Ryder Burton looks to build on iconic upset as UAB’s QB1
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Sometimes an upset doesn’t look ripe for the picking.
The UAB Blazers were in the midst of a turbulent season, and everything continued to spiral. On Oct. 11, starting quarterback Jalen Kitna suffered an upper-body injury which ruled him out for the following week. One day later, head coach Trent Dilfer was fired.
All of this chaos ensued at an inopportune time, as UAB awaited to host the No. 22 Memphis Tigers. They were the first team in the FBS to clinch bowl eligibility, equipped with a spotless 6-0 record and labeled as three-touchdown favorites on the road in Birmingham.
But in a catchphrase popularized by Chris Berman on ESPN’s NFL Primetime, “That’s why they play the games.”
That afternoon, UAB not only debuted interim head coach Alex Mortensen. Quarterback Ryder Burton was simultaneously preparing for his first collegiate start. Burton, now at his third school in three years, saw a combined zero snaps at previous stops of BYU and West Virginia. That Saturday, Oct. 18, provided him a long-awaited opportunity that could finally develop into something greater.
He didn’t waste that opportunity.
Burton’s first start proved to be a signature moment in UAB history. Behind his 20-of-27, 251-yard, 3-touchdown showing, the Blazers stunned the heavily-favored Memphis, 31-24. He anchored UAB’s fifth ranked win as a program and first since 2021, engineering an upset that drastically shook up the American Conference standings and College Football Playoff picture.
“I played at a high level, but I think I get too much praise,” Burton said. “The people around me also played really, really well that day. Iverson Hooks, now at Oregon, he had a really big day at the office. We had a great rushing attack that day. (Solomon) Beebe led the charge with his (81-yard) touchdown. I think a lot of times I get too much credit. I was just the guy that got the ball to people.”
Mortensen, who was promoted to head coach after serving six games as the interim last fall, was not shocked at the result that stunned the rest of the college football world.
“I was not surprised,” Mortensen said. “I’d seen him practice at a high level, and he really practiced really well in spring ball and camp. And then had an excellent week and prepared very, very well too. In some ways, it almost just met my expectations of what I thought we would get from him.”
Before facing Memphis, Burton had attempted exactly one collegiate pass — a 7-yard completion vs. Tennessee in September. Thus, there was an adjustment period for Burton to settle into game-speed, but everything slowed down for the quarterback by the second drive of his first start.
“Halfway through the second drive, I felt like I could see all eight in coverage,” Burton said. “When you watch enough tape and you prepare enough, there’s a point where it just all kind of clicks for you. Halfway through that second drive, I remember coming back to Coach Mort like, ‘I’m seeing everything. Call whatever you want, like, I’m seeing it.’ So, I think I just got to continue to study and prepare and get to know each opponent so that can happen more often than just once.”
While everything clicked for Burton against Memphis, that momentum didn’t fully carry over to his next two outings on the road — a 38-19 loss to UConn and a 24-17 loss to Rice. Burton reflected how his performances in those defeats differed from his memorable first start in a Blazer uniform.
“UConn was tough because I came in down so much,” Burton said. “We were already down 14-0, then I have the unfortunate miscommunication with the receiver that leads to an interception on my first play of the game. So we’re down 17-0, UConn’s not playing their base stuff anymore. The d-line’s pinning their ears back and coming. We can’t run the ball and it makes it a lot harder on the quarterback. Then Rice, I just played poorly. I’ve got to play at a higher level. A lot of people blame Coach Mort for that game, but that game’s squarely on my shoulders. I’ve got to play better and be more decisive, especially in the RPO game.”
Mortensen and Burton will forever be intertwined by their respective head coaching and starting debuts last October against Memphis. But the relationship between the two dates back further. In fact, Mortensen was the primary reason Burton committed to UAB in January 2025.
During the offseason, Burton trains with former NFL quarterback John Beck and former Arizona State quarterback Taylor Kelly at 3DQB in Huntington Beach, CA. Several years before Burton joined the 3DQB program, one of its students was 2021 Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young, who spent three years playing under Mortensen at Alabama. Burton reached out to Young through the 3DQB network, and the former Alabama star served as the bridge. He recommended Burton to Mortensen and Mortensen to Burton, thus accelerating the recruiting process.
“Bryce texted back almost instantly and was like, ‘One of my favorite coaches I’ve ever played for, does a really good job at developing talent,’” Burton recalled. “When the Heisman Trophy winner and the first overall pick of the draft says something like that, you should probably listen. So I took myself down to UAB. Coach Mort blew the socks off me and my mom, and when you get my mom, you get me usually.”
After Mortensen was promoted from offensive coordinator to interim head coach, Burton saw two starts and earned the majority of quarterback reps for three games in 2025. That sample size gave him the valuable experience he needed to be UAB’s full-time starting quarterback in 2026. Mortensen — who will continue calling plays as head coach this fall — believes Burton’s experience, combined with his preparation, can unlock his game to greater heights.
“Now he’s had a whole offseason to go through,” Mortensen said. “He’s gotten far more reps than he did the prior offseason, so his preparedness is gonna be much greater. One thing I’ll say about him is even when he wasn’t the guy getting all the reps all the time, he prepared like he was the starter. It’s one of the great cliches, but he really did. So really two years under his belt now, we’re far more prepared.”
It took three schools, but Burton finally found a home to showcase his talents on gamedays. After staging one of the more notable upsets in UAB history, he looks to replicate that Memphis performance on a weekly basis. Burton wasn’t afraid to be bold in his first start, and knowing when and how to be bold is the component of his game he believes has accelerated most since that fateful October afternoon.
“Knowing when to go for the big one,” Burton said. “Coach Mort has a saying, it’s, ‘death by a thousands cuts.’ You want to nick the defense here and there and when it’s time to pull out the machete, you pull it out and you go for it. I think me just understanding when that time is, is my biggest growth this offseason.”
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