UAB's Loaded Running Back Room Looks To Continue Early Season Success In Week Two

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - September 6, 2025

The numbers compiled by the top of the UAB running back depth chart were impressive.

Five touchdowns with three running backs scoring at least once. Thirty-three carries for 259 yards, spread out among the three backs. An average yard per carry of 7.8 with only two yards in lost yardage on those 33 carries. A pair of catches for 18 yards. One of the backs – Jevon Jackson – had the 7th highest first week total in FBS and another – Solomon Beebe -

In some ways, it’s seemingly a blueprint for moving forward, beginning with Saturday’s trip to Navy for the American Conference opener. Or, perhaps it’s a target to strive for week after week.

But, in the minds of the UAB running backs and their position coach Danny Mitchell, neither of those are the focus, simply because this thing is not about numbers. Determining success by the final numbers is not their purpose. Taking that lead role – like Jevon Jackson did with his 166 yards rushing and two touchdowns – is great but sharing it is just as satisfying.

“I think what it is, we're not even shooting for that,” said Isaiah Jacobs. “At the end of the day, we're really just shooting to do our job. That's all we can do. All we can do is shoot to do our job.”

Mitchell, who inherited the running back job when longtime running back coach Hindley Brigham left for Louisiana-Monroe, said he didn’t have to work hard to instill that attitude into his running back room, which is led by Jackson, Jacobs and Solomon Beebe. He didn’t need last Thursday’s game to verify that the message was accepted long ago. But he did get further verification that every time one of them did something important in the game, the other two were the first to greet them when they came to the sidelines.

“All game day is an expression of who they really are,” said Mitchell, who came to UAB with Trent Dilfer and served in an offensive analyst role the past two seasons. “I think that's what makes it so special. And that's why I said they didn't touch the ball enough, because the more they can express who they are, you know, winners win, that's the reality. I know a lot of people think that's a cliche saying. But, you know, when winners are around the football, specifically in any sport, right, anyone that has a winning mentality and has a different approach, the result tends to match in production on the scoreboard and all those things.”

Trent Dilfer and his staff knew they needed to add another piece to the running back room after Lee Beebe, who led the team with 884 rushing yards and seven touchdowns last season, left in the transfer portal and landed at Indiana. Dilfer said after Thursday’s game that he had a specific request for Mitchell in the search for another important piece to the running back room.

“I just grinded the coaches and said don't bring me a prima donna back,” Dilfer said. “I said, we'll play empty and we'll throw it every down. We have Solomon, Isaiah, I don't need a prima donna back. And Danny Mitchell came and said, this dude is everything you believe in a football player.”

Mitchell said it didn’t take long to figure out Jackson was the top target.

“I think that's what makes Jevon so special is actually you could see it early,” Mitchell said. “Oh, could you know once you met him you could tell this kid's different. His first thing was about the team. His first thing was I want to be somewhere where I can contribute to win and it wasn't about hey I need these carries or any of that. His focus was how can I make a team better?”

Skill was also a factor in the decision. Jackson was a proven college back after rushing for 1,950 yards and 15 touchdowns in 25 games at Austin Peay and leading UTEP with 754 rushing yards and four touchdowns in 2024. He earned FCS All-America mention in 2023 after rushing for 1,373 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Fitting him into the running back room, which also included returning walk-on Amari Brundidge, incoming walk-on Drew Patterson and spring portal addition Marquise Collins, began in the spring. Part of that process was book reports that Dilfer had each of his team’s position groups work on together. He said in the postgame press conference that  the running back room was generally the ones he enjoyed reading the most.

“We definitely (enjoyed it),” Jacobs said. “You know, we got a great leader up there (in Dilfer) and he always tries to find different ways other than football to get us to gel together but also grow as men and we were able to do that. I think the most important thing for us was the time spent.”

By the end of spring practice is was obvious that running back by committee would be the best approach. That was solidified in fall camp. It wasn’t until the game lights came on that Jacobs role cleared up, at least to those outside the program. It was the 5-foot-10, 220-pound senior who took over as the closer in the fourth quarter of the 52-42 win over Alabama State.

“Isaiah hadn't had a ton of touches, hadn't had a ton of snaps,” Dilfer said. “We put him in, I can't remember exactly what point in the game. But I went over to him on sideline and said ‘Now, go close this thing.’  And he ran with tremendous violence and aggression.”

Jacobs had five carries for 38 yards and a catch for two yards in the final 13 minutes. He gained all 38 of his fourth-quarter rushing yards on four carries, including a 5-yard touchdown run, during a 60-yard drive that turned a three-point lead into a 10-point advantage with 8:26 remaining. Jacobs had just three carries for five yards before that.

“You know, I think one of the most special parts of Thursday is we're down 28-17 and all three of them scored,” Mitchell said. “It went in sequence. It went JJ, then Beebe took the lead for us and then, when it was 38-35, Isaiah scored to give us (some breathing room). That's a testament to the room you know and that's what I meant about like I think it's our job as coaches to keep on featuring our best players as much as possible.”

It won’t be easy finding enough touches for everybody with an offense that seemingly is filled with playmakers. But finding some more touches for Beebe is important. Beebe, who is probably the most dynamic offensive playmaker, was productive with 67 yards and two touchdowns on just nine touches. Obviously a big part of that was that Jackson had the hot hand on his 17 carries.

Moving forward, the distribution could change weekly. Competition certainly gets more difficult than the opener, beginning this week against a Navy defense that shut down the run in the season-opening win over VMI. There will be games, perhaps this week, when the passing game needs to fuel the offense. But the running backs will always be part of the plan.

“I think you have to be selfless in that room,” Dilfer said. “They all know it, they all could be 1,000-yard backs, they all know that, but we're better with all three of them being involved, and not just one of them being involved. I don't want to ignore (Amari Brundidge). We call him ‘Big Body.’ We do think he's gonna help us win games. You can even say it's a four-headed monster. It's super important and we asked them to do so much. You know, it's not like we have just the third down back or just the inside zone back or just the scat back. We asked all of them to be three-tool back.”