Steve Irvine’s Q&A with UAB DC Todd Grantham
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - April 2, 2026
It’s been a busy spring practice thus far for defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and his staff. They’ve been working in a large group of newcomers while installing a new defensive system. They will get a good gauge on how it’s working during the team’s first scrimmage on Friday.
On Wednesday, Grantham stopped by after practice to talk with The Banner about how the process has worked.
On his impressions of the defense thus far in spring practice: “I like our effort. I like our attitude. I like that we can take things from screwups from day one and improve them down the road. But everybody in the country is all good, feels good now. Everybody gives you a positive ride, right? Look, we're working hard and I like some things we do, but we're not there yet. We've got to keep busting our ass and get to where we want to be because I do think we got the right guys, we got the right makeup. We've got to make an evaluation of a few guys of where we want to put them and just kind of see how different packages can fit with guys.
We've got a scrimmage coming up and that's going to be a big deal for a lot of guys because football is about tackling the guy with the ball at the end of the day. It's about making plays on the ball. If you give effort and play with toughness, I'll find a way to play you as long as you know what you're doing. So I think the biggest thing is we've got to continue to work to understand (that) we've got to learn not to beat ourselves before we can go win a game. That's just being truthful. I really love where we are, but we're not there yet, but we ain't got to play yet either. Anyway, we'll keep working on them. I like our attitude. I really do and I like our skill set at a lot of positions. But I think that with what I feel like we want to do, we got to keep pushing ourselves. There's a fine line between being good and really, really good or great. We got to continue to bust our tail, improve, take coaching, and then let it fall where it goes.”
On determining where players do fit: “Some of it, for example, it could be at this position we have say three players or four players that we feel really good about. Well, we can't play all those guys at that position. So who has a skill set that maybe in another position we're a little bit light or we need a little bit more production? So who can we move from this pool of guys here to allow you to get your best 11 on the field? I think what it is, obviously you start with the height, weight, speed component. Then you got to get into the ability to process and learn and those kind of things. Maybe one guy can only learn one position whereas another guy can learn two. So you've got to figure out who can learn what that way. Then it's just trying to rank your players to get your best 11 on the field the next snap based upon what happens. I think that's why this scrimmage is important. I got a pretty good feel about a lot of guys, but I think it's really important for some younger guys to kind of see where we need to fit them moving forward and who needs to play where.”
On the importance of versatility: “The more you can do, the more value you have. That's anything in life. So the more things that you can do as a player, the more value you have to us. The game is about situations, the game is about matchups and based upon the situation, how do I match up? So the combination of the matchup as well as who can do what for you is kind of the puzzle. That's kind of what we're working through right now.”
On whether he has identified probable starters despite the depth chart being fluid in the spring: “There are. I have that but I ain't saying anything until summer gets here. I know guys. Like, I look at it (as) we can win with this guy, we can win with that guy. Then it gets into how many plays can this guy play? Like, this guy can play for us, but really maybe he's a 20-play a game guy. This guy can play for us, but maybe he can play say 40 plays. It's a little bit more like that up front because you roll so many guys up front. Then it gets into how many snaps can I get out of this guy full tilt? That doesn't happen as much in the back end, but it can, and it probably will for us, just because I think we got some guys that have some versatility and they have some depth back there at certain spots. I think the biggest thing there is, particularly up front, is saying ‘OK, we can win with this guy, how many plays can he play?’ And then you build your roster or your rotation based upon that. You know, is the guy a two-down player, is he a three-down player, is he a DPR (designated pass rusher) only? I mean, there's three categories up front. There's a guy that can play every down, kick-ass, you know, then there's a guy that's really a two-down player, play first, second down (and) third down is off. And there's a guy really, he can only play third down. I think you've got to manage those guys. And then on your every down plays, how many plays can this guy play for us?”
On incoming transfer defensive tackle Cam Cunningham: “He's very stout. He takes coaching. He has a lot of pride in his work. He's hard to move. I'm glad he's here and he's going to help us.”
On the importance of being hard to move at defensive tackle: “Look, I mean, you've got to be good down the middle. Any sport you play, you've got to be good down the middle. And that starts with being stout, giving the ability to anchor. He does that. And he's certainly going to be a part of what we do. I'm certainly glad he's here. He takes coaching really well. You can coach him hard and he takes pride in his work. If there's anything that needs to be corrected, it usually gets corrected.”