Last season, TCU was invited to the galleryfurniture.com Bowl -- despite finishing fifth in the conference and losing to UAB, 38-17, in the ninth game of the season.
Of course, the galleryfurtuniture.com Bowl folks were intrigued by the match-up they got -- Texas A&M against TCU in Houston. Texas A&M won, 28-9.
At mid-season last fall, the Blazers had been bumped from the bowl picture. They played well early, beating Montana State, 41-13, in the opener and playing Florida State close in Tallahassee before losing, 29-7. In their third game, the Blazers blew past Army, 55-3.
Then came a crushing 3-0 loss at Southern Miss in the fourth game, followed by a 24-7 loss at Central Florida and a 31-17 loss at home to Cincinnati.
But the Blazers reeled off four straight victories -- beating Tulane, Memphis, TCU and Houston -- and went into the final week of the season thinking bowl game. Their season ended with a 24-6 loss at Pittsburgh.
Now, the Blazers are starting over. Brown will have his youngest team in three years, a team that lost nine starters from the "Steel Shield" defense that led the nation in rush defense and was fifth in total defense.
The success or failure of this year’s defense could be determined by its summer workouts.
"This is going to be the biggest summer program we’ve had in three years," Brown told the Birmingham News. "We’ve got to get bigger and stronger. This defense has to do the same thing the seniors from last year [in 2001] did three years ago, and we’ve got to have power on offense."
Brown, in his eighth year at UAB, has helped the program grow into Division I-A status. It was only 11 seasons ago that UAB began playing football as a Division III program. The Blazers moved to Division I-AA status in the early 1990s, and Brown helped the program’s transition to Division I-A in 1996.
Despite the lack of postseason showings, the Blazers have had a successful run of late in C-USA. In their three seasons in the league, the Blazers are 12-8, and they have twice finished in a tie for second.
Brown was offensive coordinator at Oklahoma before taking the UAB job, and he has been the head coach at some places where it is tough to win -- Vanderbilt (five years), Rice (two years) and Cincinnati (one year).
You can bet Brown isn’t backing down from this year’s challenge.
QUARTERBACKS
When the spring started, it appeared that senior Thomas Cox (6-2, 190) would retain the starting job at quarterback, but that changed as practices continued and red-shirt freshman Darrell Hackney (6-2, 230) was given the chance to show his stuff.
As the Blazers entered the fall, it was a two-man race. That didn’t bother Brown, who would have nothing to do with talk of a quarterback controversy.
Last season, Cox took over as the starter midway through the season when Jeff Aaron, a senior, went out with an ankle injury. The Blazers were 4-1 with Cox as the starter last season and they are 6-1 over the last three seasons with him starting.
Cox completed 50-of-115 passes (43.5 percent) for 727 yards and four touchdowns. He was intercepted six times. He was also the team’s second-leading rusher with 445 yards, averaging 4.4 yards per carry, and five touchdowns.
Aaron was 77-of-148 for 828 yards before being hurt. He threw four touchdown passes and six interceptions.
Hackney, of Atlanta, made it an interesting spring. He started the spring slowly, often missing open receivers, but soon honed in while also showing his quickness in the running game.
In the second scrimmage, Hackney completed 19-of-30 passes for 237 yards and threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to Sherrod "Roddy" White. Hackney also scored on a 45-yard run.
Cox completed 11-of-16 passes for 130 yards and was intercepted once.
In the spring game, Hackney completed 18-of-33 passes for 186 yards and two touchdowns. He threw two touchdown passes. Cox completed 12-of-18 passes for 143 yards and a touchdown, but was intercepted four times. Cox also rushed for 108 yards on 12 carries.
RUNNING BACKS
The Blazers will have a different look -- a bigger look -- with the departure of leading rusher Jegil Dugger, who rushed for 839 yards and six touchdowns last season. Dugger, chosen to the All-C-USA second team, averaged 3.8 yards per carry.
Sophomore Theron Dudley (6-1, 230) will likely be the starting tailback with sophomore Kendal Gibson (5-11, 240) at fullback. The Blazers could go with more of a two-back set this season.
Gibson can also play tailback in a one-back set, while Dudley could line up in the slot.
