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Alex Mortensen has experienced a bit of everything in his three weeks as UAB’s interim coach. Since taking over for Trent Dilfer on Oct. 12, Mortenson has led the Blazers to an upset win over rival Memphis, navigated an open week and suffered a blowout defeat on the road to UConn. He’s also in the midst of managing an ongoing quarterback battle between Jalen Kitna and Ryder Burton. While his time in charge of UAB hasn’t been smooth sailing, the 39-year-old offensive coordinator has been able to dip into his past to weather the storm. This might be Mortensen’s first time in charge of a football program. However, he’s been in the room for some big decisions throughout his career. Mortenesen worked under Nick Saban at Alabama from 2014-22, serving as a graduate assistant his first three years before being promoted to an offensive analyst his final six seasons. During that time, he saw Saban restructure Alabama’s attack by hiring Lane Kiffin as his offensive coordinator in 2014. Mortensen also watched as Saban navigated a notable quarterback battle between Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa during the 2018 season. “I’ve been involved with this game for a long time,” Mortensen said during his Monday press conference. “Fortunately, I’ve been around good people and good mentors. A lot of situations that occur, I’ve seen them occur before, even if I wasn’t always the primary decision-maker or the one having to handle them. “I think a lot of it, you feel pretty prepared for. Certainly, if you’re not continuing to try to learn in this profession, you’re not going to last very long. Trying to use every opportunity as a chance to grow and learn.” Mortensen has taken notes from Saban’s decision-making during his nine seasons working under him. However, one of the most important things he learned from his time behind the scenes at Alabama was Saban’s willingness to take advice during crucial moments. “People always want to ask me, ‘What did you learn from Coach Saban’ or ‘Have you asked him anything?’” Mortensen said. “He obviously was a very intelligent, smart man and a great leader. But also, I saw him seek counsel, too, even at the stage he was at when I was around him, which I think says a lot. Being a good listener to wise people and people you trust when you have to make some of these decisions.” Over the past couple of weeks, Mortensen has taken a similar approach while breaking into his interim role at UAB. During a pregame segment with Blazers Sports Network over the weekend, Mortensen revealed that he spent UAB’s open week speaking with a few of his former colleagues and mentors, including Saban as well as ECU head coach Steve Logan, whom he worked with during his lone season with the Birmingham Iron in 2019. While Mortensen didn’t go into the nature of those discussions, he said Monday that he “sought counsel” in terms of his decision to start Kitna at quarterback over the weekend before moving to Burton on the third series of the game. UAB (3-5, 1-3) will travel to Rice (4-5, 1-4) for a 1 p.m. CT kickoff on Saturday inside Rice Stadium. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
