There are some transfer additions that carry a little more weight. Alabama’s latest roster addition comes with a backstory far heavier than the usual transfer-portal shuffle. Kalen DeBoer is bringing the Birmingham native to Tuscaloosa just months after a traumatic end to his time at UAB.
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According to Bama247’s Mike Rodak, Alabama has added former University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) DL Josh Underwood to its roster. The 6’2, 315-pound sophomore entered the transfer portal in January. Now he is back in the state, only this time wearing crimson and white. But Underwood’s story caught national headlines on November 22, 2025, just hours before UAB’s Senior Day home game against South Florida.
He was one of two players injured in a stabbing incident at the team’s football operations facility. The situation began the day before, when UAB offensive lineman Daniel Mincey and defensive lineman JaSire Peterson got into a brief altercation during practice.
“After that happened, things kinda took a turn,” Underwood recounted in an interview with Valerie Bell of abcNews on December 15, 2025. “We were separating them, one person went to one side of the field, the other side of the field, then they sent them home due to security reasons.” It was the next day that things went from bad to worse.
The following morning went without incident. Normal stretching before heading for breakfast. But once inside the team facility, the fight picked up again. Instead of being a bystander, Underwood chose to step in.
“In my mind, OK hey these guys are fighting, I need to try to break this up,” he said. “Not knowing when I went to grab my teammate to break up the fight, I see people standing around, waiting for someone to jump and make the first move and break it up.” The only problem was that Underwood had no idea that Daniel Mincey had a knife on him.
“When I went to grab my teammate, I felt something hit me in my hand. I thought it was just my hand smooshing between the door or wall or something,” Underwood said.
Then came the blood. His hand was badly injured and all he could do was call out for the coach that he was stabbed. But even in those moment, Underwood was thinking of his friend. “I was telling them, check my teammate first,” he said. “He was in the actual fight, I just got the back end of it.”
It was something no player ever expected to experience. Underwood had arrived at UAB as a walk-on and quickly found his place in the defensive line room. That group, he said, became particularly close. “The D line I know for sure, we were all very close, talked on the daily, I consider JaSire [Peterson] my brother.”
Underwood and Peterson were taken to UAB Hospital. Underwood suffered broken bones and severe cuts to his hand, leaving him in a brace with initial uncertainty regarding long-term nerve and muscle damage. Both were eventually released from the hospital and continued their recovery, but the episode abruptly interrupted what was supposed to be Underwood’s first college football season.
Meanwhile, the assailant, Mincey, was immediately removed from the team roster. He was then arrested and booked into the Jefferson County Jail. He was subsequently charged with attempted murder (for the attack on Peterson) and first-degree assault (for injuring Underwood).
The physical part of the assault was one thing. But even mentally, Underwood was shaken. “Things are gonna happen, fights are gonna happen, but those are your brothers,” he said. “When that happened, that shocked everybody.”
But this did not deter the game from going ahead. According to UAB athletic officials and interim head coach Alex Mortensen, the university and the team leadership collectively made the decision to push forward with the game primarily because it was Senior Day. They wanted to honor the graduating senior athletes who were playing their final home game of the season.
Underwood expressed that the situation should have been handled differently, arguing that the facility should have been locked down and the game shouldn’t have been played that day.
“Those guys were in trauma, and they were given the ability to not play,” Underwood said. “But also at that same time, I feel like you should know, hey this isn’t right right now. These guys are needing to recover, need the help, need the counseling as soon as something like that happens.”
Josh Underwood, meanwhile, is making the much more straightforward trip from one program to the other. As for Kalen DeBoer, the move also comes at an important point in the season. Alabama opened 2026 with a 48-10 victory over East Carolina and now faces Kentucky in Lexington for its first road test.
Alabama has been much harder to beat at home during Kalen DeBoer’s tenure, but the Tide finished last season by winning five consecutive true road games, including a CFP victory at Oklahoma. The Kentucky trip will present a different challenge, particularly with QB Keelon Russell making his first road start.
Where Josh Underwood fits into Alabama’s defensive rotation remains to be seen. There is no reason to assume an immediate starring role just because his name has appeared on the roster. For now, the move means something simpler. After an experience that could have derailed his football career, he has another locker room, another coaching staff, and another chance to play the sport that brought him here in the first place.