UAB football coach explains why team played game after player allegedly stabbed teammates

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University of Alabama at Birmingham interim head football coach Alex Mortensen addressed his team's willingness to play South Florida on Saturday, just hours after a player was arrested for allegedly stabbing his own teammates. 

Mortensen cited his player's desires, especially with Saturday being the team's senior day. 

"We spoke as a team, and we spoke with the team, and those guys really wanted to play today, and the conversation went back to the seniors, with today being senior day, they wanted to go play for them, and give them an opportunity to out and compete and play, so that was probably the biggest thing," Mortensen told reporters in the postgame press conference. 

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South Florida Bulls coach Alex Golesh shakes hands with Alex Mortensen, interim coach of the UAB Blazers, following their game at Protective Stadium on Nov. 22, 2025, in Birmingham, Alabama. (Stew Milne/Getty Images)

Mortensen added that several players "understandably chose to sit out."

"We want to be very sympathetic to what everyone's going through, and make sure that everyone understood they had an opportunity to seek counseling, or anything that they needed or wanted," he said. 

"We have a process and a routine that we got through in pre-game, and I think staying committed to that probably helped guys just staying focused on the job."

Mortensen took over as the team's head coach in October after the program fired former head coach Trent Dilfer following a loss to Florida Atlantic. 

"The team has been through a lot over the last several months," Mortensen said. 

UAB went on to lose the game 48-18 to fall