USFL Holds Draft This Week, Two UAB Players Drafted The United States Football League (USFL) held their inaugural draft this past week at Protective Stadium. The draft saw 280 players, including two former Blazers, receive new opportunities to play professional football. Former UAB kicker Nick Vogel and offensive tackle Justice Powers were selected by the Houston Gamblers and Birmingham Stallions, respectively. Vogel, who played his final season with the Blazers in 2019, has experience playing professional football during his stints with the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL and the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League. Vogel was selected by…
Author: Garrett Helmers
The Blazers (14-12, 7-8) defeated the UTSA Roadrunners (6-20, 3-12) 57-50 on Wednesday night in large part due to their defense and the performances of Emily Klaczek and Margaret Whitley. Whitley and Klaczek both finished in double figures, providing huge boosts of momentum and confidence to the Blazers with their shots from deep. Klaczek, who struggled to find her rhythm against Rice on Monday, started the scoring for the Blazers in this contest. She would have seven of UAB’s nine points in the first quarter. While Klaczek was able to get in a groove early, the rest of the Blazers…
by Garrett Helmers Men’s Basketball After dropping a tough game at Bartow this past weekend, the Blazers (20-7, 10-4) have little chance to win the regular season conference title. They still have plenty to play for though, as they hope to secure the two seed in the C-USA West division and avoid playing an extra game in Frisco. On the docket this week, two Texas teams who are on very different paths. UTEP (16-10, 9-5) has won its last two games and sits just one game behind the Blazers in the standings, while UTSA (9-19, 2-13) has struggled to find any…
by Garrett Helmers Conference USA revealed the final 2022 football schedules on Tuesday. Included in this schedule are Old Dominion, Marshall and Southern Miss, despite the three universities announcing their intentions of leaving C-USA in favor of the Sun Belt Conference after the 2021-2022 athletic year ends in June. https://twitter.com/HerdZone/status/1492226966434594816 While ODU, Southern Miss and Marshall are planning on joining the Sun Belt Conference for the 2022 football season, Conference USA, however, made clear on Tuesday that they intend to ensure the three programs remain with C-USA until 2023. Conference USA released a statement regarding the status of the three…
by Garrett Helmers North Texas (20-4, 13-1) broke the hearts of UAB fans with a last second three by Tylor Perry, who had a game high 25 points. With the 58-57 loss, the Blazers (20-7, 10-4) dropped their first game at Bartow this season. Perry, who hit clutch shot after clutch shot, was the lone offensive star in a highly competitive defensive battle. The Blazers held North Texas to just 43 percent from the field, forced 14 turnovers and rebounded the ball well, but were unable to come up with a stop when it mattered most. UAB started the game…
by Garrett Helmers The 2021 baseball season for UAB was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighted by postponements and cancellations and a lack of consistency across the board. The Blazers are ready to put last year’s poor campaign in the rearview mirror as they look ahead to a new opportunity in 2022. After an up- and- down season a year ago, the Blazers hired coach Casey Dunn to replace interim coach Perry Roth. Dunn, who is Samford’s all-time winningest coach, has plenty of work ahead of him if he hopes to turn around a Blazer baseball program that finished the…
by Garrett Helmers Men’s Basketball Andy Kennedy and the Blazers (19-6, 9-3) fell victim to another mediocre conference opponent on the road over the weekend. While UAB still has a major matchup with West-leading North Texas this week, they no longer control their own destiny in the conference. With the loss on Sunday, UAB has little chance at receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, making the conference tournament even more important. Thursday, Feb. 17 vs. Rice Despite coming off an embarrassing loss to North Texas over the weekend, the Rice Owls (14-10, 6-6) have already proven they can…
What to expect and who to watch for in Sunday’s Super Bowl
By Garrett Helmers Jordan Walker continued his reign of terror on Thursday night as the Blazers (19-5, 9-2) used a huge second half to pull away from Southern Miss (6-17, 1-9). Walker, who had 25 in the contest, posted his eighth-straight game with at least 20 points. Once again, UAB found themselves down early in the first half, in large part due to the performance of Tyler Stevenson, who had 24 points and four rebounds for the Golden Eagles. While the Blazers played well enough on offense to stay in the game, their defense struggled to keep Southern Miss off…
On a weekend highlighted by the celebration of legendary coach Gene Bartow, the men’s team and Jordan Walker showed out, crushing Middle Tennessee at home. With the win, the Blazers (18-5, 8-2) have an opportunity to continue to build their resumé for the NCAA tournament.