UAB to hire ex-NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer as head coach

Associated PressNov 30, 2022, 5:30 PM EST

Matthew Diggs/USA TODAY NETWORK

UAB has hired former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer as its next head coach on the eve of his high school team’s state championship game.

The 50-year-old Dilfer won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens in 2000 during a 14-year NFL career. He’s making a big leap to the college ranks after leading Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, Tennessee, to three state title games in four seasons as head coach.

That includes one scheduled for Thursday morning against Christ Presbyterian Academy, meaning Dilfer had to hustle back to Chattanooga after his introductory news conference. He takes his first college job with lofty ambitions for a program set to leave Conference USA for the American Athletic Conference starting next season.

Even he wasn’t quite sure of the move initially, before deciding to embrace the new challenge.

“I wouldn’t use the word scared. I was skeptical because I am a high school football coach, and I’m not ashamed of that,” Dilfer said. “But as I started going down this process, my visionary instincts started taking over and my excitement and enthusiasm started overwhelming me.

“I was like, Oh my gosh, there’s something big out there to do. I like big climbs.”

A former first-round draft pick for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1994, Dilfer retired in 2008 and went into broadcasting, working for ESPN as an NFL analyst until 2017. That meant 218 rounds of golf and a fun but unfulfilling 2018 before going into coaching a world away from the NFL glamour and taking a job that “made zero sense.”

He said the team had 38 players when he got there, with six of them using a PVC pipe to work out upon his initial venture into the weight room. Dilfer sums up his mentality with the signs that he’ll set behind his desk: “At the edge of uncomfortable is where you find greatness” and “Do hard things.”

He’s openly wanting UAB to think in terms of the seeming longshot of the College Football Playoffs, promising that “great things are coming.” First things first: Learning the college basics like NIL, the transfer portal and even recruiting.

“We will learn to recruit at an elite level,” Dilfer said. “I’d be lying to tell you I knew how to recruit at an elite level. That would be crap. That would be a lie. Never done it. But we’re about to get really good at it.”

Dilfer also became involved in the Elite 11 quarterback camp for the top high schools prospects in the country.

Lipscomb Academy, a private Christian school, is 12-0 this season and 25-1 the past two years. Dilfer has led Lipscomb to a 43-10 record overall.

UAB athletic director Mark Ingram knows Dilfer is an outside the box hire. A local businessman suggested Dilfer to Ingram, and that set the stage for what turned into a 90-minute phone call.

“I’ve got to admit that initially … I thought, I am not hiring a high school football coach,” Ingram said. “I’m just not going to do that. And frankly, I was right. I’m not hiring a high school football coach.

“I’m hiring the No. 6 overall pick in the NFL draft, a guy who spent 14 years playing quarterback at the highest level. I’m hiring a guy who was a Pro Bowler who was the starting quarterback of a Super Bowl championship team.”

Dilfer replaces Bill Clark, who stepped down in August, citing back issues.

Offensive coordinator Bryant Vincent was named interim coach and led the Blazers to a 6-6 record this season. UAB is set to play Miami (Ohio) on Dec. 16 in the Bahamas Bowl.

No terms were announced pending formal approval of Dilfer’s contract from the Board of Trustees.

Vick, Fitzgerald and Suggs among stars on College Football Hall of Fame ballot for 1st time

Associated PressJun 5, 2023, 9:04 PM EDT

RVR Photos-USA TODAY Sports

Michael Vick, Larry Fitzgerald and Terrell Suggs are among the college football stars who will be considered for induction to the Hall of Fame for the first time this year.

The National Football Foundation released Monday a list of 78 players and nine coaches from major college football who are on the Hall of Fame ballot. There also are 101 players and 32 coaches from lower divisions of college football up for consideration.

Vick, who led Virginia Tech to the BCS championship game against Florida State as a redshirt freshman in 1999, is among the most notable players appearing on the ballot in his first year of eligibility.

Vick finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1999. He played one season of college football before being drafted No. 1 overall by the Atlanta Falcons in 2001. Vick’s professional career was interrupted when he served 21 months in prison for his involvement in dog fighting.

Fitzgerald was the Heisman runner-up in 2003 to Oklahoma quarterback Jason White. He scored 34 touchdowns in just two seasons at Pitt.

Suggs led the nation in sacks with 24 in 2002 for Arizona State.

The 2024 Hall of Fame class will be chosen by the National Football Foundation’s Honors Court and announced in January. Induction into the Atlanta-based hall is the following December.

Alabama freshman DB Mitchell says he wasn’t sure he’d get to play again after arrest

Associated PressJun 5, 2023, 8:59 PM EDT

Mickey Welsh / Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama defensive back Tony Mitchell said he feared his football career was over after his arrest on a drug charge.

The Crimson Tide freshman said in a video posted Sunday on social media that he knew “something much bigger could have happened.”

A judge in Holmes County, Florida, sentenced Mitchell to three years of probation with a fine and community service on May 24 after Mitchell pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of more than 20 grams of cannabis.

“I didn’t know if I’d be able to play football again, but I continued to work out and stay close with the Lord and those who love me unconditionally,” Mitchell said. “During those times, it helped me to keep my mind off it. But when I was by myself looking at social media, what everybody had to say about it, it just felt like it happened again.

“I didn’t sleep at night.”

He was suspended from the Alabama team following the arrest, but Mitchell’s father, Tony Sr., posted on Facebook last week that the defensive back had been reinstated. An Alabama spokesman declined to comment on Mitchell’s status.

Tony Mitchell Sr. shared his son’s video on Facebook, saying it was filmed during a talk to youth.

“I was doing things I knew I shouldn’t to try to fit in,” the younger Mitchell said, “but not everybody’s your friend.”

Mitchell, who is from Alabaster, Alabama, was a four-star prospect and the 15th-rated safety in the 247Composite rankings.

He had been charged in March with possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell after a traffic stop when authorities said he drove over 141 mph (227 kph) while trying to evade deputies in the Florida Panhandle. A deputy had spotted Mitchell’s black Dodge Challenger traveling 78 mph (125 kph) in a 55 mph (88 kph) zone on a rural highway north of Bonifay.

He also received 100 hours of community service and paid a fine of $1,560.

Mitchell and a passenger were both charged with possession of marijuana with the intent to sell or deliver, according to a Holmes County Sheriff’s Office arrest report. The other man also was charged with carrying a concealed gun without a permit.