UAB Blazers College Football Pregame Quote, 10/17/2022

Good morning. Obviously very proud of our football team. Proud of our players and our staff. Had a lot of momentum swings, had a lot of adversity, early in the game, especially in the first half, had lead changes in the second half. I feel like each team has to go through that and we’ve been through that several seasons here at UAB. It’s college football. You’re going to have adverse situations and adverse situations provide the opportunity, really, for your team to show its character, for your team to show its toughness. It provides an opportunity for your team to build on its character and its toughness. We came out, we start the game, we turn the football over on the first play of the game, they drive down and score, and boom, here we are. I thought our team never blinked, we stuck together, we were positive, and you’ve got to go through these games. You’ve got to have the opportunity to show what you’re made of and be able to respond. It’s not how you react, it’s how you respond, and I thought this team responded well. We were down 14-10 at half. There was no blink, we were together, we were focused. To come out the second half and outscore Charlotte 24-6 in the second half was a big statement and it was a big moment for this football team. Defensively, Grayson Cash comes out with the interception on the first play of the second half and sets the tone. We start making plays, we drive down, we kick a field goal. We still had not taken the lead yet. We go back and forth, the defense gets another stop, and boom, we’re able to eventually take the lead. Charlotte responds back and takes the lead back and we were able to respond again. Just extremely proud of our players and our staff. That was a big moment. Each team, throughout the season, you’ve got to have those opportunities and that moment. We had that opportunity earlier in the season and we didn’t get it done. There’s growth and development from our team. Felt like the leadership continues to grow on this football team, and that was a great conference win at home. Moving forward, we’ve got Western Kentucky who is sitting there 2-1, they’ve got one of the top offenses in the country, they’ve got the number one rush defense in the conference. We’ve got to go up there on a Friday night. It’s a big game, big opportunity. It’s a tremendous challenge in front us on both sides of the ball and as a football team.

On playing better on the road:

Number one, offensively, we’ve got to protect the football. If you look at our two losses this year, we had four turnovers against Liberty and then we had two costly turnovers against Rice. We’ve got to have great ball security. We’ve got to be savvy in situations, whether it’s third down, whether it’s red zone, whether it’s goal line. Like last game, we’ve got to make some adjustments there and be able to execute. Defensively, they’re going to throw the football. They’re one of the top offenses in the country. They snap the ball a lot, their quarterback’s completion percentage is around 70 percent. We’ve got to be able to defend these guys on the perimeter. They’re a big perimeter offense. They like to stretch the field. We’ve got to tackle well, we’ve got to swarm the football, and we’ve got to be great in situational football.

On Western Kentucky QB Austin Reed:

I think Austin, he’s played a lot of football. From what I understand, he’s a transfer from West Florida. They had a lot of success at West Florida, won a national championship, made deep runs. He transfers in and he’s very accurate. You can tell he’s experienced. He makes a lot of good decisions, because the ball is in his hand every snap and they’re throwing it a lot and he’s making decisions. He’s accurate, he gets it out quick, he keeps the team in good situations and really you can just tell he’s got a firm grasp of what they’re doing. They’re a tempo offense, they’re going to put pressure on us to line up fast, and he’s going to have a lot of options. He’s going to have perimeter options, he’s going to have run game options, and we’ve got to make sure that we line up and we’re able to get the call in and be able to execute our call.

On the success of UAB’s passing defense:

I think in the back end, our secondary as a whole has played extremely well. They’ve executed the gameplan week to week. We have faced several high-powered passing offenses, but each one is a little bit different. This one against Western Kentucky, they’re a little bit different themselves. We’ve got to be able to line up, we’ve got to keep them in front of us. We can bend, but we can’t break. If you look at our linebacker play, our second level play defensively, I feel like our linebackers have really helped stop the run in a three¬≠ down front. They’ve been physical, we’ve been able to get pressure with the three and five¬≠ man fronts. Our second level has played extremely well, we’ve tackled well with Noah Wilder, Jackson Bratton, and Reynard Ellis. Those guys have just done a phenomenal job and the effort and the relentlessness of our defensive front has really showed up. It’s tough sometimes to get pressure with a three-man front. Those guys, from [Isaiah Forte], to [Fish McWilliamsJ, to [Kelle Sanders], to [Kyle Harrell], to [Drew Tuazama], to [Michael Fairbanks II], those guys have really stepped up and in some tough situations have risen up and made some big plays for us. Really, just defensively as a whole, we’ve risen up and had tremendous challenge week after week. We have another huge challenge with a team that averages over 40 points a game, that’s top 10 statically in over seven categories. Again, we have a tremendous challenge, we have a short week, it’s a huge conference game on a Friday night. We’ve got to turn around and make a trip and head up there Thursday. It’s a challenge that our defense gets excited for. They welcome challenges; they’re a very spirited, competitive group that’s going to be excited to play this game.