Eamon Smalls Is Healthy Again And Ready To Cut It Loose For The Blazers' Defense In 2025

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - August 25, 2025

Eamon Smalls has college football experience and a healthy right shoulder. Put those two things together and the big defensive tackle is poised for his best season since joining the UAB football program.

“What’s that thing you call in a car that (limits) your speed?” Smalls said. “A governor. I feel like I'm not playing with a governor now, I can just go.”

Smalls, a 6-foot-2, 310-pound defensive tackle, had an outstanding fall camp and is expected to be in the starting lineup at nose tackle, alongside Denver Warren, when the Blazers play host to Alabama State on Thursday night at 7:30 in the season opener at Protective Stadium. In a way, the rise to the top was unexpected, considering he was coming off shoulder problems that limited him to eight games last season and kept him out of spring practice after he had surgery. That came after a true freshman season when he fought through an ankle injury and, ready or not, was thrown into the mix because the Blazers needed help on the defensive front.

His first college game came in Athens, Georgia.

“I was ecstatic, man,” Smalls said. “I was like, man, I got to get me a TFL. I gotta get me something playing against Georgia. You know what I'm saying? You know, you always imagine playing at stadiums like that and stuff. It was the craziest experience of my life, especially being a freshman. That's my first game.”

He played well in that game but wasn’t credited with any stats. He finished the season with four tackles in four games while playing a role that was limited by his ankle injury. He had 16 tackles last season but was playing hurt most of the season.

“It was frustrating, honestly,” Smalls said about the 2024 season. “That was the biggest part. I remember being just so frustrated because, man, I knew I could do way better. I know I could contribute way more. But it taught me a lot.”

It was also a frustrating spring for Smalls as watched from the sidelines while UAB’s incoming defensive staff installed a new defense and gathered initial impressions. Smalls said not only studied the defensive playbook but to got to “know it like the back of my hand.” He finally got back in pads early in fall camp.

“It was excitement until after that first drive,” Smalls said. “I was like, Oh, hey, it's been a little minute. I forgot about all that it takes. After the first couple of days, I'm cool, got my wind back. Okay. Yeah, I was sore for a little bit, but man, sometimes you just love the soreness. I ain't felt sore in a little minute. I got excited. I was like, Yeah, it’s football time.”

He turned that into an excellent camp and is set to play a big role on the revamped defense.