No. 15 Tennessee (2-1, 0-1 SEC) will host UAB (2-1, 0-1 AAC) in Week 4 of the 2025 college football season. Kickoff between the Vols and Blazers is slated for 12:45 p.m. EDT at Neyland Stadium (SEC Network).
Former Fresno State and NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer is in his third season as UAB’s head coach. He was a Super Bowl champion with Baltimore and served as head coach at Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Dilfer’s offensive coordinator at UAB is Alex Mortensen. He began his collegiate playing career at Arkansas from 2004-05 and transferred to Samford (2006-07). Mortensen returned to Arkansas for the 2008 season.
In 2009, he signed as an undrafted free agent with Tennessee in the NFL.
Mortensen began his coaching career as a quarterbacks coach at New Mexico Highlands in 2012, a NCAA Division II school in Las Vegas, New Mexico. He was a NFL assistant coach for the Rams in 2013.
Mortensen served as a graduate assistant at Alabama from 2014-16 before becoming an analyst for the Crimson Tide (2017-19). In 2019, he was wide receivers coach with the Birmingham Iron of the Alliance of American Football.
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Mortensen returned to Alabama, serving as an analyst from 2020-22 before becoming offensive coordinator for the Blazers in 2023 under Dilfer.
He is the son of former ESPN NFL analyst Chris Mortensen.
Chris Mortensen began his journalism career in 1969 at the South Bay Daily Breeze in Torrance, California. He also worked for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (1983-90) and the National (1989-90), founded by Frank DeFord.
Chris Mortensen debuted with ESPN in 1991 and left the network in April 2023. He was the first to report former Vol Peyton Manning’s retirement from the NFL.
On March 3, 2024, Chris Mortensen died from cancer. He was diagnosed with stage IV throat cancer.
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This article originally appeared on Vols Wire: Remembering Chris Mortensen ahead of Tennessee-UAB game in Week 4