AMERICAN HEAVYWEIGHT
“This is my fourth season in the American Conference, and there hasn’t been a back like him yet...”
Sugar leaves you stranded; I make sure I have the proper amount of protein before I work out.
- Evander Holyfield, former boxing heavyweight champion
Current UAB running back Roderick “Heavyweight” Robinson was supposed to play ball at nearby UCLA coming out of high school. He was an incredibly productive runner in the San Diego area where he dominated his 2022 senior season with 2378 rushing yards and 39 touchdowns on 217 carries.
Former UCLA head coach Chip Kelly and the Bruins had been recruiting Robinson throughout his high school career, and eventually secured a verbal from Rod Rob. As we all know now, Kelly was later fired before the end of the season. As a result, Robinson flipped his commitment to a school across the country—the UGA Bulldogs—who had given up trying to flip local product and legacy Justice Haynes, who had pledged to Alabama over the summer.
Initial returns on UGA’s campus were promising for Rod Rob. A member of the 2023 class, he joined a group of Branson Robinson, Dajun Edwards and others. Unfortunately, Robinson’s time in Athens was marred by constant injury, namely, foot injuries. He often missed significant time in the offseason, which undoubtedly hampered his development. Furthermore, he also directly missed several games due to injury (through three seasons, he’s appeared in 15 games total).
Outside of a 1-yard reception for a TD against Alabama in the 2025 SEC championship game, there really weren’t any notable moments during RRob’s tenure with the Dawgs. In fact, I believe he informed the staff of his intention to transfer fairly early on in the season in 2025, because he was a healthy scratch for most of the year, while younger backs got the bulk of carries.
But sometimes a change of scenery can work wonders (ask former TCU RB Cam Cook about his season with JSU last year…); especially when a player is dropping down a level.
This offseason Robinson announced he would be moving across state lines over to the UAB football program, to presumably compete for starting duties after collecting dust on the proverbial shelf for three seasons.
That move may prove to be the best decision of Robinson’s life, as the early reviews from spring camp are very positive. His RBs coach, Danny Mitchell, recently was quoted as saying that the AAC hasn’t seen a RB like Robinson in his four years:
“You know, he’s a different style of back. There aren’t very many of them out in the world — not just in college football, in the world, that move like him at that size. You know, he’s all of 6-foot-2, 240 pounds, and he’s one of the most explosive players on our entire football team.”
“I think he’s going to bring something that’s a little different from what this league has. This is my fourth season in the American Conference, and there hasn’t been a back like him yet.”
“I think that’s the perfect way to describe his game. He plays the game with a great understanding at his speed. That’s what makes him a really good football player. In practice, there are times when the offensive line misses, and he’s there to clean it up for the offense. The difference is, when he cleans up a defensive lineman, he’s usually about the same size as them, and he’ll put them on their back.”
That’s certainly about as positive a review as you’ll find from spring camp quotes. The only thing that would make it more directly relevant for us would be some language on expected role and usage.
It should also be noted that there isn’t an official OC listed on the staff page for UAB. Rather, it is just HC Alex Mortensen and the RBs coach, Danny Mitchell who appear as the relevant names for today’s discussion. So, Mitchell’s opinion of Robinson may end up mattering more than your average RB coach.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the new staff replacing former UAB head coach Trent Dilfer.
COACHING & SYSTEM
RB1 PPG AVERAGE — HC: 18.7
Current head coach Alex Mortensen was named the interim head coach during the 2025 campaign, replacing the aforementioned Dilfer. Previously, he had been the OC at UAB from 2022 to 2025, and was an analyst at Alabama between 2017 and 2022.
RBs coach Danny Mitchell was promoted to his current position in early 2025. Before that he was an analyst within the UAB program. So the only coach with play calling history we can inspect is Mortensen. Below is a summary of his RB1s during his time with UAB:
Unfortunately, there’s been a clear trend line down since his first season. Hopefully this is more coincidence than anything. It should be noted that current ULM head coach Bryant Vincent was the head coach with UAB during that monstrous 2022 season for DeWayne McBride, so that probably helped (IYKYK).
But Mortensen has had two separate RBs hit over 15 PPG since then, so he’s no slouch either. And he’s actually taking a page out of Vincent’s book with not hiring an OC. That’s pretty gangster (and probably due to program budget constraints more than anything, but who’s counting).
What the reader may find disturbing is the fact that Mortensen hasn’t handed a RB more than 170 carries since the 2022 year with McBride at RB and Vincent as his master. This problematic trend has been somewhat offset by receiving volume, with Mortensen’s RB1 catching as many as 40 passes on year. I don’t know if that’s going to continue with Rod Rob though (four career receptions so far).
Mortensen’s play calling split is generally pretty balanced, with a slight historical average lean towards the run ~51%. His pace of play calling varies a bit season to season. This past year the Blazers averaged 73 plays run per game, but the season previous they averaged almost 10 more per game (81). Overall, I would categorize his style towards the faster end of the spectrum, but he’s no Alex Golesh (USF/AUB).
According to dawgstats, UAB returns the 120th fewest snaps on OL for 2026.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
In addition to Rod Rob, UAB brought in transfers Braylon McReynolds from ULM (formerly of Southern Alabama), JaVin Simpkins from Coastal Carolina, and Marquise Collins from Duke.
Many of you will know the name McReynolds, who was briefly relevant in CFF leagues last year as Vincent’s RB1. However, he is a smaller player listed at 5’7 inches tall, but he is thicc, listed at 195 pounds. I personally don’t see a problem with his build and I think he could easily fill in as a work horse RB at the G5 level (already sort of did last season).
Simpkins is a former four star rated player who never found his footing at Coastal. He did have a solid season in 2025, rushing for over 590 yards.
Collins hasn’t done anything in his career thus far, but then again, neither has Rod Rob really, so that’s not a disqualifying feature in this context.
As we saw in Table 1., the Mortensen RB1 has typically been supported with a lot of receiving work. Robinson’s three year career demonstrates very little ability as a pass catcher (though, ironically, as mentioned the high point of his UGA career was a receiving TD vs. Alabama). Maybe he’ll get the McBride treatment and it won’t matter in the end?
That’s probably wishful thinking, but hey, you never know. I don’t currently have Robinson in my RB rankings, but he’ll be in the next iteration as a late round guy to take shots on. ◾
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