EJ Reid knew this was coming

EJ Reid had the whole thing planned.

The route. The catch. The touchdown. The dance.

All week, the UAB wide receiver walked through the scenario in his head. If the defense showed a certain look — a coverage the Blazers had attacked in practice all week — Reid would score. And if he scored, he would celebrate. He'd already picked the move: a move borrowed from Nick Cannon's dance in the 2003 movie "Love Don't Cost a Thing," with what Reid called "my own little flavor" — a karate kick.

He'd done the pose once before, in high school.

"Pretty much all week I was like, 'If I score my first touchdown, this is what I'm gonna do,'" Reid said. "And I was hoping it was on a pass like that to make it even better. I pretty much thought about it. Got in the groove a little bit. Did a little karate kick at the end."

With 9:34 left in the fourth quarter and UAB trailing ULM 20-16 at Protective Stadium, Reid ran the route he'd been waiting for. The defense gave him the look.

"It was a play I seen coming earlier on in the game," Reid said. "It was a look we went over in practice multiple times. It was a look all week I was like, 'If I get this look, this is gonna be a good look. I'm gonna score.' Once I got bottom, I put my head down, look up, I see right through it. Catch the ball, finish it in end zone."

Ryder Burton found Reid for 43 yards. Touchdown. UAB 23, ULM 20. The go-ahead score.

And then the dance.

"I'm not a big celebrating type of guy," Reid said, "but it was like, 'First one, might as well celebrate.' I had to."

From three snaps to the go-ahead score

Two years ago, Reid was at Wake Forest. He played in three games during the 2024 season and logged three snaps. In 2025, he didn't see the field at all.

That's a long way from the player who put up 56 receptions for 1,050 yards and 17 touchdowns as a junior at Freedom High School in Woodbridge, Virginia — then helped Freedom go 29-0 over two seasons and win back-to-back state championships in Virginia Class Six. Reid played both ways — First Team All-Region at wide receiver, Second Team All-Region as a defensive back — and recorded four interceptions and 46 tackles during his junior season alone.

At Wake Forest, none of that translated to playing time. Reid entered the transfer portal and chose UAB, in part because of the coaching pedigree.

"Looking at the background of the coaches here — Coach KG obviously coaching in the [NFL], getting around those players," Reid said, referencing UAB wide receivers coach Kevin Garver. "One of my favorite players, AB, so obviously that was like a conversation we had."

Garver spent four seasons coaching wide receivers for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he helped Mike Evans post four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and won Super Bowl LV. Before Tampa Bay, Garver coached receivers for the Arizona Cardinals and worked alongside Larry Fitzgerald. He started his career at Alabama under Nick Saban.

Antonio Brown played for the Buccaneers during Garver's tenure. For a kid from Woodbridge who grew up watching AB, the connection mattered.

"I knew I was coming into great football minds, guys who love football and knew what they were talking about, knew how to develop people," Reid said. "As far as my development, KG's gave me things as far as coverages, how to look at the game, where to study."

‘He ran a great route’

UAB head coach Alex Mortensen said Reid's progress since arriving in January has been significant — though injuries slowed the timeline.

"EJ's really progressed a lot. We really like EJ a lot," Mortensen said during his weekly press conference. "EJ's another guy that is a little bit beat up. We've had a kind of weird rash of injuries at receiver. EJ was really gaining a lot of ground before he was out for a little bit, so seeing him get back has been really positive."

On the 43-yard touchdown, Mortensen pointed to Reid's technique.

"He ran a great route the other night on that — really good speed, good angle," Mortensen said.

Reid finished the ULM game with four catches for 65 yards and the touchdown — UAB's leading receiver on a day the Blazers leaned on the ground game for 266 yards on 52 carries. His third-quarter catch on third down, where he absorbed a hard hit and held on, helped UAB begin to claw back from a 20-13 deficit.

"Making those catches, making those plays — kind of just being a guy the team can look at and say, 'Hey, we can depend on this guy,'" Reid said. "So obviously teammates come to you like, 'Hey, good catch, good catch,' that boosts it up a little bit. Making those plays in games like that, it lets me know that I can do this. I can really make those plays in tight situations."

Nobody pointed fingers

The go-ahead touchdown came after a rough stretch for the UAB offense. Burton threw an interception in two-minute drill before halftime, and ULM carried a 20-13 lead into the fourth quarter.

Reid said the sideline never fractured.

"I feel like Ryder is a pretty mentally tough guy," Reid said. "He doesn't really get flustered too many times. I talked to him as well. Pretty much just told him to keep his head up. Like, 'You're a good football player. Let's do this thing. It's part of football.'

"One thing about this team, everybody is together, so there was nobody pointing fingers, just that encouragement. We kinda looked at it, kept it pushing, and just go finish the game off."

When Reid's moment came — the play he planned for, the celebration he rehearsed — it did more than put UAB ahead on the scoreboard. It jolted the entire sideline.

"Coming to the sideline with the guys, I got hyped a little bit," Reid said. "'All right, let's go. Let's go finish this thing off.' I feel like even if I was a defensive guy, seeing something like that would get me going."

UAB won the fourth quarter 13-0 and held on for the 26-20 victory.

And somewhere on the sideline, Reid and Ty Mims had one more dance.

"We had our little dance on the sideline as well," Reid said. "It was thought about. We talked about it and I knew it was coming."