Cooper Young Falls Back on Training in Unexpected Role

By Steve Irvine

October 14, 2026 - BIRMINGHAM, AL

Cooper Young expected to play a role for UAB in last week’s Battle for the Bones rivalry in Memphis. The role he played, however, was unexpected.

It was Young who came on the field when standout center Adam Lepkowski limped to the sidelines late in the second quarter at Liberty Stadium. It was Young who played the rest of the way in place of one of the best linemen in the American Conference.

So what were his thoughts as he hustled onto the field?

“You just fall back to training,” Young said. “I think Coach Gordon (Steele) and Coach Matt (McCants) do a great job with us every day for instances like that. They always tell me if A-Train goes down, you got to be ready. I was ready. Obviously, nothing was perfect. Throughout the whole line we got to be more consistent. But it was just falling back on training really.”

Until last Saturday, nearly all of his experience at center came during practice. The 6-foot-4, 310-pound Pennsylvania native played offensive guard and tackle at Downington West High and went to West Virginia as primarily an offensive guard. He moved to center during his second season at West Virginia but a fall camp injury kept him off the field. He’s split time during offensive guard and center during practice at UAB but the only game reps he got at center during the first five games was the handful he received late in the win over Samford. For the most part, he lined up at right guard during the approximately 120 snaps he played over the first five games.

At Memphis, the bulk of his 54 plays came at center.

Young said an important part of being prepared from the change came against the UAB defensive line daily in practice throughout the spring, fall camp and regular season practice. It also helped that he had already been in the game against Memphis.

“I mean, getting those reps at guard, it was definitely good and it definitely helped me when I moved to center,” Young said. “Just having the experience earlier in the game going against some of those guys, then sliding one position over and going against the same guys. So, yeah, it was nice.”

He also had the advantage of Lepkowski lending his advice on the sideline in between series.

“He was just asking me questions (and) giving me some pointers,” Young said. “With his experience I've always gone to him, even with guard stuff because he's played guard before. He was very helpful on Saturday.”

UAB head coach Alex Mortensen said on Monday that Lepkowski’s availability for Thursday’s critical American Conference game against East Carolina is still in question. He indicated that it was doubtful that getting Lepkowski ready with a five-day turnaround would happen. It’s very possible that Young could get his first college start.

Young left West Virginia with hopes of finding a program where he could compete for a starting job. After entering the transfer portal he received a phone call from UAB quarterback Ryder Burton, who was not only a former teammate at West Virginia but also a former roommate. Young had several options but it didn’t take long for him to choose UAB after taking an official visit. He made a quick impact during spring practice but an injury shut him down.

“ln my last year at West Virginia, in fall camp, I broke the inside of my ankle and had surgery on that,” Young said. “When I got here in January all the X-rays seemed fine and all of that. But I think I built up stress fractures throughout winter. After a couple spring practices it rebroke. I had to get another surgery on that. UAB has done a great job in my recovery and there's been no issues with my ankle since. It's been truly wonderful because that was a year-long thing that had to get fixed. It was just in a weird spot and it didn't heal correctly at West Virginia. But it's nice now that I got it over with.”

The injury made it a disappointing spring.

“It is very frustrating, especially with the new offense that I was supposed to learn,” Young said. “I missed a lot of valuable, valuable reps in the spring to compete and stuff. But I was just staying positive, trying to speed everything up in the process of learning your assignments and getting used to all the plays.”

By fall camp he was ready to compete and he’s being sharing time at right guard with starter Calib Perez. Now, if needed, he’s looking to help out at center while Lepkowski works toward getting back on the field.