Q&A With Trent Dilfer About Rebuilding UAB’s Roster Ahead of 2025 Season
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - June 15, 2025
UAB head coach Trent Dilfer took time last week to talk about building the 2025 roster for his football team. That task included rebuilding a defense – coaches and players – and refilling the offensive line.
What are your thoughts of the makeup of your roster as you are in the early days of summer work?
“So, (I) almost get fired, two losing seasons. I’m sitting there December 22nd or 23rd. I can't remember the day, I have it in my calendar. Things were going so fast that I hadn't even done like an ‘Ok, where are we?’ moment. I sat on my deck, I opened up my computer. I had 41 scholarship players with half a coaching staff. I literally opened my arms and said ‘Lord, I can't do this. Like, this is impossible. There's no way I can pull this off.’ I'll give Steve Russ a ton of credit. I called Steve Russ and I said ‘Listen, you have to build this defense. Like, I'll help, I'm in, I'll evaluate, I'll do my job. But I can't do this by myself. I just can't.’ Steve was awesome in getting (with) the recruiting department. Matt Wright was huge in this, John Jones was huge in these, two leftovers (from previous defensive staff). And it was like ‘Guys, we need to build a football team.’ We had two linebackers and Eddy (Toussom) we were still deciding if he's an Edge or if he's an inside (linebacker). So, I give you context because we didn't know. And the biggest thing was I didn't have enough money, if you do like the dollar per player, when it comes to recruiting and then market value. We didn't have close enough money to do it.
Everybody thinks paying the players is very expensive. Recruiting the player is very expensive in the portal. Recruiting a high school player is not that expensive. Recruiting a portal player is very expensive. So you have to look at the cost per recruiting the player and cost of signing the player. I mean, there's just no way. It's nobody’s fault, like most Group of Fives don't have that. Contextually, I paint that. I will say this without overstating it, this was a God thing. One, it was just like a supernatural thing, the Lord put this thing together. Two, it was Steve Russ rallying. Our offensive staff, they're all pretty much back together. You started seeing some momentum, you started seeing the right things happen. We never really took a break. We were out of this building for Christmas, but we never stopped.
As we started getting back together, it started becoming really clear of who are the players, what is their mindset makeup, how are they wired to fit where we're going and what's the value of that player? We felt like as it started to clear up, all of a sudden the flood gates opened. It was like, okay, we really like this type of player. He may not be two inches tall enough if you're going by metrics, but boy can he run and he’s productive and he's smart and he's a competitor and he's played a lot of football and whatever it is. So kind of that makeup plus their traits plus their value, right. It was kind of the Money Ball approach to rebuilding. As that's going on, we're building a staff. And how that happened was as miraculous as anything, you have this Washington Redskins staff that was No. 2 in the NFL in total defense for back-to-back years and all of a sudden you see three of them coaching for you.
You know, how do you get Sam Mills? I still don't know. How do you get Brent Vieselmeyer? I still don't know. And then you have Tee (Mitchell) and J.C. (Jonathan Celestin) and Ryan Lewis. Things started coming together. I'll give Mark (Ingram) some credit here. Mark sat in all the meetings. I wanted him to feel part of it. I wanted his input. I authentically wanted his input. And then Joey (Roberts) and Lyle (Henley) were huge in the process. So, now I had people to vet the decision-making. I didn't feel like I wanted it to be just a me thing. And then you start seeing it come together.
We’re excited about it. I’m not gonna tell you we're great. I’m not going to tell you how many games we’ll win. I have no idea. Unknown would be my thing, but I like the fit. This is the first year everything feels like it fits right. You know the scheme fits the players, the staff fits each other, the staff fits the players, the players complement each other. There's a nice fit with who we are. There's a commonality of hungry desperate to a certain degree of both coach and player. There's a willingness to do things that most building people won't do, like no job is too small for a player or a coach. I'm not trying to be like optimistic. It's just, I'm being self-aware, building aware of what it feels like.
Then spring ball was interesting because a lot of the ones we really signed to be productive were hurt. We knew, part of the Money Ball approach is you have to take some chances on guys that are banged up. We have four or five players on this team that we have no business having, but we have them because we took a chance on their injuries. So now you lean into (athletic trainer Dan Springer), the medical teams and they have their part to play. They’ve played their part of giving these guys slowly coming back and getting back to what they were before their injury. Again, I still have no idea how good we're going to be. There is a long time to determine that, but I like the fit of how it's coming together.”
Did you go into spring practice knowing exactly what you would need in the spring portal or did that become clear during the practices?
