From the Warehouse To The Field, Jamichael Rogers Ready For opportunity

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - April 29, 2025

What Jamichael Rogers did during his first spring practice is what he’s done at every stop in his football career. He made play after play.

UAB head coach Trent Dilfer noticed.

“If you just want to catalog the amount of plays made over the course of the spring, I think he made as many as anybody,” Dilfer said after the 6-foot-2, 250-pound defensive end was one of the defense’s best playmakers during Saturday’s Spring Showcase at Legacy Pavilion.

Rogers, who came to UAB after one season of football inactivity at Ashley’s Furniture and three seasons on the field at Division II Miles College, entered camp on a mission to prove that there are good football players at all levels and he belonged in the FBS.

“Oh, yeah, it got to be (a goal) because I feel as D2, it’s frowned upon,” said Rogers, who admitted to being “on edge” when spring practice started. “I just want to be an example that there are ballers everywhere. I can be an example of what D2 produces.”

He’s well on his way to proving that but his quest for that won’t be complete until the regular season.

“I want to be a game changer,” Rogers said. “I want my presence to be, once he gets in the game, he's going to disrupt the game, the whole game.”

Truth is, though, Rogers appeared to be on his way to doing that on the FBS during his senior season at Bessemer City High. He was a playmaker on both sides of the football at Bessemer City, earning AHSAA All-State second team honors as a senior in 2019, with recruiting interest from UAB, Tulane, Memphis and others.

“I really wanted to be a Blazer,” Rogers said.

But, partly because of Covid-19 restrictions, he ended up getting lost in the recruiting shuffle. So, instead of starting college, he went to work.

“I just worked at Ashley Furniture, man,” Rogers said. “I was at the warehouse, you know, slinging couches.”

Rogers was asked if he could describe a typical day on the job.

“No, not really,” he said. “You know, you just come in and do your job. I was on the trucking side. We would come in, unload the trucks, and then we'll have an assembly line where we had to move furniture. It was just basic simple work, that’s all.”

The next year he was given the opportunity to play at Miles College. Rogers played in eight games in 2022 and 2023 and had 18 tackles with four sacks and five tackles for loss. He followed that with an outstanding season for a Miles team that won the SIAC and captured a first round playoff game for the first time in school before falling to eventual champion Valdosta State in the second round. Rogers had 53 tackles, eight sacks, 18.5 tackles for loss, 11 quarterback hurries, a pass breakup and a forced fumble for a team that won a school record 10 games.

“The Miles coaching staff, they meant everything to me,” Rogers said. “From my first year going to Miles to my last year, man. They just gave me the opportunity to showcase what I really can do and I greatly appreciate it.”

UAB took a look at him after Rogers entered the transfer portal. Dilfer was asked how a FBS staff evaluates a D2 player in recruiting.

“A lot of it (with Rogers) was traits,” Dilfer said. “You know, you saw him bend, you saw him play with power and twitch and then his motor. He just played with such a high motor. You kind of assume, which is dangerous, but some things we saw, that kid plays that hard, loves football, loves to compete, cares about every single down. Is it for the team, not just himself. And then he proved all those things to be true. He is just a great team guy, had an incredible academic semester, carried a massive load and crushed it. Not just got through it, but crushed it. So it shows a lot about his work ethic, his character.”