Alabama NewsCenter 2021 football preview: UAB
The UAB Blazers practice in preparation for the 2021 fall season, which begins with an in-state opponent, Jacksonville State. (UAB Athletics)
College football coaches are fond of saying that every year is a new year. The accomplishments of last season’s squad are history; the current team must make its own mark.
But that theory doesn’t apply as well going into the fall of 2021. With players being granted an extra year of eligibility because of the challenges of the pandemic, the 2021 team is a lot like 2020 2.0.
“I think that’s what it is,” UAB coach Bill Clark said. “It’s an extension of last year. The thing we all talk about is: We’ve got a lot of guys back, but so do the teams we’re gonna play. We’ve got to keep raising our level. We’ve got high expectations for these guys, specifically when it comes to leadership.”
It’s hard to raise the level beyond where the Blazers have been the past three seasons. They have won the West Division of Conference USA three years in a row and earned the overall league crown two of the past three.
Clark said he’s experienced that before.
“Going back to my history, that’s something I’ve been in before where you win and the bulls-eye gets bigger and you can’t be satisfied,” he said. “This year’s team competes against last year’s team. They want to be better, they want to do better and, of course, people know who we are. They’re gonna want to play the best against us so we’ve got to be that much better.”
Improving on last season will be tough as the Blazers will line up against their toughest slate, which begins with Jacksonville State, an annual national championship contender in the Football Championship Subdivision. That game will be shown nationally Sept. 1 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.
Game 2 will grab the eyes of the nation, as well, when Clark’s team takes on Georgia on ESPN2. Viewers may want to flip the channel that Sept. 11 afternoon to ESPN+ to watch Troy University take on Liberty, who the Blazers face in the UAB home opener Oct. 2 on CBS. UAB opponents Louisiana Tech and Marshall will also be seen nationally on ESPN and CBS this season.
“If you look at our schedule and you really look at it hard, it’s one of the toughest schedules we’ve ever played,” the coach said. “We start on the road four straight games, which is super hard. We open up with a Jax State team that’s a great FCS team. Then we go to Georgia, a Top 5 nationally, and so on.
“We can’t look too far ahead,” Clark continued. “We’ve got to look at Jax State and then, when that’s over, we’ll look at the next one. But we’ve got plenty to do each week, just to do what we need to do.”
A cornerstone of UAB gridiron success has been its defense. The Blazers finished 2020 with the No. 7 total defense nationally after being No. 8 in 2019 and No. 9 in 2018.
Clark expects his defense to maintain its standard but hopes the offense shares the spotlight.
“We always want to have a great defense and our offense has done a lot of good things,” he said. “What we’ve talked about this year is … ‘Hey, let’s both make each other better. Let’s both be great.’
“I think offensively we’re excited,” the coach continued. “We’ve got a lot of those guys back. The defensive standards are extremely high. We’ve got to keep it there.”
And while the 2021 team resembles the 2020 squad because so many players are back, the approaching season will be unique because of the place UAB calls home. After having played all its home games at venerable Legion Field on Birmingham’s west side, the Blazers christen their new home this season with the opening of the new Protective Stadium downtown.
“It’s been a dream of ours and mine to get there,” Clark said. “We want to put a great product out there. It probably puts a little more pressure on me just because I want to do something special for our folks, and we have. But we’ve got to keep doing it, especially in the new house.”
Alabama NewsCenter is posting season previews for all 15 college football programs in Alabama. Read about West Alabama, Tuskegee, Samford, Alabama A&M, Birmingham-Southern, North Alabama, Troy, South Alabama, Miles, Huntingdon, Alabama State and Jacksonville State. Look for the Auburn University football preview Tuesday.