However, Gibson has no problems with the move to fullback.
Dugger was also a good receiver out of the backfield. He had 10 catches for 62 yards. Dudley and Griffin both caught one pass each. Dudley played in 11 games and Gibson nine.
In the spring game, Gibson rushed for 42 yards on nine carries and scored on a 2-yard run. Dudley had seven carries for 33 yards.
Senior Bernard Anderson (6-1, 230) was slotted as the backup fullback and junior Mario Stanley (5-10, 185) was the backup tailback in the spring.
"We can do a lot of things with this backfield," Brown said. "We may line up with Kendal in the backfield and split Theron out. I think with these two guys back there it gives us a more balanced offense and the ability to pound at people a little more."
Junior Mario Stanley (5-10, 185) should also get some carries, although he missed some time in the spring after spraining his ankle in the second scrimmage.
WIDE RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS
Despite the loss of second-leading receiver Leron Little, the Blazers have an abundance of talent and experience at the receiver positions. Little caught 17 passes for 207 yards last season.
Senior Willie Quinnie (6-2, 180) returns after leading the team in receiving last season. Quinnie caught 36 passes for 460 yards and the team-high three touchdowns.
Quinnie also rushed for 23 yards on two carries and scored on a 34-yard run. He was thrown for a loss on the other reverse.
Red-shirt freshman Travouris Thomas (5-10, 180) was slotted as Quinnie’s backup at the "Z" receiver in the spring.
The other starters in the spring were sophomore White (6-2, 190) at "X" receiver and sophomore Chico Cleveland (6-2, 210) at "W" receiver.
Senior Kenny Borders (6-3, 190) was White’s backup and red-shirt freshman Bradley Chavez (6-0, 180) was Cleveland’s backup.
Cleveland played tight end last season but moved to the inside receiver in the spring. He had 10 catches for 140 yards.
White was third on the team in catches with 14 in nine games. He had 236 receiving yards and caught two touchdown passes.
Borders caught four passes for 41 yards last season.
Another receiver with experience is senior T.J. Simmons (6-3, 205), who caught four passes for 50 yards and had one touchdown catch a year ago.
Cleveland had four catches for 56 yards in the spring game and Quinnie had six for 58 yards. White had three catches for 57 yards, including a 25-yard touchdown. Borders caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from Hackney.
In the spring, sophomore Jason Southall (5-10, 175) moved from receiver to right cornerback. Southall was fourth on the team in catches last season with 14 for 193 yards and one touchdown.
Sophomore Sam Dudley (6-3, 265) is the probable starter at tight end after finishing strong last season. Sophomores Cedric Hampton (6-4, 270) and Lynorse Garrett (6-5, 215) will be the backups.
OFFENSIVE LINE
It is a solid offensive line with the return of four starters, including sophomore guard Andy Galloway (6-5, 310), who was chosen to the C-USA All-Freshman team last season.
Junior Larry Coachman (6-1, 340) will probably be the other starter at guard. Coachman’s backup at right guard will be sophomore Jimmy Joynt (6-3, 285). Red-shirt freshman Anthony Larry (6-3, 290) will back up Galloway at left guard.
The biggest void from the 2001 line was left by tackle Preston Fray, a C-USA second-team player.
Senior Brad Spencer (6-5, 305) was slotted as the starter at left tackle ahead of junior Wilbert Hamilton (6-4, 295).
At right tackle, junior Artavious Williams (6-5, 340) was the starter in the spring with sophomore Barker White (6-4, 290) as the backup.
Senior Kirk Tuck (6-2, 300) was the starting center in the spring and red-shirt freshman Matt Batusic (6-2, 275) was the backup.
KICKERS
The Blazers return part-time starting kicker Nick Hayes (6-1, 180), a sophomore who took over for senior Rhett Gallego last season.
Gallego was only 4-of-10 on field-goal attempts last season, missing 4-of-6 from the 20- to 29-yard range. His long field goal was a 45-yarder. Gallego was coming off a great junior year when he made 19-of-24 field-goal attempts and kicked winning field goals against LSU and East Carolina.
DEFENSIVE LINE
The project of rebuilding the defensive line started in the spring. All four starters departed, and two of them -- end Bryan Thomas and tackle Eddie Freeman -- have gone on to the NFL.
