Auburn football beat reporter Nubyjas Wilborn of AL.com believes UAB head coach Trent Dilfer’s threat to every Power Five head coach who hopes to steal a transfer away from the Blazers was bold, taking the observation to social media on June 23.
Bold talk here. https://t.co/c8KgM4NjoN
— Nubyjas Wilborn (@nwilborn19) June 23, 2023
Dilfer sent the aggressively stern message on during a recent appearance on the “Rick & Bubba Show.”
“By the way, come try to get my guys,” Dilfer said (h/t CBS Sports). “I dare you, Power Fives. I got a pretty big platform that I can step on, and if I find you in my kids’ DMs, and if I find you talking to high school coaches about my kids — if you’re in my roster, I’m gonna call your ass out. I’m going to say it, by name, to the biggest voices in television today and it’s going to make GameDay and it’s going to make SportsCenter. By the way, those guys running SportsCenter are still my friends.”
The Santa Cruz, California native proudly proclaimed that he doesn’t want to be anywhere but Birmingham while daring Power Five coaches to try and meddle with his roster.
“So go ahead,” Dilfer prefaced before saying, “I dare you to jump into my roster. I told the American coaches the same thing. I said, ‘Why don’t you guys have the you-know-whats to stand up and say get out of my roster?’ I said here’s why: ’cause you want their job. I want this job. I don’t want no Power — I want this job. I want to live in Birmingham. I want to live downtown. I want to go see my grandson in Nashville. I don’t want that other job, so I don’t care if you blackball me. I want this job. I want the city of Birmingham to say, ‘No. That’s our city. That’s our coach.’ So, go ahead. I’m not scared of whoever — the Grand Poobah of Poobahs — to blackball me. Like, get out of my roster. These are my guys. I love these guys. Stay the hell out of it.”
Future UAB-Auburn football scrimmages pitched by Hugh Freeze
Auburn football head coach Hugh Freeze believes both Alabama and AU should have schools like UAB, Alabama State, and Troy on the spring exhibition schedule in the future, revamping an A-Day format that has grown stale in recent seasons. Freeze shared as much the week ahead of what was a rain-drenched 2023 A-Day spring game.
“Alabama can play Troy and we play UAB or vice versa, or whoever, I don’t care. Alabama State or whoever,” Freeze said Monday (h/t Montgomery Advertiser). “People will come see that.”
Such a game would certainly generate an in-state buzz, particularly for the Group of Five/FCS schools that’d get such a spotlight playing spring ball at Jordan-Hare Stadium or Bryant-Denny Stadium.