AROUND THE SITE
Check out yesterday’s article about the Mars Bars game, one of the most bizarre incidents in UAB basketball history.
TODAY IN UAB HISTORY
1986: UAB wins a thriller against MTSU in inaugural meeting
Middle Tennessee was one of UAB’s preeminent basketball rivals of the 2010s, but it’s easy to forget that the programs had met just six times before becoming conference-mates in 2013, with most of those games occurring in the 21st century. The teams’ first matchup, which took place 38 years ago today, remains one of the most exciting chapters in the Blazer-Raider series.
Throughout the 1980s, the BJCC hosted the four-team UAB Classic tournament, which pitted the Blazers against a variety of opponents ranging in quality from year to year. The 1986 edition of the tourney was intended to produce one of its highest-profile championship games ever: the bracket matched up UAB against DII Alaska-Anchorage and Michigan against Middle Tennessee. Although they were unranked, the Wolverines were coming off a spectacular 28-5 season, and the Dick Vitale-led ESPN telecast was clearly sent to Birmingham to cover a UAB-UM final.
Things did not go according to plan. Although the Blazers easily dispatched the Seawolves, the Wolverines couldn’t overcome a veteran MTSU squad, coming out on the wrong side of a frantic finish that thrilled the BJCC crowd. Thus, a rivalry was born; knowing next to nothing about one another, UAB and Middle Tennessee were thrust into the championship game.
And what a game it was. Behind a monster performance from center Eddie Collins, who would finish the night with a career-high 27 points, the Blazers jumped out to an early lead over the Blue Raiders. Predictably, MTSU fought back, but a scoring spurt from guard James Ponder gave the Green and Gold a 41-33 halftime advantage. UAB would maintain that lead for the next 18 minutes; however, the visitors made crafty use of the newly-introduced three-point shot to mount a furious comeback and force overtime.
It was then Ponder took over. He hit free throws; he drew charges; he nailed spinning baseline jumpers. In the blink of an eye, the senior had scored 12 of UAB’s first 14 overtime points — and it still wasn’t enough to escape the Blue Raiders’ three-point onslaught. Despite struggling with turnovers and fouls all night long, MTSU hung with the Blazers by virtue of their long-range prowess.
The game came down to the last moment. UAB held a 93-91 lead with three seconds left on the game clock, and the visitors were forced to send freshman Barry Bearden to the free-throw line. Surrounded by none of his teammates, who had been sent down to the other end by Bartow to avoid fouling, the guard went to the charity stripe for two shots — and missed both. Luckily, the second miss bounced right off the front of the rim and back into the arms of Bearden, who ran out the clock as the Blazers celebrated their tournament championship.
FOOTBALL
The Blazers snagged their fourth and fifth transfer commitments of the cycle on Friday, picking up Miles College DL Jamichael Rogers and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College quarterback Peyton Floyd.
Jamichael Rogers - Miles (DII) defensive lineman
Former Miles College DL Jamichael Rogers became UAB’s first defensive transfer commit of the cycle on Wednesday afternoon, announcing his decision in a social media post. The Birmingham metro native, who graduated from Bessemer City High School in 2020, has one year of eligibility remaining.
Miles cancelled its 2020 season, and Rogers didn’t see the field in 2021, but he proceeded to enjoy three productive years for the Golden Bears. His finest season came in 2024, when he recorded 53 tackles, 8 sacks, 18.5 tackles for loss, 11 quarterback hurries, and 1 forced fumble, ranking among the top ten players in Division II in several categories. For this effort, Rogers was named a Don Hansen NCAA DII All-American.
Rogers’ highlight reel suggests he’s a player with significant speed off the edge. Steve Irvine compared Rogers to former UAB DE Larry McSwain, who transferred in from Jackson State before the 2004 season and proceeded to establish himself as one of the nation’s most productive defenders.
Peyton Floyd - MGCCC (JUCO) quarterback
UAB also picked up a commitment from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College quarterback Peyton Floyd on Friday, who announced his decision in a social media post. The Birmingham metro native, a 2023 Hewitt-Trussville High School graduate, has three years of eligibility remaining.
