The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Football Opens Conference Play at Tulane
9/25/2023 3:20:00 PM | Football
BIRMINGHAM – The UAB football team plays its first-ever American Athletic Conference game this Saturday, Sept. 30, at Tulane. Kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m. on ESPN2.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW:
COACH DILFER
Opening Statement:
"We're a 1-3 football team. Bill Parcells said the best you are is what your record is. That's what we are. We own it, and our jaws are locked, for lack of a better term, [on] getting better this week in every area of our organization like we did last week to go 1-0."
On changes in practice compared to last week:
"Very small tweaks. I want a shift in perspective on some things, so we're doing some things around the building and in practice to change perspective…to symbolize a new season. Not gimmicky, just more of a shift in perspective."
On his relationship with Willie Fritz and the job he's done at Tulane:
"I met Willie at the AAC meetings as well as the media day. I've been an admirer of his from afar. When I was doing TV, one of my assistants had spent some time with him and raved about him, so I started studying him. I think he has one of the great honors you can have—he's in the JUCO hall of fame. And I'm the son of a JUCO coach— [a] high school and JUCO coach. My coaching philosophy, which I stole from a mentor of mine, is getting the most from the least and the best from the best, and I don't think there's a place on the football planet where you have to do that more than a junior college. When you can coach JUCO, when you can coach high school ball at a high level, you can coach, because you've learned to do it a lot of different ways. You learn how to get the most from the least. But then you do have some 'bests' in those situations, and you have to learn how to coach those guys as well to help them reach their potential. And I could brag on Willie, but really what brags on him is his tape. We're just diving into the tape, and his teams play the way I hope our teams play one day."
On Dilfer's message to Zeno about his record-breaking numbers versus winning being the paramount:
"He's kind of in that 'both' category. You are what your record is, and that's, as a starting quarterback, 1-3. I will say this, though. He played extremely well against Georgia. He handled a lot of stuff that most college quarterbacks could not handle. If you go back and look at the 21 games Georgia as won in a row, in most of them, the quarterback melts down. I'm not going to put an exact number on it, but it's most. It's very rare that a quarterback goes in there and plays at a high level. The crowd noise, the atmosphere, Georgia's front seven—what they do [is] they create NFL issues with pass protection and run fits. The quarterback has a big job. Jacob checks to a protection in the red zone and throws a touchdown. I would argue there's 20 NFL quarterbacks that couldn't one, recognize it; two, adjust it with the chaos; and then three, have the poise to execute it. He's doing some really good things. Are there things he can get better at? I think he'd be the first to tell you 'yes.' We're probably leaving 30-50 yards on the field just with simple stuff that we can fix. But that's a challenge. In this offense, the quarterback's a co-offensive coordinator, and that's one of the burdens that they carry. And there's awesome freedom in that, and production comes with that, but there's also responsibility in that, too, and he continues to grow in that co-offensive coordinator role, as well as the quarterback role."
On Dilfer noticing Amare Thomas' development throughout the spring and fall:
"Spring is massively important for certain people. I don't think it's necessary for everybody, but it can definitely pour gasoline in on your development, especially how you handle it. If you show up and go to class and are a warm body, it's not going to help you. But if you dive in like Amare did—[showed up] in the weight room, changed his body composition, got acclimated to college life, got a good GPA, showed that he could take care of his business off the field, was on time, wasn't late to stuff, had professional habits at a early age, and made plays. We all talked about it in the spring, 'Oh, wow! That's pretty cool. Wow! He made another play.' It was never like, 'Oh, he's going to help us win games next year.' It was really fall camp when we were like, 'Oh, okay, Amare's going to help us win games.' He carried over from his performance in the spring into fall camp. He consistently played the ball in the air better than anybody in the room. He developed the trust of the quarterbacks. He developed the trust of the coaches. I think Amare, for as talented as he is, there is one thing I think separate[s] him, and this goes to our recruiting philosophy, is [that] he's a very smart person. He is highly intelligent. He'll be successful in the world no matter what he does because of his intelligence. And he's got a great deal of poise. The 'no moment is too big for him.' He stays very even-keeled emotionally. He's got a quiet mind. You can give him a ton of information, he can synthesize it, he can process it, he can calm it down, and then go execute. He has outstanding professional habits for a young person."
OF NOTE:
The AAC announced this morning that UAB's game on Oct. 7 vs. USF at Protective Stadium will kick at either 2:30 p.m. or 3 p.m. If it is a 2:30 p.m. kick, it will air on ESPNU. If the game is at 3 p.m. it will be on ESPN2.
The ACC will make that final determination following UAB's game at Tulane. That game is also the 7th annual Children's Harbor game.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW:
- The Blazers and Green Wave are meeting for the 12th time in program history with UAB holding a 6-5 series advantage. UAB has won each of the last two meetings with a 31-24 victory in 2018 at Legion Field and a 28-21 victory in 2021 at Yulman Stadium in New Orleans.
