It was spring break for the UAB football team last week but you wouldn’t find Jackson Bratton laying languidly along white sand beaches or sipping cocktails and slurping back oysters.

Bundled head-to-toe, and braving a frigid morning breeze and dense fog across the surface of Pickwick Lake in the northwestern corner of the state, Bratton pitches a perfect cast from his reel into the almost still waters branching from the Tennessee River.

One after the other. One after the other.

“I don’t do a ton of fishing now that I’m in college playing football but when I get the chance, I love to go,” Bratton said. “I was small-mouth fishing last week.”

The Blazers returned to practice this week, following a brief reprieve, and Bratton is trolling for a much larger haul on the field as the redshirt junior acclimates to an increased role as the most experienced linebacker at a position that lost three senior starters from a year ago.

An entirely new coaching staff breeds intense and open competition across the board but it did not take long for Bratton to impress with tales of his offseason work ethic and a keen study of the film.

“He’s got all the intangibles and tangibles,” UAB defensive coordinator Sione Ta’ufo’ou said. “He learns fast, asks great questions and coaches all the young guys. He helps his teammates and communicates well. He runs well, (is) physical and gets off blocks. He’s got good eyes and he fits it well.”

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Before arriving at UAB, Bratton was a 4-star prospect out of Muscle Shoals and ranked as one of the top five players in Alabama and top 150 nationally for the 2020 recruiting cycle. He was eventually signed by Nick Saban at Alabama but hit the transfer portal after two years with the Crimson Tide and enrolled at UAB last spring.

The 6-foot-3, 235-pound transfer earned a contributing role behind 2022 C-USA First-Team selection Noah Wilder — who finished his career third (339) on UAB’s all-time tackles list — and slides into Wilder’s position as on-field play caller after appearing in all 13 games last season. Bratton finished with 31 tackles in his reserve role and posted a career-high nine tackles in the UAB’s bowl-clinching win at Louisiana Tech in the final game of the regular season.

“I haven’t really been a leader since my senior year of high school and I’m learning how to do that on the college level,” Bratton said. “I’d be lying if I told you I knew how to come out here and lead everybody. I’m not a big vocal guy, I like to lead by example, but I’m trying to learn how to back up my words with what I’m doing. It is something new to me, I’ve never done it in college, but it’s something I’m excited for and eager to learn.”

Wilder’s tutelage notwithstanding, Bratton received valuable lessons from former LSU transfer Tyler Taylor and Georgia Southern graduate transfer Reynard Ellis. Both combined for 125 tackles (8 for loss) and three sacks in their final collegiate season on the Southside and experienced the rigors of transferring into a crowded position group.

“I learned a lot from all three of them,” Bratton said. “Noah taught me the tough part of the game. He’s a tough dude. He may not be the biggest dude in the world but he’s going to play his butt off. I learned how to push harder from Noah because he is one of the hardest workers I’ve ever been around.”

“Tyler and Reynard are both great players as well and I learned a lot from both of them,” he added. “All three of those seniors, I’m going to miss them. I already do miss them every day but learned a lot from each and every one of them.”

The knowledge passed down to Bratton only goes so far with a new coaching staff as a divergent scheme is implanted this spring. A bulk of the on-field adjustment duties are Bratton’s burden to bear but it falls on every player to do the work in regard to their responsibilities.

Only four days into practice, Ta’ufo’ou is pleased with the learning curve of the defensive unit and what he has witnessed from Bratton.

“They’ve done a great in terms of asking the right questions,” Ta’ufo’ou said. “We play in multiple worlds and multiple fronts and they’re learning how to put things in buckets. Similar to a pre-snap mentality. They’ve done a great job understanding that and building it.”

“Jackson has done a phenomenal job taking a deep breath and understanding what bucket we’re in and how we’re going to operate,” he added. “He’s a team guy. The room matters to him. The team matters to him. He wants to see everybody be successful.”

The Blazers retain the services of Reise Collier, Deshaun Oliver Jr., Tamarious Brown and last year’s special teams standout Charlie Goode, but creating quality depth behind Bratton is paramount with a trio of newcomers that include West Alabama transfer Jay Tinker, Marshall transfer James Smyre and early-enrollee freshman Everett Roussaw.

“A lot of younger guys are coming along and that’s a big credit to Coach Sione,” Bratton said. “He’s an unbelievable teacher and the whole coaching staff is (filled with) amazing coaches — a top-tier staff and everybody is going to see that soon. I’m excited to see where this next step goes.”