“It was before spring ball. We only went into spring ball with 70 on scholarship. We knew we had some work to do post spring. We didn’t like not having the players but we like not overreacting in the winter. We said we'll know more about us after spring ball, which will help us make wiser decisions. So I think a key term here is it's not what you want, it's what's wise. We all want certain things, what is wise for your program builds a slew of variables into it. So my mindset every day was what's wise, not what you want. I get it you want to you want to tackle that can play in the NFL, so do I. But what's a wise decision on building the offensive line.
I'll say this too, this is the first time I've articulated this, this was not about a program build, this is about a team build. I had to come to that realization. I've tried to build this as a program for two years. I think those days are done, at this level. Because you build it with Kam Shanks and Chris Bracy and Everett Roussaw and I can go on and on and on. And then they're part of somebody else's program. So it was around that Christmas time too, where I was like, okay, maybe I need to rethink this. You're not building a program, you're building a team this year. And then you have to build another team the year after that. That may not sound like a big thing, but that's a big thing in decision-making, because you used to make program decisions.
Jaylyn Ferguson (is a good example). We’re trying to build a great program, we'll take a kid that's not ready to play college football, but that's a freak and a good kid and we teach him how to play football. Luckily we're better for that with him, Logan Moore (and) there's a couple others that were able to do that with. Now they're part of this team, but you can't build a whole program of those guys. Because they'll play good and then they'll be gone. Then you're just doing the same thing over and over again. So this was about building a team. There's a big difference.”
Do you think the future of Group of Five teams, particularly, that you will have to build teams beginning with small numbers every year?
“I think we're all adjusting. I'm not going to speak on behalf of any other program, but I've talked to a lot of the programs and the coaches. I think we all have to kind of find what's right for us. We all have different circumstances. We have different challenges. Nobody has it all. Some have more of one thing and less of another. You have to kind of decide what your model is going to be and stay true to it. I would say this is the first year I have clarity on it because my first model, I don't think was wrong for the circumstances I walked into. But boy did it backfire. You know, you clean house and recruit a bunch of high school kids and supplement with the portal, which sounds really good. Everyone was like that’s the right way to do it. I'm calling old guys, young guys. Yep, right, right, right and then you look down and you're like, wait a second that wasn't right. They all left. You know, all the young guys that you really wanted left. We’re like, okay, you got to rethink the model. I think the model is a combination of building a team and taking advantage of the things that you have and not worry about the things you don’t have.”
Use the offensive line as an example. Did the small numbers in spring practice help with creating versatility because guys had to do so many different things?
“We looked at it all as opportunity. Some had the opportunity to get reps and play and prove that maybe they can do something that they haven't shown they can do, opportunity for more development. And then new guys have opportunity to compete. Once we get it all together, there's an opportunity to put together a really good offensive line. There's an opportunity to be surprised and there's an opportunity to be right. There’s just opportunity there. I told them this, I'll tell you this, I'll tell the media when they ask, we won't know what our offensive line is until August 27. We will not know what the starting offensive line is until August 27. And then I will say a lot of great offensive lines develop over the first three or four weeks (of the season). I’ve seen that happen too. You know, so maybe we don't know who our best offensive line is until our first bye.”
Do you go into it thinking most guys don’t have a set position to compete for time on the offensive line?
“No. I think we have tackles and guards right now. It’s the first time we’ve had tackles and guards. We have a couple of guys that I think have played tackle that can play guard. We have a couple guys that play guard that can play tackle. Barry (Walker) is one. And JD (JonDarius Morgan) can be really good at both. We think the (Nelson) Ramirez kid can be both. We think that (Kyrick) Mason when healthy can be both. So at some point, I think we'll have guards and tackles. I think as the sharks are circling and we're looking for Great White (sharks), they'll play a lot of positions. Because we have some centers that can play guards, guards that can play center. I think that's an evolving process.”
What are your thoughts on some of the other players you recently signed?
“We added a receiver from Oregon State, Jailen Holmes, who we’re really excited about. He went to Madison Academy and played with Luke Godsey. He’s kind of a Corri (Milliner)-Strap (Iverson Hooks) tweener, a combination of those two. He’s young (but) has some years. He was a really good player at Oregon State. They were very talented at wide receiver. They had a really deep group and he wanted to be closer to home. I’m really excited about him.
We got two corners from Isaiah Crozier and Delvon Gulley. Both are kind of good fits. If you look at this group (of defensive coaches), they seeth e secondary very differently than the last group. I mean, they're polar opposites in how they see secondary play and how last year’s staff saw secondary play. Both work. This group just has a very distinct vision for what skills are more important than others. Everybody in the secondary kind of fits what this group looks for.”
What do you feel like you need as a team during summer work?
“If I want a word, it'd be grit. We ought to become a much grittier program. You know, that's passion and perseverance towards a long-term goal. I think it's also how you can define toughness to a certain degree. There just needs to be more resolve, more passion, more perseverance, more toughness. Whatever all that soup is, that’s what we’re looking for. This is where the workouts are brutal.”
