Manigault took advantage the UAB School of Engineering Guaranteed Internship program to gain first-world experience in the field of civil engineering.Devin Manigault arrived at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in pursuit of two lifelong dreams: to play college football and to become a civil engineer. Nearly four years later, he is leaving UAB as an athlete who showed potential and an engineer who has been nothing short of All-American.

Manigault will graduate from UAB in December after a stellar academic career. In the past year, he was nominated for the School of Engineering’s Student of the Year, and he received the Billy Jones Memorial Traffic Engineering Scholarship. Additionally, he was named to the UAB president’s list and dean’s list multiple times over the course of his career while maintaining a 4.0 grade point average in engineering courses.

Living a Dream

A native of Mobile, Alabama, Manigault spent three seasons as a starter on the defensive line for St. Paul’s Episcopal Academy. During his senior year, he helped the team to a 15-0 record and a state championship.

At that time, UAB Football had appeared in three straight Conference USA championship games, winning two of them — but even when Manigault chose UAB over multiple other suitors, he admits that football was not his only consideration. In fact, when it came down to pursuing lifelong dreams, football was already running in second.

“I knew when I was a little kid that I wanted to be an engineer,” Manigault said. “I was in third grade when someone from Alabama Power talked to our class about building things with bricks and concrete. It sparked an interest that stuck with me.”

When his athletic success began to draw attention from multiple Division I programs, Manigault says he picked UAB based on two factors that had nothing to do with the team. “Coming out of that COVID year, I realized how important my family was to me, so I wanted to go to college somewhere close to home,” he said. “And of course, it had to be a school that offered civil engineering.”

Manigault will graduate from UAB on Dec. 13 after a stellar academic career.

A Singular Focus

Manigault joined the Blazers as a defensive lineman for the 2021 football season. After completing the season, he faced a difficult decision. Balancing the demanding schedule of college football with his academic responsibilities proved challenging, so Manigault chose to retire from the team and dedicate his full attention to his studies.

With the extra time he now had, Manigault became active in the UAB chapters of the American Society of Civil Engineers and American Concrete Institute and took advantage of UAB’s Guaranteed Internship program to gain hands-on experience in the field.

“The great thing about being a civil engineer at UAB is that there are so many opportunities for internships — particularly in construction,” he said. “In the summer after my sophomore year, I did an internship with Stone Building Company, where I was able to get experience in a lot of different aspects of the industry. I was able to take what I had learned in class and see firsthand how those things are applied by professionals in the field.”

Manigault said there are “plenty of classes that stood out” in preparing him for his work, specifically mentioning a construction management course taught by Wesley Zech, Ph.D., and various courses taught by Jason Kirby, Ph.D.

“Devin was a student in my Civil Engineering Analysis course while interning and carrying a full course load,” said Avinash Unnikrishnan, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering. “I don’t recall his ever missing or arriving late to a lecture or submitting an assignment late. This speaks to his high levels of maturity and ability to balance demands on his time with his coursework.”

Manigault is currently in his fifth stint with Stone, and after graduation he plans to join the company full time as a project engineer.

Life After Football

Even with all his academic and professional success, he says he never fully left Blazer football behind. “The first game they played without me was hard,” he said. “But after that, I was able to adjust and recognize that this is what my life is now. I still go to as many games as possible and pull for those guys because I know how hard they are working.”

Manigault maintains close friendships with former teammates and with some players who came in after he left the team. He says his advice for young people who are interested in playing college athletics is to stay focused on their life goals on and off the field.

“Work hard toward your athletic goals, but don’t let athletics get in the way of other things that interest you,” he said. “At the end of the day, you are a student-athlete and student comes first.”

That lesson, Manigault says, is one of the key things he learned from professors and coaches alike.

“Even before I thought about giving up football, coaches stressed to us to not let football define who we are,” he said. “When I went to the football facility to let the coaches know I was leaving the program, one of the coaches pulled me aside and told me that I was doing something that every player would have to do eventually. At some point, everyone must move on from football, and they have to decide what to do next. If you keep your eyes open to the opportunities that are out there, you can choose the path that is best for you.”