The Competitor in Nate Rogers Showing Up In UAB QB Race This Spring
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - April 14, 2026
No reason to search for the origin of UAB quarterback Nate Rogers’ competitive streak.
Rogers has five sisters and an older brother. Competition came naturally in his childhood home. It came in backyard football and driveway basketball games. It came at the bowling. It came pretty much everywhere.
“Nah, it was not really friendly,” Rogers said smiling at the memories. “I’d say we’d be pretty serious through it all. But like after, it's all giggles and laughs. Siblings and parents. When we used to play, we used to go at it.”
Perhaps that’s one reason he’s enjoying a spring practice that includes a tussle with Adrian Posse for the backup quarterback spot behind UAB starter Ryder Burton.
“Spring has been fun so far,” the 5-foot-11, 190-pound sophomore said. “I feel like I've been having a really good spring. What it really means to me, I'm just trying to get better. I know we got like a little competition going on every day, but I'm just trying to get better, focusing on myself, and get better at football every day.”
When it comes to football, quarterback has been Rogers’ home from the time he first picked up a football in middle school. In his final two seasons at Wetumpka, Rogers combined for 2,802 yards and 34 yards rushing and 1,721 yards and 18 touchdowns passing. There was some thought that his football career would end after high school. Rogers was one of the top high school basketball players in Alabama and that was the sport he grew up playing. His father is former boys and girls basketball coach and coached Nate growing up.
However, a contingent of UAB coaches, including current head coach Alex Mortensen, showed up at Wetumpka to ensure he chose football.
“I really did want to go to the basketball route, but, you know, (former UAB quarterback coach Nick Coleman), Coach Mort and Coach (Hindley) Brigham all came right before signing day, actually,” Rogers said. “They offered me a full-ride scholarship and they talked some good things in my ear. It just made more sense to come here. I didn't have any full rides to any D1 schools in basketball, except maybe one, but it just made more sense coming to play football. I feel like God just led me this way. It was for a reason, so I went with football. Yeah, I do miss basketball, but I love football, so it’s 50-50.”
For the record, Rogers claims he is the best basketball player on the UAB football team. But football remains his focus.
Despite his history as a quarterback Rogers listed as a running back when he arrived at UAB. He also spent a short time working at wide receiver during his first fall camp. Rogers wanted to play quarterback and Mortensen said the plan was unclear.
“We saw Nate throw in the summer on our campus at a camp and he threw really well,” Mortensen said. “We knew that he had passing skills and passing ability. So the conversation about him, you know, potentially playing other positions wasn't because of a deficiency that he'd shown as a passer, but it was more a compliment to his athleticism. We were in a situation where we had some good older quarterbacks. We had Jacob Zeno, who, as you guys know, I think he's still 10th all-time in (single season) completion percentage in the history of college football. Then we had a veteran (Jalen) Kitna transfer in. So it's like, ‘Well, man, maybe this guy can help us now somewhere.’ But it really wasn't like, ‘Man, we don't think he can play quarterback.’”
To this point, though, what Rogers has done during games is more about his athletic ability. He’s played in 12 games over two seasons, including 10 in 2025, and has throw the ball just three times with two completions for minus-9 yards. Last season, he had 13 carries for 84 yards with touchdown runs of eight yards against Akron and 11 yards against FAU.
Chances are good he will have that same type of package this season but what he’s working on now is securing a spot as the backup quarterback.
“He's done things in packages to this point,” Mortensen said. “But I also think he's shown the ability to really run the offense. You go through the years, I mean, all the way back to Blake Sims (at Alabama) on to now, guys that have played in the system have all been different. We've been able to adapt to what they do well. Maybe the offense looked a little bit different with Blake Sims, a little bit different with Jalen Hurts than it did maybe with Mac Jones or Bryce Young. My point is, I think Nate's got the ability to run the offense and he's also got the ability to do some other things that maybe haven't even come alive in the offense yet. That's kind of where we're at with him now.”
Rogers said he’s ready if the opportunity to run the offense arises.
“I feel like I'm a lot different,” Rogers said. “You know, just talking back from last year to this spring, I'm seeing things that I usually didn't see. I've learned a lot more about football, just paying attention to Coach (Mortensen) more every day in the meetings and listening, writing notes and studying those notes. I feel like it's helped me a lot to this point now. I worked with 3DQB over the offseason and they helped me a lot with my mechanics and things like that. So I've got some good work in and I feel like I've gotten a lot better as a quarterback.”