There’s no need to call UAB Medicine, but the Blazers are dealing with a split personality at the center position.
On one side of the sideline, there’s Adam Lepkowski, a laid-back redshirt junior from Hoover. On the other side lives “A-Train,” a 6-foot-3, 300-pound menace, who has been wreaking havoc on American Conference defensive linemen this fall.
Before UAB’s offense takes the field, there’s usually a war waging between those identities on the Blazers’ sideline.
“I talk down to myself a little bit more kind of just to create some internal conflict,” Lepkowski said, explaining his mental approach. “And then when I talk to myself, I’m cheering myself on. I get myself pumped up. I get mad at my other self, and I take it out on the defensive linemen.”
You heard that right, two selves.
“A-Train and Adam,” Lepkowski said with a smile. “A-Train is two feet away, right there [pointing to the field]. And Adam is right here. I can still tap into A-Train every now and then.”
UAB loves Adam, but the Blazers are enjoying A-Train a bit more at the moment. After sitting out last year with an injury, Lepkowski has started all five games for UAB this season. According to Pro Football and Sports Network, he ranks as the top center and fifth-best offensive linemen in the American Conference with a 79.6 grade.
Not bad for someone who took two seasons to see the field after beginning his college career as an unheralded walk-on.
“I was excited when I saw [the grade from PFSN], but I can’t let it get to my head,” Lepkowsi said. “I have to keep doing my thing, keep working. And it’s not just me. I didn’t get that score on my own. It’s the offensive linemen who helped me.”
Lepkowski has been playing with a chip on his shoulder since joining the Blazers in 2021. That’s when his A-Train persona really took flight. During a freshman orientation of sorts with the offensive line unit in his first season on campus, Lepkowski was asked to list off a series of facts about himself, including nicknames he’s gone by in the past.
“I gave them a list,” Lepkowski recalled. “I told them, A-Train, Adam Bomb, A-bomb, Big Lep, Lepko.”
His teammates stopped him there.
“Everyone said, ‘No one’s going to ever call you A-train,’” Lepkowski said. “Then I hit somebody in a play, and I destroyed him. I decleated him. Then Coach [Richard Owens] said it as a joke. And then everybody started calling me that afterwards.”
Lepkowski’s road to the starting lineup hasn’t been all laughs. After spending his first two years on the bench, the lineman finally got his opportunity to see the field in 2023, starting five games over six appearances at right guard. Momentum from that season was snuffed out the following fall when he suffered a foot injury during training camp, causing him to sit out all of last year.
Effects from that injury lingered on to the spring, causing Lepkowski to doubt his road back to the first team.
“I was struggling with wanting the starting job,” Lepkowski said. “I really thought I was going to be able to get it. Coming back from an injury, it was just not the best situation.
“Then I prayed about it, I thought about it, and I talked with my mom. My mom said. ‘What does God want you to do in this situation?’”
Lepkowski looked around at a rebuilt UAB offensive line unit, and the answer became clear.
“We had a lot of new kids, got a lot of freshmen, and my job was to lead them and teach them the way of our offense … what we’re supposed to do and how we’re supposed to act as linemen at UAB,” Lepkowski said. “I kind of just took that mentality, and I guess it paid off.”
After entering the fall behind redshirt senior Baron Franks II at the center position, Lepkowski’s determined approach allowed him to rise to the starting ranks two weeks into camp. The redshirt junior hasn’t looked back since, earning the respect of his coaches and teammates along the way.
“He’s a very smart player,” head coach Trent Dilfer said of Lepkowski during the first week of the season. “He’s been here a long time, cares deeply for this program, this city, this school. His energy makes us better, and he’s become a much better player.”
Lepkowski and UAB (2-3, 0-2) will continue conference play this weekend when they travel to Florida Atlantic (2-3, 1-1) for a 5 p.m. CT kickoff inside Flagler Credit Union Stadium. Fortunately for the Blazers, A-Train will be making the trip as well.