UAB Blazers College Football Pregame Quote, 09/28/2020

We will backtrack and talk about the South Alabama game first. Any time you go on the road and get a win, it’s a big deal. I thought all sides played pretty well. As always, there are things to clean up. We protected the ball on offense. On defense, I thought we were better. We fixed some things we needed to fix. Special teams were solid, but that surprise onside kick did get us. Other than that, I thought we were pretty good. Penalties are something we can clean up. That is something we can work on. Overall, it was just a really good night for us. When it was over, it was great to have just a few days off for our guys to get healed up as we come into the big game against UTSA. For them, to be 3-0 is a big deal. Give Coach Traylor and that group a lot of credit. They are playing really well, really hard and believing. They have won some close games and found ways to win. Offensively, they are getting a lot of snaps, 70-something snaps a game. Their quarterback, who has been playing very efficiently, did get banged up. Their backup, who was at New Mexico State, so we spent a lot of time watching him, came in and threw for about 230 yards in the second half. They have a really good running back in McCormick, who was our freshman of the year last year. Defensively, Coach Nix is doing a very good job with the defense. They are very aggressive and have a lot of different looks. They are a good defense. And I coached with their special teams coordinator. They are very well coached. It is a big game for us. This is Children’s Harbor week. One of my favorite weeks of the year is Homecoming and Children’s Harbor game where we wear the alternate uniforms with the names of patients on the backs. Our kids know these folks. We have been doing this for a while. It is one of the great things that we do in our program. It is a big week for us, and obviously, our first conference game as well.

On defending the home winning streak at Legion Field :

They are going to be one of the better teams. We have played some good teams. You go back to North Texas when we played them here. Go back to LA Tech. We have played some good teams there. But you have an undefeated team that comes in here with a lot of belief. They are going to be one of the better teams.

On Bryson Lucero’s performance at South Alabama:

For us, it was that he came in and played with a lot of poise and confidence. He threw the ball well. Just like any quarterback, he has things that might not show up to the average fan. Maybe he missed a read or something like that. It was just a super-solid night. That is kind of what we expected from him. That’s what we hoped for: to go down there on a big stage and play really well. He was in there yesterday asking how he could get better and where he can improve. That’s the thing we love about him. That is what we have in that whole quarterback room. We are really pleased with him.

On Spencer Brown’s weight loss:

We kind of got into the mode that he wasn’t going to play at 240. It is not who you are. It takes a village. It took all of us together. I always say that it is always good to play with a chip on your shoulder. You have to have something to prove. He had something to prove this year. He wants to continue to play past us. It was every one of those things. And, he was never terrible from a training standpoint. He just knew he had to take the next step. It is fun, as a coach, to see something that everyone had talked about and committed to. He is the one that had to go make it happen. It is always fun to see a young man do that. I am proud of him.

On COVID tests and injuries:

We were zero this past test. Of course, it is always a constant. We have almost our whole team back. We will see where Cash is. Number-wise we had a bunch of guys out that open date with hamstrings and shoulders. We should be as close as we have been to 100 percent. When you test as many times as we do, you will see. We are at zero right now.