Two seniors were slotted as starters at ends in the spring -- Hassan McKeithen (6-2, 265) and James Malone (6-3, 285). Junior Deijon Hart (6-2, 215) was McKeithen’s backup at right end and junior Shane Pearson (6-7, 260) was Malone’s backup at the other end.
Malone had the best spring of the linemen, and he has as much experience as any returnee. Last season, he had 26 tackles, one tackle for loss and one sack. He played in all 11 games.
McKeithen also played in all 11 games and finished with 25 tackles, two tackles for loss and three sacks.
Starters in the middle could be senior Marvin Nickson (6-5, 270) at tackle and sophomore Shamar Abrams (6-2, 330) at nose guard. Both were slotted as starters in the spring. Nickson began the spring at end and Malone was playing on the interior of the line.
Their backups were red-shirt freshman Ernest Respress (6-5, 275) at tackle and sophomore Randal Gibson (6-0, 285) at nose guard.
Junior Kenneth Harris (6-3, 245) will battle for time. Red-shirt freshman Sam Williamson (6-5, 280) may work his way into the rotation at nose guard.
LINEBACKERS
Middle linebacker Rod Taylor, the sixth-leading tackler in C-USA, leaves the biggest void in the linebacking corps. Taylor, chosen to the All-C-USA first team, finished 2001 with 110 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, three sacks, two interceptions and one fumble recovery.
He is not the only key linebacker gone.
Linebacker Nick Stewart has also departed. Last season, Stewart was third on the team in tackles with 84 and had seven tackles for loss.
This year’s group of linebackers will be young.
Sophomore Zach Woodfin (6-2, 235) was the starter at middle linebacker in the spring with another sophomore, Nigel Eldridge (6-2, 230) as the backup.
At the other linebacker, sophomore Gaylon Black (6-1, 215) was the starter in the spring ahead of junior Darrius Taylor (6-0, 230).
Of that group, Taylor was the leading tackler last season with 19 in 11 games. Eldridge had 10 tackles in eight games and Black nine in 10 games. Woodfin had seven tackles in 10 games.
DEFENSIVE BACKS
With two starters returning to the secondary, it may be the strength of the defense heading into fall practice.
Junior Dio Hill (5-11, 185) returns and will start at left cornerback while senior Chris Brown (6-1, 190) is back after starting at safety in 2001.
Hill started at cornerback and moved to safety in the spring. He had 19 tackles last season and led the team with three interceptions.
Brown was seventh on the team in tackles with 51 and had two interceptions and 13 pass breakups.
Red-shirt freshman Allen West (6-2, 190) was Brown’s backup at free safety in the spring and sophomore Leroy Harris (6-2, 205) was Hill’s backup at left cornerback.
Departed starters are free safety Adrian Singleton, strong safety Torrey Hale and weak safety Avery Warner.
Warner was second on the team in tackles last season. He had 92 tackles and nine tackles for loss, while Stewart had 84 and seven tackles for loss.
Sophomore Carlos Hendricks (5-10, 175) was the slotted as the starter at right cornerback in the spring, with Southall as the backup.
Seniors Sentell Winston (6-2, 197) and Derrick Bush (6-4, 215) were the top two weak-side safeties in the spring, while sophomore Thurman Pearson (6-1, 185) was slotted as the starting strong safety ahead of red-shirt freshman Julius Wainwright (6-0, 190).
SPECIAL TEAMS
The Blazers have two of the top returners in C-USA coming back this season.
Quinnie, the receiver, was third in the league in punt returns last season, averaging 12.1 yards on 17 returns.
Thomas, the redshirt freshman wide receiver, was slotted as the backup punt returner in the spring.
Torrey Hale, the team’s other primary punt returner last season, has departed. Hale averaged 6.4 yards on 14 returns.
Southall, converted from receiver to cornerback in the spring, was second in the conference in kickoff returns last season, averaging 25.4 yards on 23 returns.
White will also return kicks. He averaged 21 yards on two returns last season.
Both snappers return -- junior Mark Pettus (6-2, 225) and sophomore John Newton (5-10, 210).
