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2024 Rewind: The Blazers took a step back in Trent Dilfer’s second season. After winning four games in year one, UAB only managed three wins in year two. Those three wins came convincingly over Alcorn State, Tulsa, and Rice—two of which have new head coaches in 2025. All of UAB’s losses came in convincing fashion, with the exception of a two-point loss to Charlotte. Coincidentally, Charlotte also has a new head coach this season. Recruiting under Dilfer: 2023: On3 - 9th in AAC 247 - 10th in AAC 2024: On3 - 11th in AAC 247 - 9th in AAC 2025: On3 - 13th in AAC 247 - 11th in AAC Blazers on Offense: Former Florida quarterback Jalen Kitna is back for his second season in Dilfer’s offense. The redshirt senior threw for 2,209 yards, 17 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, and completed 62% of his passes in 2024. Kitna is considered one of the top quarterbacks in the AAC, with most publications including him in their preseason All-AAC selections. UTEP transfer Jevon Jackson is expected to start at running back. Jackson was an FCS All-American before transferring to UTEP, where he rushed for 754 yards and 4 touchdowns. He’ll split snaps with returning senior Isaiah Jacobs. Redshirt sophomore Corri Milliner is UAB’s most productive returning receiver. Milliner posted 24 receptions for 416 yards and 3 touchdowns last season. Former consensus 4-star Kaleb Brown transferred in from Iowa (originally committed to Ohio State) and will attempt to live up to his potential, while the tight end position will be littered with new faces and minimal experience. Quarterback Jalen Kitna will be playing behind a less experienced offensive line that gave up 33 sacks last season. However, two of the returning starters are dependable—center Brady Wilson and former South Carolina tackle JonDarius Morgan. New starting guards Calib Perez and Barry Walker combined to play just 86 snaps as backups. Former Wagner offensive tackle Brandon Sneh is expected to start after spending the spring at Kansas State before transferring a second time to UAB. Blazers on Defense: The Blazers’ pass rush in 2024 was on par with Akron’s, to give a general idea of their effectiveness. UAB’s run defense was horrendous, and they struggled to stop most teams from scoring. Supposedly, the bulk of their NIL funds went toward upgrading the defensive line, and they’ve added five transfers. Three of the four projected starters will be newcomers—Old Dominion transfer Amorie Morrison, Boston College transfer Nigel Tate, and Sam Houston transfer Denver Warren (who originally committed to Bowling Green out of high school). A returner that is expected to start is former backup James Smyre, who collected 9 total tackles and 2 sacks last season. UAB lost nearly all of its production at linebacker and have turned to the portal for replacements. Eli Ennis will be one starter and he was an FCS All-American at Nicholls. The other starting linebacker will be Idaho State transfer Calvin Pitcher. The Blazers’ secondary didn’t allow many yards per game, but that was partially because most opponents were able to run the ball at will. Regardless, UAB brought in five portal defensive backs this cycle and returns just one starter—safety Sirad Bryant. Bryant collected 59 total tackles and one interception. Not overly impressive numbers, but PFF graded him well in pass coverage. Backup safety AJ Brown will move into a starting role, and backup cornerback Donald Lee will also step into a starting spot. Pittsburgh transfer Tamarion Crumpley is expected to start opposite Lee, while Maryland transfer Perry Fisher is slated to start at the “star” position. Kicker Jonah DeLange and punter Patrick Foley are back. The duo had a strong year and so did the rest of UAB’s special teams. They should be solid again. Position Advantage: The positions turned out to be closer than I expected upon a deeper dive. I think Akron holds a distinct advantage at wide receiver and tight end, and a small advantage at defensive back. The rest of the rosters are either up for debate or have so many