After Transfer And Injury, UAB’s Kaleb Brown Is Ready To Show Explosiveness

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - July 29, 2025

Officially, Kaleb Brown’s chance at making a first impression on the UAB football practice field ended soon after his first step in spring practice. However, the transfer portal wide receiver from Iowa found another way to make the impression after breaking a bone in his foot on the opening day of spring work.

He didn’t pout. He didn’t quit. He simply found a different way to make it a productive spring.

“He's done a really good job,” said UAB head coach Trent Dilfer. “It's hard to learn when you're not getting a lot of reps, and he really dove into the learning.”

Brown was certainly considered one of the jewels of the UAB recruiting class when he signed in January. The former four-star recruit from Chicago began his college career at Ohio State and continued at Iowa. He played in 18 games over the three years – the first at Ohio State and two at Iowa. His best season came in 2023 when he had 22 catches for 215 yards and a touchdown receiving and nine carries for 54 yards on the ground.

“I would say I learned how to be a receiver,” Brown said of his time at Ohio State and Iowa. “I was a running back almost my whole life, until like my senior year of high school. But I always dibbled and dabbled in 7-on-7 and things like that. So, I was always around receivers and everything like that. But to see it at the next level (with) no wasted movements and just understanding the next level things like having a quarterback and the timing of the quarterback. That'll probably be the main things I learned, just not what's drawn up on the plays. It was the details of it.”

Brown said it was a “business” decision to look for a new college home. Once he entered the portal, he said he got a call from UAB tight end coach Riley Jeffers, who was on the Ohio State staff when Brown was in Columbus.

“He said they wanted me to give me the ball and everything,” Brown said. “So that's literally how that came about. Then I saw Jalen Kitna here and that was pretty much it.”

There was one more critical factor

“I was focused on coming down South,” Brown said. “I'm tired of the cold. That was the first thing. Like, if I could choose where I wanted to go for the next couple of years, it would be somewhere hot.”

He fulfilled that criteria but his overall plan hit a roadblock in the first practice when he said he was stepped on during a drill. He said he suffered ligament damage and a broken bone. His spring practice was finished and he began work on being ready for fall camp, which was not guaranteed.

“I definitely had to trust the process, just knowing that I would be able to overcome what I was going through,” Brown said. “But it was good to take a step off of the field, be able to retain information and see the guys in front of me. I would say it helped me out pretty well.”

Dilfer commended Brown for his rehab work.

“I think he's close to being back to what he was when he got him out of the portal,” Dilfer said. “He worked really hard in his rehab, last couple weeks of summer he showed the explosive qualities that showed up on film when we recruited him.”

Brown was ready to go when camp opened on Monday and is working toward to filling an important role for the offense.

“He’s played big-time college football,” Dilfer said. “He’s played multiple positions. His run after catching is something that we’re looking forward to seeing once we put on the pads.”