Are the summer workouts different than the past two years?
“Yeah. Lyle and his team have kicked it up a notch. We started this in the winter. This winter was relentless. This winner’s edge that we’re doing, we’ve added elements that really clearly define why we're doing it. We had to become a much better conditioned team. So, all that, it's grit.
This all starts with looking myself in the mirror. I think I made a lot of mistakes. Some were uncontrollable. There are things I have to forgive myself and just say, listen, there's some things you can't control. I can’t beat myself up over things I can't control. But there are some things that, because I maybe have listened to some people I probably shouldn't have listened to on the modern-day player. You know, whatever you call it, it was against my core values of building the team. I've gone back, I've morphed back to more of who I am, what I believe in. And it's aligned very well with Lyle, my assistant head for a reason. It's aligned well with (Steve Russ), we played against each other in college and we played for head coaches that knew each other very well and coached us very similarly. We have connective tissue with NFL people that coached us both, that he’s coached with, that Sam (Mills) coached with or (Mills) dad who I played against, which aligns with some of the nuances we've been changing in our office. It aligns with Kevin Steele, whose son Gordon is on our staff. You know it's like there's a lot of alliances and cultural beliefs and developmental beliefs that now fit with what I've always been doing. I think that's made it easier to have conviction on how we do our things.”
Do you learn more about dealing with the money aspect of college athletics with each experience and each moment and situation that you deal with?
“Yes but you know, I also say you get more grateful for what you have. That's another thing that I've come along with. Instead of looking at what you don't have, you know, you look at what you do have and maximize what you do have. One of the mistakes I made was trying to keep up with the Joneses, instead of making this the best (situation) we have. I'm excited about what we have. I feel like we have enough to put together a team that can compete. We have a great city. Kids really like it here when they visit, an older kid especially. We have a really good staff and we have a staff that has a very professional mindset. You know, these kids appreciate the matter of fact, the professionals mostly remind too, most of them have the college sales pitch and they realize the college sales pitch can be very empty.
When they get a professional matter of fact (approach), it's the truth. They may not like what they hear, at first, but they appreciate transparency and the business. If I was a cool kid, I'd say it's about that biz or whatever that thing was. Who's the guy from Missouri who had a cool saying a couple years ago? Standing on business, whatever that means. I have no idea what that means, but that approach. This is very much business as it comes to football and very relationship when it’s not football. It’s very well balanced.
This is what the NFL gets a lot of times and high school gets, which is my two worlds. High school and the pros, you can be very relational when it's not about football. There's time, right. There's a space to have really good relationships. The off-season in the NFL, coaches and players are very relational, you’re almost peers. In the season, you're trying to get paid, I'm trying to get paid, it's about business. Do your job. Your job is affecting my job. High school is the same because think about it. This whole off-season where you’re playing basketball, you’re on track and playing baseball, and their parents are your friends. You develop this fatherly kind of relational piece. Then it comes to season, do what I say because you're a high school kid and I'm the coach. I told you to run 400 yards. You don't have an opinion, like there's no rights. They don't have a whole lot of entitlement. They're like, coach told me to do it, I’m going to do it.
College football, it all got intertwined. And a lot of teams do that. What we've just done is let's do the NFL model. When we're not doing football, this thing's very relational. I have the secondary at my house tonight and I’m barbecuing for them. I’m having every position group come to my house and hang out with my grandkids and they jump on the trampoline and they lay on the couch and they eat food. You know, that's the relational things. We're not in a football landscape. But like, nobody thinks I’m nice during football hours. It's day two of OTAs with the offensive line and I'm grinding them on stance and a walkthrough and their eyes and their hand placement. There are guys like, who's this guy? Because they met the relational Trent, but now Trent's out there coaching football. There's a change in (offensive coordinator Alex Mortensen) in the same way, he's way more demanding. He's always been demanding, but he's more demanding now because I told the staff, the more you fill the love tank, the more you can demand. It's a formula. More love, more demand. You don't show them enough love, you can't demand as much. They're not gonna trust you. We’re pushing the love, so we can push the demand. It's working in terms of fit.
I have no idea it was gonna look like August 28th. None. But right now it's been nice, it fits who I am. It fits my background, it fits my core values, it fits what I've always seen in this team building. It fits what I did as a player, fits what I did at ESPN, fits what I did at Lipscomb. And then for two years, an alien showed up and didn't do what he's always been convicted on doing. That alien was broken on December 22nd. Some people say if you're going to get fired, get fired your way. That's not how I looked at it. I said, if we're going to fix it, we're going to fix it by going backwards to the things that have always worked for me. I’m not making this about me. I’m just saying it fits when it’s now the way I really had always envisioned it with like-minded people.”