question marks at this point that it’s hard to call. QB - Even RB - Even WR - Akron TE - Akron OL - Even DL - Even LB - Even DB - Akron ST - UAB Way too Early Prediction: There’s a strong possibility this will be Dilfer’s last season at UAB. It’s hard to fathom this Blazers squad pulling out more than 3–4 wins again. Akron should be able to move the ball fairly proficiently against an almost completely rebuilt UAB defense. This would be a good time for Moorhead to become stubborn and run the football. We usually don’t run enough—to my liking at least—until later in the season. I don’t expect the UAB offensive line to be any better than it was last year. If we can’t get a decent amount of pressure on the quarterback in this game, I’ll be worried about what the rest of the season has in store. Kitna is going to get his stats no matter what, but we can’t make it easy on him. I imagine both fanbases have this one circled on their calendars as wins. This is a game we absolutely must win to show progress going into year four of this regime. I think the Zips get it done 24-21, and we finally get an out-of-conference road win in the Moorhead era. Game Day Notes: Kitna has already thrown for 551 yards while completing 72% of his passes. However, he’s shown to be mistake-prone under pressure, tossing two interceptions so far. The Blazers will rotate at running back with UTEP transfer Jackson and top backup Beebe handling most of the workload. Jackson is a dangerous runner who can break one at any time, while Beebe is just as likely to catch a pass as he is to carry the ball. Milliner is UAB’s most explosive wideout, and Hooks has been Kitna’s second-favorite target. UAB has stuck with the same five starters through both games, not rotating a single lineman. It’s a rebuilt OL and they’ve surprisingly been a strong unit so far—giving up only one sack and 6 pressures. Going left to right: Sneh - 6’5”315 (Kansas State) Perez - 6’5” 315 (Duke) Lepkowski - 6’3” 300 Morgan - 6’4”320 (South Carolina) Moore - 6’8” 290 The Blazers’ defense has struggled to stop anyone this season, but a few players have stood out with consistent play. Interestingly, both starting defensive tackles—Smalls and Sam Houston transfer Warren—have been really good. At linebacker, Rhode Island transfer Hightower has been effective, while in the secondary Boston College transfer safety Cheek and Pittsburgh transfer cornerback Crumpley have been the top performers. UAB has only punted once this season—a 39-yarder downed inside the twenty. All extra points have been converted, and field goals are 2-for-3, with the lone miss coming from the 30–39 yard range. The two makes, however, have both been from beyond 40 yards. During Dilfer’s press conference, a reporter referred to this as a “get right game” for UAB. Dilfer laughed and said the Blazers are usually the get right game for their opponents, adding that he hopes Akron’s offense doesn’t get going this weekend. Some notes about the Zips: JUCO transfer right tackle Maasai King has graded out really well through the first two games, especially in pass protection according to PFF. Next is right guard Keylen Davis, who has been solid but noticeably stronger in run blocking. Keep an eye on JUCO transfer defensive tackle Nehemiah Musika in goal line situations. He was also mentioned on the Zips Weekly show. Musika was a commitment I really liked, though I wasn’t quite sure how we managed to land him. He supposedly isn’t as tall as listed and is still working into shape after being a late arrival due to coursework. Once Musika is able to play more regularly, he should give us a strong rotation with Laventure and Hull at DT—barring injury. Former Illinois transfer Shammond Cooper has been playing at a high level and also leads the team in tackles with 19 total. I’ve mentioned this a few times already, but DeWalt and Reed have really stepped up at cornerback. Reed in particular has been impressive—allowing just 19 yards on four receptions while being targeted 10 times. They’ll need another strong outing today if we’re going to have a chance at slowing down UAB’s offense.

