpoint is I can say, ‘Man, here are the calls I'm gonna lean on. Here are our calls. Here's how you're gonna play these relative to what's happening.’ I do think our guys have done a good job of working the game. I think that because you are new (to each other), there's always gonna be things that pop up. And it's still the speed of the game, you know? It's different than practice. As we move forward, I expect us to continue to hone in and be a little cleaner in some of our fits and execution down the road.”
On whether there are areas that are better than expected: “I don't know if I would say better. I've really been (pleased). I mean, in the last game I thought we were really good in our situational defense. I mean our short yardage defense in both games has been really good. We've gotten some fourth down stops. Nowadays people go for it on fourth down all the time. If you can get a midfield stop, like if you look at the Illinois game, we got a stop at midfield. Well, that's like a turnover. And then we got a turnover in the last game, like, on the plus side or something. Well, that's like a missed field goal for them. You know what I'm saying? So it's like a turnover. I do like our short yardage defense through the first two games. And, in the last game, we were really productive on third down. We had a two-minute drive to win the game. You got to go finish the game, which we tell them. So I do like our preparation (and) I like the way we've handled our situational stuff through the first couple games.”
On taking time to get used to adapt to the quarterback against ULM: “They had more quarterback design runs, where he was really the running back. If you look at it as a whole, I mean, they averaged 4.1 yards a play, which is the most important thing. The two things, yards per play and points, those are really the two most important things. We did a decent job in our rush lanes in the last game relative to the first game. I was pleased with that. I think it'll be a challenge in this game coming up, because this guy's another athletic guy that can move. The hardest thing in college football is when it becomes 11 on 11, when the quarterback can run the ball, you create an extra gap with that running back being a blocker. So you got to fit things up. I think for the most part we fitted it up (against ULM). I think we just got to be a little bit cleaner on some angles in space, to maybe get some stops that we could've made in that last game.”
On the passing ability of Louisiana quarterback Lunch Winfield: “Much better (than ULM’s Austin Carlisle). Yeah, he's much better. This guy is more of a quarterback that has really good athletic ability. So, you know, you got to play the full game in this one, meaning you got to respect that he can run it and you got to handle that, but he can throw it too. So you got to be able to work the pass element of it and not give up explosive plays through the passing game. This will be a lot bigger challenge because this guy can throw the ball.”
On having a lot of different defensive players making plays: “It is encouraging because I think they're in positions to make plays. There are certain positions on your team that are gonna be in the fire per se. Now, to the other guys' credit, they were getting those guys free too. You know what I mean? There were some guys freeing those guys up. I think it was a combination of team defense with guys doing their job on holding double teams or 2-on-1 one blocks, anchoring or sending the ball to a certain area and then guys being there. Then the other thing is, if you went back and watched, the one thing I did like is our swarm to the ball in the fourth quarter was really good. We were really swarming to the ball. I think that gets back to the grit thing (and) conditioning thing. I think that the guys that had those kind of plays were really swarming and running to the ball.”