Jalen Kitna's Offseason Growth Is Credited To Extensive Hours In The Film Room And On The Practice Field

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - August 28, 2025

The growth steps that UAB quarterback Jalen Kitna took over the past 271 days have largely taken place on practice fields and meeting rooms. Other than the Spring Showcase, which was an abbreviated scrimmage at the close of spring practice, his first chance to show his progress comes on Thursday night.

Before he takes the first snap in the season opener against Alabama State, which kicks off Thursday at 7:30 p.m., we’ll check in with Kitna for a scouting report on the progress he made since ending the season with a loss at Charlotte.

“Yeah, I would say there's a lot that goes into having different successes and stuff on the field,” Kitna said. “I would say consistency is a huge, huge thing for me. I think taking what they give us has just been a really important thing for me. Seeing everything, seeing the whole defense and taking control of different situations. I think if I can be on it, if I can be a step ahead each play that's huge for us. So that's a lot of what of what we’ve been working on in the building.”

Making the right decision is the start of cutting out the turnovers, which was Kitna’s biggest problem in the eight games he played in a year ago. He did plenty of good things, throwing for 2,209 yards and 17 touchdowns and was spectacular at time. But he also finished with 11 interceptions and was credited with four lost fumbles in the eight games. Obviously, there was a lot of work in that area during the offseason on and off the field.

“For sure, we talk about, it's one thing knowing the other team's tendencies and stuff like that, it's also important in our tendencies and which ways that we came up short,” Kitna said. “That's a lot about what we talk about in the QB room. It's like, all right, where are we falling short at? What is causing some of those things? And just changing those things from mental process first and then out on the field, those things start to show.”

Kitna said he learned from studying his mistakes.

“One of the biggest parts of playing quarterback having an objective look at each play, each picture,” Kitna said. “In the game, it was either trying to make something happen, either trying too hard to make a play or something like that. That was something that hurt me a little bit. There were some things that I would see (on tape) and say ‘Man, I got to have better vision on those plays.’ It’s just all those little things that add up.”

UAB head coach Trent Dilfer put his team through a competitive camp that featured more 11-on-11 work than in the past. Obviously, Kitna was not hit during camp but everything else was full speed. He still threw under pressure and had to fit passes into tight windows. Dilfer said last week that the offense had a lot of explosive play success during camp and much of that came in the passing game.

Kitna will see on Thursday how much he’s evolved as a quarterback and the Blazers have stepped forward as a team.

“We're ready to go,” Kitna said. “I mean, we've had a lot of reps. We've got to it becoming almost monotonous to this point. So I'm especially excited for these guys, the receivers, the defense and all that. Just for them to go out there and play free. I think we've been doing as much as we could do. But now it's time to let it loose.”