Weight Gain Plus Weight Room Equals Success for UAB DEfensive Lineman

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - October 9, 2025

In some ways, Jonathan Allen’s confidence was measured by the scale.

You see, the 6-foot-2 defensive lineman weighed in the neighborhood of 250 pounds when he made the short trip from Jackson-Olin High to UAB. He showed up as a former high school defensive end but had the height to play in the interior. It was far from a smooth beginning.

“My first couple of days I was getting ping-ponged around,” Allen said. “I was getting bounced around and stuff. I'm out there trying to play the guy inside of me but then you also got somebody outside of you. So they just come hit your hip and now you’re all the way on the other side. You bumping into people and stuff like that. But the only way you can get better is keep going at it day by day.”

That’s where the scale comes in.

“Well, to be honest, when I started gaining weight,” Allen said when asked when he finally started feeling comfortable. “It was a little bit easier there, because I could take some of the bumps without getting knocked all the way across the line.”

Part of the weight gain process took place in the weight room. Another part took place at the dinner table.

“I ran up my DoorDash,” Allen said. “My go-to was Five Guys. But not a regular order. Five Guys, two burgers, large fries. I was in a real weightlifting program, so I was always hungry. I couldn’t be a skinny d-lineman, so it came with the job.”

A little more than two years later, Allen is 40 pounds heavier and is becoming very comfortable playing defensive tackle. He’s also coming off his best game in a UAB uniform. Allen more than doubled his career high in single game tackles with nine stops in the Blazers 31-13 loss to Army last Saturday. Perhaps what he did best in his first start this season was handle himself against the physical style of football Army employs.

“People look at the tackles but the amount of contact, just shedding the blocks and hand and body violence with fullbacks and guards,” Dilfer said. “It’s a scrum. That’s the best way to describe when you play a team like that. They just create this giant scrum and you just can’t get pushed backwards all day long.”

Allen admitted it was a physical afternoon.

“Army does a lot of cutting,” Allen said. “You leave a game, no matter if you win or lose, you're gonna be banged up and hurting. Like, Saturday, even though we played earlier, I didn’t leave my house the rest of the day.”

This week is a different challenge with the passing approach that FAU has used throughout the first part of the season. Allen is looking forward to trying to get after the quarterback while also attempting to keep the Owls’ running game from getting started. He’ll do that with the confidence built last week.

“One of the things that Coach (Sam Mills) tells us all the time is to stay ready so we don't have to get ready,” said Allen, who played 11 games last season with most of it on special teams. “So, when my opportunity came, I was already ready. I just feel like I maximized the most out of the opportunities I got. It wasn't the funnest game, like I said, with what we had to deal with, but it just felt good to see some of the hard work I put in paying off.”