UAB’s pass rush produced 18 sacks last season. It had 8.5 in one scrimmage.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — J'Quan Mason recorded one sack last season. He had four Saturday.

The UAB defensive lineman led a pass rush that produced 8.5 sacks in the Blazers' first scrimmage of fall camp at Protective Stadium, with five defenders recording at least half a sack in temperatures above 90 degrees. Blanche Gold added two. Chris Burge and Myles Cook each had one. Noah Nelson recorded a half.

It was one scrimmage. Controlled conditions, no opponent, a coaching staff that designs both the offense and the defense it faces. Nobody is printing a banner.

But this time last year, UAB wasn't doing this in any setting.

The Blazers finished the 2025 season with 18 sacks — 1.5 per game, 11th of 14 teams in The American, tied for 112th nationally. The team leader, Burge, had 3.5 as a freshman. No other defender had more than two. UAB allowed 38.3 points per game and went 4-8.

The pass rush that once defined UAB football under Bill Clark — the unit that produced Alex Wright, Anthony Rush, Garrett Marino, Jamell Garcia-Williams and Kris Moll and so many others who'd knock a QB's head sideways — had disappeared.

What changed

Todd Grantham did.

UAB's new defensive coordinator, hired by head coach Alex Mortensen after the two worked together at Alabama in 2022, brought an NFL and SEC pedigree to a unit that needed an overhaul. The players describe the difference in one word, and they all land on the same one.

"Aggressive," defensive lineman Nigel Tate said on the Blazer to Blazer podcast.

But it goes deeper than volume and intensity. The scheme itself changed. Tate described it in specific terms.

"Our defense isn't the same as last year's defense," Tate said. "Kind of last year we was shooting gaps, you know, trying to go necessarily make a play. Now we kind of more holding double teams."

The distinction matters. Last year's front tried to beat blocks individually and penetrate. Grantham's front holds its gaps, occupies blockers and frees linebackers and secondary defenders to make plays. The defensive linemen absorb contact instead of avoiding it.

"I like the system that we have," Tate said. "I'll be in a five (technique), I might be in a three, I might be in a one. That shows versatility."

Rushing four

Grantham's reputation across decades in the SEC and NFL was built on exotic pressure — blitzes from every angle, overload looks and simulated rushes designed to confuse protections. Quarterback Ryder Burton, who faces it every day in practice, called him "a grandmaster in chess."

"I sit there pre-snap, I'm trying to decide where he's coming from," Burton said. "He reloads it and I gotta flip the protection the other way."

That makes the most telling detail from Saturday's scrimmage the one Mortensen pointed to first.

"I thought we did a good job affecting the quarterback when we weren't blitzing," Mortensen said. "When we were rushing four, those guys did a good job of pushing the pocket or winning in pass rush."

Generating pressure with four rushers means the defensive line is winning on its own — not because the scheme manufactured a free runner. And if the front four can collapse a pocket by itself, Grantham's blitz packages become a multiplier instead of a necessity.

The rotation

Grantham's philosophy starts with one premise: the pass rush has to be there at the end of the game, not just the beginning.

"Defensive line is a position that you gotta play a lot of guys because guys are gonna get tired," Grantham said. "At the end of the game, winning the game, you gotta go finish with the rush. So you gotta make sure you keep some gas in the tank."

That means competition. Grantham said some players earned more playing time than he expected.

"We've got some guys that have probably earned more reps than maybe I anticipated before spring ball started," he said. "You're competing for playing time. With the way you play and your production and the way you perform, you'll earn your reps."

Mason's four-sack scrimmage suggests he is one of them. After recording a single sack in 2025, he credited the daily push from Grantham and the defensive staff.

"They always push us to be great," Mason said. "Even when we're tired, they keep us in the game. I got four sacks today, so it felt pretty good. I've been working since winter. I've been working every day, putting my head down and working in silence."

The buy-in

Beyond the scheme and rotation, the players describe a cultural shift in the defensive room.

Burge, the team's sack leader last season who added a sack and a tackle for loss Saturday, said Grantham established the tone on day one.

"First day, spring, he got on that," Burge said. "I got used to it by now. It don't bother me. All you got to do is say, 'Yes, sir,' and just keep your head up and just keep going. If he see a sign of weakness, he on you."

Gold, the linebacker who added two sacks Saturday, described a defense that feeds off its own communication.

"We're like a melting pot," Gold said. "It's guys that are better at rushing. There's guys that are better at the run. Guys whose IQ and play recognition are high, and we're able to talk and mesh together. Once we start rolling, we start talking on the sideline. Guys are just flying. We ain't even thinking. We're just building off of each other."

Burton, who faces the defense daily and has to solve it before the snap, said the difference from last year is unmistakable.

"Those guys are gonna play hard, man," Burton said. "They're gonna die on the field before they let something happen."

Then he grinned.

"I ain't gotta play 'em on Saturday. They're with me on Saturday."

Sept. 3

The Blazers open the season at Illinois, where the pass rush will face a Power 4 offensive line for the first time. A scrimmage produces data, not proof.

But UAB hasn't had five defenders record sacks in a single outing — scrimmage or otherwise — in years. The front four generated pressure without help. A defensive lineman who had one sack all of last season had four in one afternoon. And the unit did it in 90-degree heat on turf in the middle of the day, which is at least one thing a September road game will replicate.

Grantham was asked what motivates him at this point in his career.

"I just wanna help guys get better, compete, develop and they're better at the end of the year," he said. "And I wanna make our team better so that everybody associated with our program is excited to come to a game and watch us play."

UAB fans haven't had much reason to be excited about the pass rush lately. Saturday was a start.