Choose Violence: Nigel Madison Brings Edge to UAB’s Linebackers

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - March 24, 2026

There is hitting the ground running and then there’s what Nigel Madison is doing in his early days as the inside linebacker coach at UAB.

Three weeks ago, Madison, who spent last season at Colorado State, was officially hired at UAB. One week ago, the Blazers kicked off spring practice. In between that time, Madison had to learn defensive coordinator Todd Grantham’s system and an entirely new group of players in his position room. Learning a new city is also part of the process for Madison but that is not the priority right now with the Blazers in the midst of spring drills.

“Coach Grantham (said) we're just all doing hard things every single day,” Madison said. “So, you know, me trying to learn the defense so I can go teach it to the players, that kind of is hard. But you know what? At the end of the day, we're here to do hard things, just like we tell these kids every day. So it was a little hard, but now we're hitting the ground rolling and we're just trying to build an identity right now of who we want to be.”

For Madison it’s the next step in a young coaching career. The Detroit, Michigan native, who played defensive line at NAIA Concordia-Ann Arbor, began his coaching career in 2018 at his alma mater. He’s had stops thus far at FIU, Buffalo, Oregon, Sacred Heart and Colorado State. In 2022, while a defensive analyst at Oregon, he was chosen to Our Coaching Network’s 30 under 30 list. Two years later, while the linebacker coach at Sacred Heart, was listed by Football Scoop on the Rising Star List.

Madison joked that he was in the “coaching portal” when the opportunity at UAB came about. Colorado State head coach Jay Norvell was fired in October and defensive coordinator Tyson Summers, a former UAB assistant, served as the interim head coach for the remainder of the 2025 season. At the end of the season, the staff searched for new jobs.

“I had some good guys kind of reach out for me and stand on the table on my behalf,” Madison said. “I got the opportunity to interview under Coach Grantham. Just with his pedigree, what he's done, I really wanted the opportunity to be underneath him and kind of learn and grow.”

The first step was getting to know his linebackers. UAB has a handful of walk-on linebacker returning but the scholarship linebackers are completely new. The Blazers added Ike Esonwune (Oklahoma State), Mantrez Walker (Colorado), Shaun Myers (Colorado), Braden Sullivan (Eastern Kentucky) and Muaaz Byard (Middle Tennessee) through the portal, signed freshman Malachi Character (Upson-Lee High in Thomaston, Ga.) in December and picked up junior college transfer Colby Archie (Dodge City CC in Kansas).

Getting to know them included daily meetings where the players came to his office.

“It was just observing them, learning them, understanding their background, what they've been through, how did they get here,” Madison said. “That’s kind of a big thing about them. That's why we, before every meeting, we do three knocks because we always talk about our past, our present and our future. Our past is things that we can't change. Our present is where we're at right now and we have to be great in it. So then when we knock on that door for the future, we can go kick it open right now. That's kind of what it's been.”

Now, he’s learning more about his group on the field. On Monday, Madison and his linebacker group were the last full group off the field after getting in some extra learning.

“I'm proud of the way they're taking the strides and taking the steps every single day,” Madison said. “Now we just got to keep going in that direction more and more and more. They all still have something they’ve got to work on. It's good to have guys with some experience. You know the lights won't get too bright for them when they go out there. But within this defense, they still have things that they have to work on to be successful, just basic things every single day. Just because they played a lot of snaps at somewhere else doesn't mean you're going to play a lot of snaps here if you don't do things right. You have to do things the right way every single time.”

Madison gave some quick thoughts on what he’s seen from most of the scholarship newcomers during the first three practices of spring practice.

“I think Ike is going to be a really good player,” Madison said. “I know it. I know Mu (Byard) is going to be a really good player. Braden needs to take some strides, but I know he's moving in the right direction every day. I like Colby’s explosiveness. Like when that kid comes out there and he's explosive, he's really good. And then we got Mantrez, who's a transfer, young, hasn't played a lot of ball, but he's hungry. I think for me, I like a kid with hunger. I can deal with a kid with hunger, that gets it. And then you got a young Malachi, who I think is just taking a step day by day, but he’s got to figure out how to get it right. He has that in him. He's going to be physical. We just got to go get him to play great ball. The room really excites me just as a whole. The room really excites me.”

The 6-foot-1, 225-pound Esonwune is taking a leadership role this spring as the lone linebacker with experience in Grantham’s system.

“I expect him to,” Madison said. “He knows that's the standard. He knows the way that it's supposed to look. He understands the verbiage and he helps me because when he comes in and he wants to study, well, that's me studying too. So now it helps makes me sharp. I really appreciate that young man for what he's done so far and it's helping us all be better.”

Madison, as well as the rest of the staff, should learn even more over the next two practices with the team putting on full pads on Wednesday and Friday for the first time this spring.

“You've got to be physical at the end of the day,” Madison said. “Solve all your problems (on the football field) with aggression right now. You can be wrong, but let's be wrong at 100 miles per hour and hit somebody in the teeth. That's what it is. So it's like every single day you got to choose violence when you come out to this field. There's never a day where you can have a soft day and an off day.”