After two tough seasons, is it hard to recharge this summer?
“I was starting to feel guilty of coaches vacations and my vacations and this and that. We have so little time and there's so much to do. So I started calling people, I respect. What I heard was there's also part of great team building with letting the players build the team. I think July will be interesting. We have time to fix whatever might have not gone perfectly in July, in August. I even did this with my high school team. Now I micromanaged everything, but in July, I did not talk a lot. I did not coach a lot. I was there, but I didn't talk a lot. I always gave two weeks to the other staff members to coach too because I wanted the team to start coaching themselves. I wanted the team to self-correct. I wanted the team to have a standard amongst each other. I'm excited for this year's group setting. We have some maturity that as the coaches go away in July, there's always coaches here, there's lots of coaches here but everybody's kind of on a mixed schedule, then (the players) take some ownership.
It'll be a great opportunity for our kids to now take some ownership of what this is going to be. We’re only going to be as good as what they are. If you want my prediction, whatever they own is how good we'll be. Everyone wants to talk about players, yeah, we have some players we're excited about. But you're not a product of your players, you're a product of what the team becomes. Those players are super important. The quarterback's super important. The quarterback can't play from his back.”
Who handles the salary cap aspect for your team?
“I do it.”
There is no such thing as common in today’s college football but is that generally done by the head coach?
“I agree there is no such thing as common but at league meetings, I’ve had some conversations with other guys. I won't use his name but this is a really good model action. It’s a model I’d like to get to. He has a person that is equipped for this. That person negotiates, talks to all the agents, understands the cap and then brings him two option - him or him. And (the head coach) makes a decision. I thought that’s a decent model. He doesn’t have to worry about spreadsheets and numbers. He said ‘I’ve never seen our salary cap. Never seen it.’ He just knows that the guy brings these two and the value of what they can afford and he makes a decision. There's other guys the GM does a lot and kind of work with the head coach. There's a couple of new guys in the conference that are like me, they do it themselves. I've heard all different kinds of models.
I wanted to master it. Like for instance, I had a formula. We have a genius in the building on spreadsheets. He built me this massive auto-populated spreadsheet (with) every formula in it. I started doing it I'm like, ‘Wait a minute, I’m not gonna own this, the computer's doing the work.’ I said, I'm gonna do it all by hand. I put it every single number. I did all the math. I have over 30, I think it's 35 to 36 iterations right now. But now I've memorized it. So you can ask me, any player, what he makes per month in year three (for example), and I can tell you. It was nice because, it's like anything we do, the more you do it, the more you wrestle with it, the more you fail. I failed so many times. I had Joey (Roberts) vet the numbers one time. I was trying to see if I made mistakes. Like he came through and said, this is off and that’s off. And I said, cool, that's why I had you vet it. He asked if I wanted him to fix it and I said no I’ll fix it. As I was fixing it, I saw where I made the mistake, so I don't make the mistake again. It's really been a tedious project, but I’ve grown a lot through it.
I have mastery of what every room makes. I can tell you the cap for every room. I can tell you the cap of the two-deep. I can tell you the cap of what I call high ceiling players (or) futures. I can tell you the cap of six-months guys. I probably should, because I'm making the decisions. I like it. It's hard. It's a lot of work, but I don't know how much I'll change from it, because I have a pretty clear understanding. And then when I get asked a question, I know how to communicate. You're also not asking your defense coordinator to go into a third party and ask hey, what can we afford in the portal? We're watching players based on value too.
I went back and watched Money Ball. It's interesting the first hour is setting up the movie. It’s really Brad Pitt’s and Jonah Hill’s character (saying) what are we looking for? The story after that is the Oakland A's but the first part of the movie is what are we really looking for? This is what we have, the owner says you're not getting more. There's this very direct conversation where Brad Pitt goes into the owner and says (several star players), we got beat by Yankees late. I got to fix this, I want to win a championship, we need more. And the owner says ‘We’re a small market team, you don’t get more. I’ve asked you to do the best you can with what you’ve got.’ Really the essence of what they're doing is, OK, this is what we have, who are we going to be?
So when I'm watching the movie and I'm like, this is where my model works for us. I’m the manager and (the general manager). If we have a formula, I get to execute it. I'm not dependent upon the manager to execute the vision for how we built it and that's why I like being the GM. I know the exact value of Jamichael Rogers. I know the value of Amorie Morrison, I know the value of Eli Ennis, I know the value of Jalen Cheek. You know what I mean? I built it with this philosophy, along with Steve Russ and then Brent Vieselmeyer and on and on. Although it's been exhausting, it has been rewarding and I've grown a ton through this.”