Trent Dilfer claims Jalen Kitna is better than him as a player 'at every level of football'

After what has been a tumultuous career so far for second-generation quarterback Jalen Kitna, he returns to UAB for the 2025 season once again as the Blazers’ starter. Although UAB went just 3-9 (2-6) last season, Kitna passed for 2,209 yards, 17 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

Heading into his third season at the helm at UAB, head coach and former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer raved about his quarterback on Friday at the American Conference Media Days.

“Here’s how I’ll sum up Jalen Kitna,” Dilfer started. “I was the sixth pick in the NFL Draft in 1994. I was projected the be the first pick. At the time, I was one of the highest-rated quarterbacks that had ever been evaluated. Now I was not very good, but I was very talented.

“Jalen Kitna is better than me at every level of football at this stage of our career. There’s not one thing I was better at than Jalen Kitna is. And I was the sixth pick in the Draft. I also played with seven NFL players on that offense. I had Jeff Tedford as my coach (who’s a much better coach than I am), so I had some advantage.”

Kitna heads into second season at UAB after short stint at Florida

“But our challenge is not for Jalen to play to our expectation, our challenge is to support him with people that can help him flourish,” Dilfer continued. “The responsibility of us coaches is to coach him that well because when you’re given a unique talent, there’s a burden on the coach to not dumb it down too much. We have a responsibility to not just win games, but to get him ready to go have a 15-20 year career in the NFL. And we take that very serious and we demand a lot from him in that process and he has not flinched in that process.”

Kitna’s collegiate career began at Florida, where he attempted just 14 passes in two seasons (2021-22). He then entered the Transfer Portal in 2023 after he was charged with two misdemeanor counts from a child pornography case. Kitna, however, was cleared of five felonies and plead no contest to lesser charges one month later, leading to his path back to college football.

“I had hoped this outcome would exonerate me and provide understanding,” Kitna said in a statement provided to the Gainesville Sun. “The reaction has been quite the opposite and created even more confusion with people making judgments based only on the initial reports, which didn’t tell the whole story.

“The misdemeanor plea of ‘no contest’ is not an admission of guilt and I was not adjudicated by the court, meaning there was no conviction. The police have returned all my devices, because they contain no illegal material.”

Kitna opens his second season as UAB‘s starting quarterback on August 28, when the Blazers host Alabama State in Birmingham. Kick-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+.