IF Newell and Adams were disciplinary scratches then I am fine with that and that shows JoeMo is trying to discipline the players and hold them accountable just like a lot on here are complaining about. Adams was also scratched from Nebraska so I am believing that the assumption is correct. Cheatom also has been scratched for two games. He traveled to both games and was in uniform but has not sniffed the field other than warm ups. He was the most productive or one of the most productive against Wyoming and yet can't get on the field now, again I guess he is in the doghouse also. I am new to this forum and I love all the input and especially all the work that Cat and others put into analyzing. It's awesome. But it also seems like there are a lot that come on to basically say fire JoeMo, end the football program it's not worth it, spend the money elsewhere... etc etc. To those people I think there is only two solutions, bitch until the program ends or fire JoeMoe. But what happens when the next coach comes in and has to start all over again, the losses continue, there is no NIL money to pay any player to come here, no players want to come here because of the continuous losses, and the losing seasons continue, those same people will be on here screaming the same thing end the program, get rid of this coach, he sucks, we should have never hired him. Until things change as whole throughout the college format teams are always going to struggle. Akron is very far behind the eight ball and people will say Bowling Green changed it or Buffalo changed it... Buffalo was losing until there was a little over a minute left in the game... Akron can change it around, I do believe JoeMo can change it. I'm not a fan of a lot of the decisions player wise but he has to work with what he has. I'm sure he did not go into the season expecting Finley to look like a first year qb for the first two games. The younger players need to get experience. I think Bozz will be good he can learn a lot from Coop. The freshman that are here look extremely talented if you go in and look at their highlights. We have a freshman D lineman that is 6'4 317 lbs. He is young but look at his highlights he is a force. We have a defensive end that is 6'5 265 lbs. Look at his highlights this kid dominated both sides of the ball (even was the team QB and won all section QB and D end) there are a lot of highlights of him dunking and dominating basketball games, and was a star pitcher. We have a safety that is a freak of nature that is extremely fast and athletic, and we have two linebackers one from VA and one from FL that again if you watch their highlights they dominate. And we cannot forget McManus who is a true freshman as well and is holding his own. Maybe we should to get these other guys on the field and see what they can do now before they lose interest. The D line certainly needs help and the secondary is getting shredded. The team lost half of last years roster, I'm sure they will lose more after this season. Something has to entice these players to stay here and want to be here. That is the only way JoeMo or the next coach can build a winning program. It starts at the core and they want to stay.

College football is a business. Whether its Ohio State, Akron or Indiana PA. Businesses fail all the time. Why? Isn't it usually because the people with the corner offices on the 24th floor make bad business decisions? They hire bad personnel. They present a bad product. They don't correct problems when they present themselves. Who hires the AD? Who hires the coaches? Who 'hires' the players? When the folks at the top keep making bad decisions again and again you get the same results again and again. The effects trickle down. The definition of insanity? We all know it. Time to make some bold decisions about the direction of this football program.

If the talent is not there it doesn't matter who the coach is. If the players are getting paid to go to other colleges why would they come to akron? bring in your young coach full of pee and vinegar maybe the best mind in coaching if he cannot bring in the talent it isn't going to matter at all. as soon as the last game ended last year, instead of celebrating the players were immediately talking about how it was time to get paid and they were gone. that's the mentality of the college athletes with NIL now. There is no loyalty to the university it's show me the money. Jomoe doesn't need the money, why stay if he didn't care? Especially since the majority of the posts in here say he can go elsewhere? Maybe what he complains about aren't excuses it's him trying to point out what needs to change so they program can recruit the better talent and convince it to stay so they can build a program.

The issue with JoeMo goes beyond the X's and O's. He's a poor leader of men, doesn't adapt, and seemingly has zero issue using excuses as a crutch. NIL won't help with the intangibles he lacks as a head coach. @catdaddyp has broken down the talent on this roster that JoeMo consistently underachieves with. We need a coach to say to Hell with the BS, we're going to win some damn football games. Someone has to possess this type of attitude that's required to hold those above him and around him accountable, and turn around this program. That's an absurd statement. The University of Akron is a public higher education institution that literally does nothing but spend others' money, and they do it poorly. I was merely pointing out the importance of a donor stepping up and funding the termination of JoeMo so the program can move forward, just like we've seen at a number of other schools. It would be awesome if the football program could find their Bud Wentz, someone who is so passionate about the Zips that he does whatever it takes and is creative in boosting the football program.