UAB’s Question Mark at Tight End Is Fading Fast

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - April 8, 2026

The question mark affixed to UAB’s tight end position is melting away during spring practice.

First things first, the question mark was legitimate on paper considering the only returnee to see significant game action last year was Antonio Ferguson and he got off to a slow start after missing the early part of the schedule with a hamstring injury. Gabriel Cline spent the season learning on the practice field. Brayden Johnson, a 6-foot-2, 265-pound walk-on, participated in 30 plays but all but seven came on special teams. Scott Isacks (Florida) and Sean Persson (Toledo) were playing at other schools and neither one saw the field last season.

Once they all got together on the Legacy Pavilion practice field, however, things have gone well during spring practice. But the true test won’t come until the season starts.

“The steps that all of them have taken and grown, it's just like watering a plant,” said UAB tight end coach Reilly Jeffers. “You know, you keep watering, keep watering, doesn't look like it's growing. You come back six months later, it's like ‘Oh my gosh.’ You know, so I'm very excited. We think we got five guys that are all a little different, but all try to work on their quote-unquote, ‘negative things’ that they have to get better at.”

The unquestioned leader is Ferguson, a 6-foot-3, 235-pound redshirt junior from Apopka, Fla., who is heading into his second season at UAB. He had 10 catches for 115 yards while playing in nine games with four starts. But his production was slowed by a hamstring injury suffered late in fall camp.

“He was in a really good spot last year, and obviously, got a hamstring at the beginning of the year,” Jeffers said. “That slowed his on-the-field development a little bit. But we had supreme confidence in him, you know, coming back in the middle of the year.”

Ferguson came in with high hopes after transferring from FIU. But those hopes hit a roadblock.

“Yeah, it's quite frustrating, especially when you're getting in your groove with a new team and showing them that you can make plays for them,” said Ferguson, who played at East Carolina before moving to FIU. “It's just a setback. I mean, you just got to take your time, get back, and be there for your team when they need you. The approach for coming back, you always just want to make sure you stay in tune. It's easy to check out when you get injured. I would just say making sure you're dialed into your playbook and motivating your teammates to push for their best effort is the main thing to do.”

Elijah Lagg participated on 524 snaps last season, which was most for the tight ends and fifth overall. Ferguson was second among the tight ends with 319 snaps, even though he missed three games. When he was on the field, Ferguson showed his versatility needed to play tight end.

“He's really like both,” Jeffers said when asked if Ferguson’s strength is pass catching or blocking. “Like he's one of the ones that's truly both because he has an explosiveness and very savvy spatial awareness to be a great receiver. That's why we were so bummed last year when he pulled his hammy because he was such a threat in the pass game. And he probably had the best technique as a blocker last year, now leading into this year. So he truly has all the tools. You know, the one quote-unquote knock you would have on him is he's about 6-3. You know, he's not that 6-4 or 6-5 tight end. But he plays with such great leverage and understanding of angles.”

As he said before, though, Ferguson is just the start of what Jeffers thinks could be a really good group. Ferguson, Johnson and Cline each had a touchdown catch in the first spring practice scrimmage.

“Brayden (Johnson) he's a great blocker, physical guy, but he's really rounded out his route running,” Jeffers said. “For a guy who is a walk-on, he's really put himself in position to play. Gabe (Cline) is a tremendous athlete, like freaky athlete, runs as well as receivers. He's bought into the blocking and physicality side of the game and now just really refining the technique.”

He moved on to the transfers.

“You got a guy like Scott Isacks, who was a high school running back at 6-foot-4 (and 250 pounds),” Jeffers said. “He has really good feet (and is a) good athlete. He was at Florida, obviously behind some really good tight ends and had a little bit of an injury. And then Sean Perssons is a tremendous athlete, former quarterback, extremely fluid, can bend and was with a group of coaches I really respected at Toledo. They said great things about him.”

UAB quarterback Burton gets the assist on Persson finding at spot at UAB.

“Me and Sean played at rival high schools in Utah,” Burton said. “And the only reason that Sean ended up getting here is I went to go throw at my high school over the break. Sean happened to be there at the same time. He's like, ‘Can I run some routes for you?’  I'm like, yeah. I started throwing and I'm like ‘Sean, where are you at?’ He's like, I'm getting in the portal. I’m like I got to call the make. It was just a really cool situation with him. We had some natural chemistry just because I've thrown to him for a good chunk through high school at different workouts and stuff like that.”

At some point, Jeffers task will be figuring out where everybody fits.

“It's really easy to play three because we've had success with it in the past,” Jeffers said. “Our first couple years here with guys like Terrell McDonald, Bryce Damous, Dallas Payne, it was like you wanted all three to play. Now it can kind of be two sides to that. Some guys want to get in rhythm and really play on all the drives and stuff like that. You also want to keep them fresh, so that they are the best version of themselves. When you have one tight end in the game, it's really kind of easy. You put in (No.) 2 and sprinkle in a third. When we get in multiple tight end sets like we do, it's easy to get a third guy in. Then once you get to fourth and fifth guys, it kind of becomes more packages. That's something as a coaching staff we can control. It's like, ‘Hey, this guy's really good at this route on this third down. Let's get him in because he's the best one to do it.’ You can play all five, you just got to be organized and detailed on how you do it.”