RECRUITING CLASS
Brown says this class of recruits is his strongest since the program moved to the Division I level in 1996.
As always, Brown and his staff recruited heavily in their talent-rich home state. The class consists of 27 players, 15 from Alabama.
Included in the group are five players from the Birmingham area, including running back Dan Burks (6-0, 198) and quarterback Curtis Falany (6-1, 190), who were teammates at Vestavia Hills High School.
Falany is one of four quarterbacks who were signed. The other are Anthony Johnson (6-3, 220) of Byrnes High in Duncan, S.C.; Kyle Bissinger (6-3, 215) of North Cobb High in Atlanta; and Chris Williams (6-0, 195) of Perry Walker High in New Orleans.
Williams was also recruited as a defensive back.
Johnson was rated as the No. 7 "dual threat" quarterback by Rivals.com. He was also recruited by Georgia, Tennessee, Louisville, Tulane, Middle Tennessee and Temple.
"It's another strong class," Brown said. "They've been better every year and this is a really good group. We've got good athletes, good size, good speed, and kids that can play a good variety of positions."
With 10 lettermen returning on offense and 25 on defense, Brown hopes to red-shirt the majority of the newcomers.
There are three junior college transfers -- offensive lineman Al Cummings (6-0, 310) of East Mississippi Community College, defensive lineman Gerry Gilbert (6-3, 260) of Middle Georgia Junior College and offensive lineman Corey Whitaker (6-4, 295) of Northeast Mississippi Junior College.
Cornerback Warren Butler (5-11, 185), a freshman, comes to UAB from Georgia Military.
"I think that any junior college guy that we bring in we expect to help us a little bit," Brown said.
"I think there might be some ‘skill’ offensive guys that can help next year, maybe a few secondary guys that will have to play backup roles, other than the junior college cornerback, Warren Butler. Other than that, I don't think we will use a lot of these kids next season. We hope that none of the linemen we signed will be playing and we can red-shirt every one of them."
Even with Hackney returning having three years left as the quarterback, Brown was glad to get several more.
"There are some really good quarterbacks in this group," he said.
In addition to the four quarterbacks, the class consisted of two running backs, two wide receivers, and five offensive linemen. Two players were listed as wide receivers/running backs and one was a place-kicker/wide receiver.
Defensively, there were six defensive backs and six linemen in the class.
"During the recruiting process we were going over projected senior starters for next year and it's possible that we will have five starters on defense and only three on offense, so we will still be a more mature team on defense than on offense for another year," Brown said.
"We played with mostly freshmen and sophomores on offense last year [there were 15 underclassmen who were either starters or backups on offense in 2001] and that's where I think you'll see some changes. We'll be a much better offensive team and we might be really good for quite a while. We have a lot of good young players, including this recruiting class."
BLUE RIBBON ANALYSIS
At first glance, it appears that rebuilding one of Conference USA’s best defenses will be almost impossible in one season.
Not so, says veteran coach Watson Brown.
"We still have got a lot of people on defense that have played a lot of football," Brown said.
Still, you don’t lose nine starters -- including two first- and second round NFL picks -- and not miss a beat. Defensive end Thomas and tackle Freeman helped give the Blazers an imposing defensive front, and middle linebacker Taylor was one of the best in the league.
In conference games, UAB led the league in rushing defense, allowing 43.7 yards per game, and was second in pass efficiency defense. The Blazers led the league in total defense, allowing 248.1 yards per game, and were second in scoring defense, allowing 16.6 points per game.
It will be hard -- no, make that nearly impossible -- for the Blazers to match those numbers this season.
Offensively, however, the Blazers could be improved. The line returns almost intact, and despite losing leading rusher Dugger, the rushing game should be good. There are two good quarterbacks in Cox and Hackney.
Those two have some talented receivers, and the Blazers would benefit by making use of the passing game. It was almost nonexistent last season. UAB ranked second in C-USA with 186.4 yards in league games, but last in passing with 140.3 yards.
This year, the Blazers will play an eight-game C-USA schedule for the first time since joining the league in 1999. Another second-place finish won’t be easy with the personnel losses on defense, but Brown may have another surprise in store. There weren’t many people picking the Blazers to finish second in 1999.
