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Trent Dilfer is preparing for his first year as head coach of a college football program, and the former NFL quarterback is not holding back.
At American Football Media Days on Tuesday, Dilfer dished on the current state of college football as head coach of UAB.
Lipscomb Academy head coach Trent Dilfer defeats CPA 42-0 to win the Division II Class AA State Football Championship at Finley Stadium, Dec. 1, 2022, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. (George Walker IV/The Tennessean/USA Today Network)
Dilfer expanded on his June comments when he "dared" coaches to try and poach his UAB players through the combination of the transfer portal and NIL.
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"It’s cheating. To coerce a player off a roster – whether you do it through a third person, whether you do it through an agent, a collective – no matter how you do it, it’s cheating. It’s against the rules," Dilfer told reporters Tuesday. "So, let’s go attack that."
Dilfer emphasized that he has no issue with any of his players entering the transfer portal, but he does have a major problem if other programs try to get his players to enter the portal.
"But don’t have a scouting department in your building that’s doing cut-ups of my players and then going and coercing them to enter the portal when they had no idea, they didn’t want to enter the portal," Dilfer continued. "That’s the problem I’m addressing. And I’m not going to stop.
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Trent Dilfer said he has no issue with his players entering the transfer portal, but he does have a major problem if other programs try to get his players to enter it. (George Walker IV/The Tennessean/USA Today Network)
"I have DM’s, I have WhatsApp’s, I have text messages, I have IP addresses, and I’m doing everything in my power to make sure they know, don’t screw with my roster. Now, when they’re in the portal? Great. Do your thing. That’s modern-day college football."
Dilfer spent the last four years as head coach of Lipscomb Academy in Nashville and had a nine-year broadcasting career starting in 2008.
Dilfer told reporters he would be meeting with the NCAA "head of NIL" on Wednesday and would continue to be proactive about protecting his players from being poached.
The UAB logo at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama, on Oct. 17, 2020. (Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
"You want to know my playbook? That’s my playbook," Dilfer said. "I’m going after it. I’m attacking it, I’m being proactive about it because I can’t match the money. I’m not going to go raise $16 million for a collective. But I can scare you to death to mess with my players."
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The Blazers officially joined the American Athletic Conference on July 1 after spending the past 22 years in the Conference USA.
UAB opens the 2022-23 season against North Carolina A&T on Aug. 31.