- UAB is 1-3 overall and looks to continue its success within conference play. The Blazers played to an overall conference record of 34-13 as members of Conference USA from 2017-22 and now ventures into the AAC starting Saturday. Tulane is 3-1 overall with its only loss coming against No. 20 Ole Miss. Dating back to last season, Tulane is 15-3 overall and is the reigning Cotton Bowl champion.
- UAB is averaging 416.8 yards of total offense this season and quarterback Jacob Zeno continues to put up record setting numbers. Zeno has thrown for no less than 250 yards in every game this season and ranks second nationally in completions per game (32.5), sixth in completion percentage (75.1%) and ninth in passing yards per game (301.5). True freshman Amare Thomas is coming off a career best performance at No. 1 Georgia with nine catches for 60 yards and a touchdown. For his efforts, he was named to the AAC Honor Roll.
COACH DILFER
Opening Statement:
"We're a 1-3 football team. Bill Parcells said the best you are is what your record is. That's what we are. We own it, and our jaws are locked, for lack of a better term, [on] getting better this week in every area of our organization like we did last week to go 1-0."
On changes in practice compared to last week:
"Very small tweaks. I want a shift in perspective on some things, so we're doing some things around the building and in practice to change perspective…to symbolize a new season. Not gimmicky, just more of a shift in perspective."
On his relationship with Willie Fritz and the job he's done at Tulane:
"I met Willie at the AAC meetings as well as the media day. I've been an admirer of his from afar. When I was doing TV, one of my assistants had spent some time with him and raved about him, so I started studying him. I think he has one of the great honors you can have—he's in the JUCO hall of fame. And I'm the son of a JUCO coach— [a] high school and JUCO coach. My coaching philosophy, which I stole from a mentor of mine, is getting the most from the least and the best from the best, and I don't think there's a place on the football planet where you have to do that more than a junior college. When you can coach JUCO, when you can coach high school ball at a high level, you can coach, because you've learned to do it a lot of different ways. You learn how to get the most from the least. But then you do have some 'bests' in those situations, and you have to learn how to coach those guys as well to help them reach their potential. And I could brag on Willie, but really what brags on him is his tape. We're just diving into the tape, and his teams play the way I hope our teams play one day."
On Dilfer's message to Zeno about his record-breaking numbers versus winning being the paramount:
"He's kind of in that 'both' category. You are what your record is, and that's, as a starting quarterback, 1-3. I will say this, though. He played extremely well against Georgia. He handled a lot of stuff that most college quarterbacks could not handle. If you go back and look at the 21 games Georgia as won in a row, in most of them, the quarterback melts down. I'm not going to put an exact number on it, but it's most. It's very rare that a quarterback goes in there and plays at a high level. The crowd noise, the atmosphere, Georgia's front seven—what they do [is] they create NFL issues with pass protection and run fits. The quarterback has a big job. Jacob checks to a protection in the red zone and throws a touchdown. I would argue there's 20 NFL quarterbacks that couldn't one, recognize it; two, adjust it with the chaos; and then three, have the poise to execute it. He's doing some really good things. Are there things he can get better at? I think he'd be the first to tell you 'yes.' We're probably leaving 30-50 yards on the field just with simple stuff that we can fix. But that's a challenge. In this offense, the quarterback's a co-offensive coordinator, and that's one of the burdens that they carry. And there's awesome freedom in that, and production comes with that, but there's also responsibility in that, too, and he continues to grow in that co-offensive coordinator role, as well as the quarterback role."
On Dilfer noticing Amare Thomas' development throughout the spring and fall:
"Spring is massively important for certain people. I don't think it's necessary for everybody, but it can definitely pour gasoline in on your development, especially how you handle it. If you show up and go to class and are a warm body, it's not going to help you. But if you dive in like Amare did—[showed up] in the weight room, changed his body composition, got acclimated to college life, got a good GPA, showed that he could take care of his business off the field, was on time, wasn't late to stuff, had professional habits at a early age, and made plays. We all talked about it in the spring, 'Oh, wow! That's pretty cool. Wow! He made another play.' It was never like, 'Oh, he's going to help us win games next year.' It was really fall camp when we were like, 'Oh, okay, Amare's going to help us win games.' He carried over from his performance in the spring into fall camp. He consistently played the ball in the air better than anybody in the room. He developed the trust of the quarterbacks. He developed the trust of the coaches. I think Amare, for as talented as he is, there is one thing I think separate[s] him, and this goes to our recruiting philosophy, is [that] he's a very smart person. He is highly intelligent. He'll be successful in the world no matter what he does because of his intelligence. And he's got a great deal of poise. The 'no moment is too big for him.' He stays very even-keeled emotionally. He's got a quiet mind. You can give him a ton of information, he can synthesize it, he can process it, he can calm it down, and then go execute. He has outstanding professional habits for a young person."
OF NOTE:
The AAC announced this morning that UAB's game on Oct. 7 vs. USF at Protective Stadium will kick at either 2:30 p.m. or 3 p.m. If it is a 2:30 p.m. kick, it will air on ESPNU. If the game is at 3 p.m. it will be on ESPN2.
The ACC will make that final determination following UAB's game at Tulane. That game is also the 7th annual Children's Harbor game.
Players Mentioned
WR
/ Football
QB
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