Built in the Trenches: UAB’s Line Takes Shape
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - March 24, 2026
UAB defensive line coach Sam Mills III was asked to assess the play of his defensive line play on Monday.
Now, at the time, UAB had just completed its third spring football practice and none of those were in full pads. Making that assessment will probably come easier once he sees them work in full pads on Wednesday and Friday. But he has seen enough to know one thing.
“Willing, able but we got a lot of damn work to do,” Mills said.
Obviously, every football player and football team has a ton of work to do this time of the year. It’s even more critical, perhaps, in the transfer portal world of college football where change is a way of life. In this case, learning a new defense under defensive coordinator Todd Grantham is also part of the equation. So it’s spring filled with lessons for everyone on the defensive side of the ball.
“They're learning,” Mills said. “They're learning new techniques. They're learning our game is not cute up front. We got to be strong, we got to be stout, we got to be tough. We got to lead this defense, so they have to learn how to get there.”
UAB is still without its anchor in the middle with nose tackle Nigel Tate continuing to work toward his return after missing last season with an Achilles tendon injury suffered in the first week of fall camp. Newcomers Raymond Macias and Tylin Jackson are also banged up and haven’t been able to practice thus far.
Tate keeps a close eye on the position while doing his rehab and said he likes what he sees with the other interior defensive linemen. He likes what he’s seen from transfer portal additions Cam Cunningham, Sterling Sanders and Noah Nelson and also singled out returning tackle Kyle Mosley.
“Everybody showed out on the first day in (shells),” Tate said on Monday. “I didn’t get to watch the full practice but so far, from what I’ve seen, I’m excited for the whole defensive line. We got good numbers and everybody can play.”
Mills said the transition is smoother for the experienced players coming to UAB through the transfer portal. He compared it to his time in the NFL when he would insert free agent additions into his defensive line group.
“You can tell the guys who have 3, 4, 500-plus snaps,” Mills said. “They just got to feel. They understand where the blocks are coming from. They understand how to rush. Now, it's not done. It's not complete, but they're not starting from zero.”
Marlin Dean has grabbed attention quickly on the edge. The 6-foot-5, 240-pound graduate transfer, who has played collegiately at Georgia, Utah State and Georgia State, is not hard to spot on the field.
“Oh man, that guy,” Mills said. “He is long. He's got good speed. He's a pleasure to watch. He's a guy who started off at the P4 level and you can see it. You can see it flash. You can see why. So he's going to be a great tool to our tool shed.”
Mills said on Monday that he looked forward to see how his group responds in full pads.
“You take a little bit of the governor off when you get the pads on and let guys go a little bit more,” Mills said. “Since guys' games are different, the guys who have power, it'll show up a little bit more. Their attributes will show up more. The guys who have speed, they even show up more because the guys on the other side of them are trying to put their power on them and they're using their speed. It's kind of a reset of ‘Hey, show me your skill set’ and we can work from there.”