UAB football players join Athletes.org and introduce the school to the future of college athletics

It’s too soon to say what kind of college football coach Trent Dilfer is going to be in the long run. One season is too small a sample size to know if he’ll even have a long run, in the profession or at UAB.

On the field, he deserves time to show what he can do moving forward from his 4-8 debut. Off the field, he did something last month that should endear him to current and future players, if not to the current administration.

By allowing representatives of Athletes.org to meet with his team for 90 minutes, by letting two leaders of a players association for college athletes make their case to the Blazers in person, Dilfer displayed the kind of forward thinking that’s rare among Division I football coaches.

Oh, sure, many of them say all the right things in support of increased compensation, full representation and overall empowerment of college athletes, a revolution that’s already begun and is far from done. Dilfer didn’t just talk about it. He did something about it.

He gave his players a chance to learn more about what the future may look like. He gave them a choice to be on the cutting edge of change, and they made their voices heard, voting to become the first entire college team to join a players association.