After Six Schools In Six Years UAB’s Vessel Ready To Build Something In Birmingham
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - October 30, 2025
Jeremiah Vessel’s football path stops short of being a coast-to-coast journey. But, figure out the travel mileage between each of his stops, and the one-way distance for the Baton Rouge, La. native totals nearly 4,800 miles over the past six years.
Counting three high schools in four years, Vessel has attended school and played football in Baton Rouge, Chandler, Ariz., Las Vegas, Nev. and Las Cruces, N.M. He actually had a pair of stops in Las Vegas, one for high school and another for college, and he now resides in Birmingham, where the UAB defensive back has started in three of the six games game he’s played this season.
For the record, that’s six schools in six years. Furthermore, he’s been part of a lot of winning football games in those six years. Beginning with his sophomore season at University Lab High in Baton Rouge, Vessel has been part of teams that finished the season with a combined record of 54-12. He was on a Bishop Gorman High team that finished 14-1, won the 2022 state championship game, 70-6, were named national champions by High School America and national runner-up by ESPN and On3. He was part of a New Mexico State team in 2023 that was 10-5, won at Auburn, played in the Conference USA championship game and went to a bowl game for only the sixth time in school history. He played on a UNLV team last season that was 11-3, played in the Mountain West Conference championship game and won the Art of Sport LA Bowl hosted by Gronk.
It all started with a family decision to leave the place where Vessel was born and raised.
“My mom just wanted to make a change, bring me to a new scenery,” Vessel said.
That change was moving to Arizona.
“That was a pretty tough situation,” Vessel said. “I had to learn a different lingo. In Louisiana, we talk different. People couldn’t understand what I was saying sometimes. But I’m a genuine person. I had to just get used to it, get used to the situation. After I got that down, it wasn’t that hard for me to do it.”
He was part of a 2021 Region championship team that finished 10-1 at Basha High in Chandler. The next year, he was at national power Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas.
“I say that was my first college program,” Vessel said. “That’s what I tell everybody. When I first got to college, it was like the same type of practices that I had at Gorman. Sometimes we were even practicing longer and harder than college practices. Just how structured it is there, was like college. I feel like going to Gorman showed me different ways to be great and just different way to do things at the college level.”
His first college stop came in the final season at New Mexico State for head coach Jerry Kill and quarterback Diego Pavia. The Aggies tied a school record in wins. Vessel played in six games and had 11 tackles, two tackles for loss and two pass breakups. Last season at UNLV, Vessel once again played on a team that tied a school record for wins in a season. He played in 12 games and contributed 10 tackles, one tackle for loss, one sack and one interception.
In both cases, his decision to move was largely based on a coaching change. He didn’t leave UNLV until after spring practice.
“There were a bunch of schools offering me,” Vessel said. “I had Coastal Carolina. I had Miami for a minute, but I just thought about it and I wanted to go play now. Then I had, a couple schools in the conference, Memphis. I just felt like it was home here. I’m not too far from home (in Baton Rouge) after being in the West. That was a different opportunity as well. I decided to come here and ball out. I believed that they had it going here and I still believe in what we got going.”
Statistically, Vessel is having his best college season. Heading into Saturday’s game at UConn, he has 21 tackles, one tackle for loss, one sack and a pass breakup while largely playing the nickel back. His sack came on the opening drive of the second half in the Battle for the Bones win over Memphis. Perhaps best of all, though, Vessel said his experience could lead him to ending the six-year streak of being in a new program.
“I'm out grateful for it, because I went to Las Vegas, I got many more opportunities,” Vessel said. “I met Dana White, his daughter was in school at Gorman. There were like different connections I had and now have lifelong opportunities to connect with people. I told my mom, I’m tired of transferring. I’m tired of moving, seeing different sceneries. I’m here to build it up. That’s my goal right now.”