Mortensen Met With Media Before UAB's Trip To UConn
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - October 30, 2025
Corri Milliner is back on the practice field, UAB appears to be fully healthy at quarterback heading into Saturday’s game at UConn and the attention-grabbing win over Memphis is firmly in the rearview mirror.
UAB interim head coach Alex Mortensen stopped by after Wednesday’s practice for his final meeting with the beat reporters before Saturday’s game.
On UAB wide receiver Corri Milliner: “There are a variety of steps that Corri’s working his way through to get back. And, you know, joining us in practice is one of them. So far, he's handling that well and it's been good to see him. I'm not gonna forecast beyond that though.”
On playing on a natural grass field on Saturday: “Footwear becomes a consideration depending on what the conditions of the surface are. If you're dealing with rain or snow and depending on how torn up the field gets, you may consider going to a three-quarter inch cleat. So there are certain things you can look at from that standpoint because there's grass fields, but not all grass fields are the same. We anticipate they're getting some rain during the week, but probably not on game day. From an equipment standpoint, we’ll try to be prepared for a dry or a soggy field either way. But there are certainly things you can do. We've got some grass available to us that we can use if needed if we feel like that's necessary before the week's out.”
On playing one of the best turnover margin teams in the country: “I think the turnover margin thing is a big deal. If you look over a long period of time, statistically, two things that correlate really highly with winning are the turnover margin and explosive plays. Those two things have kind of stood the test of time. I also think if you play scared or fearful, I think that leads to bad outcomes most of the time. So we've just got to be mindful of staying on top of our ball security habits, quarterback decision-making and just execute in the plays. We intend to execute them and execute in the fundamentals as we intend to execute them. But I think if you go into the game in fear and not with an attack mindset, I don't think that leads to anything good.”
On UAB’s rush defense: “I think they've improved but we're only halfway through the season. So I think there's still you know more work to be done, in terms of you know both facets of the defense – both run and pass defense. I think there's complementary football, too. Last (game) we were able to play with a lead, which I think maybe affected the opponent in a certain way, which maybe helped. Every game’s a little different. These guys are a little bit different. So, but we're hopeful that through the bye weekend and this week that we have gotten better.”
On Kyrik Mason coming off the bench for Logan Moore at offensive right tackle vs. Memphis: “Yeah, it does help (with depth). Kyrik is a guy that we took in the portal. He's a smart guy and he's a good athlete. We felt like he could come in and play and compete if he needed to. I think having that kind of depth helps. And it's good for Kyrik to get some of those reps, so he'll be better the next time he's out there.”
On Solomon Beebe: “Solomon is a really good athlete, dynamic player with the ball on his hands. You mentioned special teams. He also brings a lot of value in special teams in that regard as well. Offensively, he is a guy that we found different ways to get him the ball through jet sweeps, perimeter screens, the passing game. And then, still give him some carries as well. We felt like early on in his career, he was still developing certain traits as a true running back. You know, whether that's vision, patience, decision making. What's exciting to us is we think he's grown in that area significantly. He'll continue to (grow more) as well. But I think he's now he's becoming a more well-rounded runner of the football.”