Experience Showing for Delvon Gulley
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - August 17, 2026
Delvon Gulley had a crash course on different defensive systems during his short time around college football.
Gulley, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound cornerback, is on his third different system as he enters his third year of college football. He played as a freshman at Alabama A&M, performed in former UAB defensive coordinator Steve Russ’s group last year and now is learning about life with Todd Grantham as his coordinator.
“Really and truly I'm loving it,” Gulley said. “Coach Grantham's a great guy, perfect scheme, many different ways of making plays for the corners, my position, to be exact, so I'm loving it.”
Gulley was asked how the scheme for the cornerbacks has changed.
“This defense that we in is really (set up) for the back end to make plays,” Gulley said. “The front is gonna do their thing, but it's a back-end defense. We got more defensive backs on the field, so it's a great scheme for the back end.”
In terms of snaps and starts, Gulley is the most experienced UAB defensive returnee from a year ago. He played in 10 games with six starts and participated on 396 snaps. Defensive end Chris Burge, who was in on 308 plays, got the second most time for a returning Blazer defensive player last season. Gulley finished with 19 tackles, three pass breakups, a tackle for loss and quarterback hurry. The year before, as a true freshman at Alabama A&M, Gulley earned FCS Football Central Freshman All-American honors after recording 29 tackles, three interceptions and four pass breakups.
Both of those seasons were part of the process toward getting Gulley ready for this season.
“As a true freshman type thing. I want to say the experience helped,” said Gulley, who started on state championship and state finalist teams at Saraland High. “I got a little more experience. The trainers, the guys I get a little more extra work with, they got me faster, a little more mind control and control my technique. Last year, I came in, the game was a little faster for me. Now, I’m right in with the game speed. I'm used to the American Conference speed and I'm ready to ball.”
He showed that in spring practice, remaining at the top of the depth chart most of the way, and has carried it through a strong fall camp. He is also part of a secondary that appears to be full of depth and competition. Gulley said the cornerback position travels about eight deep with players competing for time.
“I'm loving it, it's probably one of my favorite fall camps,” Gulley said. “There’s so much energy with the transfers bringing in love. Everybody is really bonding from on the field to outside the field, film studies, everything.”
While plenty of work still remains, Gulley looks ahead to big things from the secondary.
“Right now, I want to say we're above average,” Gulley said. “We probably got picks from everybody in the secondary. So I want to say we’re above average but you know, every day we got to get 1 percent better. We’re gonna make it there. We’re probably going to be one of the best secondaries in the American Conference this year.”