UAB offensive coordinator Alex Mortensen, a former Razorback, talks about his return to Arkansas

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FAYETTEVILLE — It has been eight years since a former Arkansas player stood on the opposing sideline as a coordinator for a game against the Razorbacks.

That changes Saturday when Alex Mortensen returns to Reynolds Razorback Stadium as offensive coordinator for Alabama-Birmingham. Mortensen, 38, is in his second year leading the Blazers’ offense and guided a group that finished 18th in passing and total offense last year.

Mortensen will be the first former Razorback player to coordinate a game against his college team since former Arkansas receiver James Shibest served as a special teams coordinator for Virginia Tech’s 35-24 victory at the 2016 Belk Bowl. Rhett Lashlee, a walk-on quarterback at Arkansas, also served as Auburn's offensive coordinator when the Tigers defeated the Razorbacks 56-3 in 2016.

A nine-year support staff member at Alabama, Mortensen has been back to Fayetteville multiple times for games since his playing career ended.

“I’ve had an opportunity to go back a handful of times and it’s always really meaningful,” Mortensen said Tuesday on the Hawgs Sports Network Daily Podcast. “I love Fayetteville, I love Northwest Arkansas, I love Arkansas, the state. My parents made Northwest Arkansas their home. It’s always fun to go back. I still have a lot of friends there.

“The first time I went back — maybe the first couple of times — being on the sideline was a little bit weird initially. But once you get in the flow of the game, it just becomes a game.”

Mortensen spent three seasons as a back-up quarterback over two stints at Arkansas. He spent the 2004-05 seasons with the Razorbacks, transferred to Samford from 2006-07, then came back to Arkansas for his final year of eligibility in 2008.

He was recruited to Arkansas out of Landmark Christian School by then-head coach Houston Nutt, offensive coordinator Roy Wittke and offensive line coach Mike Markuson, the area recruiter for Atlanta.

“I really developed a good relationship with Coach Wittke,” Mortensen said. “I had done my research and Coach Wittke and been at Eastern Illinois where he helped recruit and develop Tony Romo, who at that point was not yet a household name. But I was really impressed with what he had done with Romo.”

Mortensen battled a labrum injury throughout his college career and played in only four games at Arkansas, all as a redshirt freshman in 2005. His shoulder injury went undiagnosed for multiple years and was eventually revealed to be torn in two places.

“I probably didn’t complain enough,” Mortensen said. “I thought it was maybe a product of throwing a lot my whole life. I tried to rehab it but never got the MRI until my senior year until it was really too late. My throwing motion changed. I battled through that. That part was frustrating. I really wish I would have gotten an MRI sooner.”

Mortensen has no regrets about choosing Arkansas. He played with multiple first-round NFL Draft picks at other positions and he might be the only Arkansas player to share the quarterback room with four players who were multi-year starters for the Razorbacks — Matt Jones, Casey Dick, Ryan Mallett and Tyler Wilson.

“There were some really good players there,” Mortensen said.

Saturday’s game will be unique in that Arkansas’ offensive coordinator is one of Mortensen’s former college head coaches, Bobby Petrino. Mortensen came back to the Razorbacks for Petrino’s first season as Arkansas’ head coach.

“I think any time you get a new experience, you learn new things,” Mortensen said. “Coach Petrino obviously has an incredible track record as an offensive coach and developer of quarterbacks.”

Mortensen credits Petrino for helping him learn the position better.

“I felt like I learned a lot about the other side of the ball,” Mortensen said. “The offense required you to redirect protections, required you to have some run checks that were very specific as to fronts, coverages, pressures. I learned more about blitzes, coverages, how the fronts and coverages tie together in some areas. I learned more about the run game.

“I think [I learned] some methodologies with how to read a defense, how to read zone coverages that were different. The other ways I learned were really good, but these were some interesting ways to look at the pass game. Some of it I still carry today into coaching.”

Mortenen said Petrino did a good job of “coaching the how, not just the what.” There was an emphasis on fundamentals at all positions.

“The key to getting your quarterback to play well is getting the 10 guys around him to play well,” Mortensen said. “I think he and the staff held the rest of the offense to a really high standard to do their job at a high level. I certainly learned a lot there.”

Mortensen continued his football education through nine seasons as a support staffer at Alabama. Working on Nick Saban’s staff from 2014-22 as a graduate assistant and offensive analyst, Mortensen shared office space with the likes of Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian, Mike Locksley, Bill O’Brien and Brian Daboll.

“I was blessed enough to get to Alabama, where that was a whole other explosion of growth and learning for me,” Mortensen said.

At UAB, Mortensen works under long-time NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer, who hired Mortensen to his first coaching staff before the 2023 season.

“I have a lot of confidence in Coach Dilfer as a leader, as a person, as a football coach,” Mortensen said. “I really think highly of him, and that’s confirmed as I’ve had an opportunity to be in the building with him.”

Mortensen’s offense is coming off of a disappointing outing at Louisiana-Monroe last Saturday. UAB was held to 259 yards during the 32-6 loss to ULM and was scored against twice as the game slipped away after halftime.

Trailing 13-6, the Blazers allowed a safety and they had an interception returned for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Like all teams, Mortensen said his offense has a lot to improve this time of year.

“I’m probably misquoting him a little bit, but Coach [Bill] Belichick used to say, ‘Before you win, you have to keep from losing,’” Mortensen said. “In other words, before you win a game, you can’t give the game away.

“I give [ULM] a lot of credit. I think they played well. They are very well coached. Their players played well and they had a good plan and did a good job. But I don’t believe we made them beat us; we beat ourselves. We had two fumbles, had a guy slip and end up with a safety, had a punt blocked in the game and threw an interception. And we had penalties…in critical areas.”

Mortensen likes his offense, which includes several returners from a year ago. His group will be challenged by an Arkansas defense that had a mostly solid day last week against Oklahoma State, including holding All-America running back Ollie Gordon to 2.9 yards per rushing attempt.

“They’re really good [in personnel and scheme],” Mortensen said. “They’ve got really good players. I think they play hard. They’ve got good defensive team speed. It’s evident they’re well-coached. They line up well, they adjust well and then they play well post-snap.

“I think they’re good at all three levels. You can’t say, ‘Hey, there’s one thing to go pick on or one weakness.’ I think they’re doing a really good job. They look like a really well-coached team.”

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