Marlin Dean Takes Over When UAB Needs Him Most, leading blazers to AAc Win

By Steve Irvine

September 26 - BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

Finding someone in the UAB football program who didn’t think that Marlin Dean was capable of what he did in Friday night’s 24-20 win over Navy would be hard to do. It just took a little longer than some expected.

Dean came into Friday’s game with six tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks in three games. That pales in comparison to what the 6-foot-5, 240-pound Georgia native did on Friday night. Dean finished the game with 11 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 3.5 tackles for loss and three forced fumbles.

You want timely production? How about putting an end to three of Navy’s four opportunities to retake the lead in a game where the Midshipmen never punted but didn’t have to point total to portray that type of offensive success? Two of his big plays ended promising Navy drives. The other one ended the game.

Specifically, there was a forced fumble on a sack that was recovered by teammate Chris Spencer with 10:46 left in the game. Before the fumble, Navy had driven to the UAB 37-yard line with hopes of adding onto a 20-17 lead. One play later, UAB running back Bam McReynolds had a 48-yard touchdown run to give UAB the lead.

Navy responded to that play by driving back inside the UAB 40-yard line. This time, on first down from the UAB 39-yard line, Dean knocked the ball out of running back Mac Barrow’s handle and then fell on the loose football at the Blazers 45-yard line with 7:02 left. Nearly six minutes later, Navy took over at the UAB 29-yard line with just over one minute left on the clock. UAB defensive end Tylin Jackson harassed Navy quarterback Jackson Gutierrez into an incompletion on first down and safety Jo’Tavion Pierce followed with a sack. Then Dean put an end to the game by sacking Gutierrez and forcing his final fumble of the game. Navy recovered the fumble but time ran out before Navy could get one final play.

So did he realize during the game that he was having a special fourth quarter?

“To be honest, not in the moment,” Dean said. “I just realized, like, we're in the middle of a game that we need to win. Just staying focused and staying within the game and not focusing on (one) play, you know.”

Afterward, Dean dished as much credit on his teammates and the defensive coaching staff for his performance.

“We came into this week prepared for this game,” Dean said. “Like you said, we were going to come in being physical and relentless. We just connected with that, stayed with that process the whole game and it played out to our advantage.”

Mortensen was asked about Dean performance after the game.

“First of all, it is part of the reason we brought him in,” Mortensen said. “Really very high on Marlo. Liked him when we were recruiting him. But Marlo also, to this point, we felt like he’s a really talented guy and we really like a lot of his personality and character traits, but (he) hadn't had this kind of production yet. We felt like we could see it in him. I think that's one of the things that I've talked about this before. We are not giving up on development and seeing what a guy, not for just what he is, but what he can be, and we felt like Marlo has an incredibly high ceiling. You know, incredibly high.”

That showed on Friday night.