Floyd was a decorated high school quarterback, setting several class 7A records while racking up 8,263 career yards and 100 career touchdowns. He earned several accolades during his senior season, including Alabama Class 7A Back of the Year and Alabama Sports Writers Association First-Team Class 7A. According to his father, Hewitt head coach Josh Floyd, Peyton fielded several DII and preferred walk-on offers at the time of his 2024 high school graduation but opted to begin his college career at MGCCC.
Floyd completed 21 passes for 372 yards and 3 touchdowns during his only season at MGCCC.
Floyd will seek to make noise in a UAB quarterback room that currently includes Jalen Kitna, Adrian Posse, and Harrison Barker, among others.
In other UAB football news:
In the wake of last Monday’s NCAA waiver that gave him an extra year of eligibility, UAB LB Michael Moore has entered the transfer portal.
He follows in the footsteps of TE Bryce Damous and OL Quez Yates, who both used their extra years of eligibility to enter the portal.
Moore transferred to UAB from Ellsworth Community College in 2022, redshirting in his first year. He broke out in 2023, leading the team in tackles before suffering a late-season injury.
He was picked to represent UAB at AAC Media Days in the leadup to the 2024 campaign and was named to the 2024 All-Conference Team after racking up a team-leading 92 tackles this fall.
It seems as though RB Isaiah Jacobs, QB Carter Putt, and LB Joker Gill will also be given extra eligibility by the waiver. It is yet unclear what any of them intend to do with it.
UAB S Sirad Bryant, who entered the transfer portal on December 14th, has announced his withdrawal from the transfer portal.
Bryant transferred to UAB from Georgia Tech before the 2024 season.
Bryant ranked third on the Blazers in tackles this fall, posting 60 while recording one interception. He has one year of eligibility remaining.
With Moore’s entry and Bryant’s withdrawal, UAB’s number of portal players remains at 31. A full list can be found at The Banner.
The list is missing Yates, Damous, Moore, DT Miquon Merriweather, and OL Baron Franks II.
The list also includes Bryant and DB AJ Brown, who withdrew from the portal last Monday.
UAB transfer portal commit Var’Keyes Gumms, a tight end formerly of Arkansas, has “decided to decommit and explore [his] options with other universities.”
Gumms started his career at North Texas, where he was named first-team All-Conference USA by the league’s coaches and second-team Freshman All-American by The Athletic and College Football News.
He committed to UAB on December 18th and was UAB’s likely 2024 starter at TE.
With Gumms’ decommitment and the commitments of Rogers and Floyd, the size of UAB’s incoming transfer class is now five: Kaleb Brown, Evan McCray, Antonio Ferguson, Rogers, and Floyd.
Football is in the midst of the NCAA dead period, which prohibits in-person recruiting contact and campus visits.
Coaches can still contact recruits over the phone and over social media, but the dead period markedly slows down commitments.
The “quiet period,” which permits coaches to make recruiting contact with mid-year transfers, begins on January 1st, while the dead period officially ends on January 5th.
Per Steve Irvine, UAB is expected to be “incredibly busy” once the calendar changes and will host “a huge number of recruits” in the opening weeks of January, many of whom will be portal/JUCO targets.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Sunday afternoon: Lost to Temple 97-74 at Bartow
The women’s basketball team saw its four-game winning streak emphatically snapped on Sunday. Randy Norton’s squad was blown out by Temple in a game that was never particularly close. Guard Eleecia Carter paced the Blazers with 15 points and five assists, and sharpshooter Maddie Walsh finished the afternoon with an efficient 13 points. However, guard Journey Armstead was held scoreless in limited minutes; more concerningly, UAB allowed the Owls to make 62% of their two-point field goal attempts. The Blazers are now 9-4 on the season and 0-1 in conference play.
Reminiscent of their last visit to Bartow, a game that also resulted in a blowout, Temple took a lead and never looked back — the Owls went on a 17-2 run late in the first quarter that essentially sealed their victory. Although UAB turned in a more-than-respectable offensive performance, scoring an average of .94 points per possession, the Blazers simply couldn’t stop TU from getting to the basket. Temple outrebounded the home team by a 41-27 margin and put up 42 points in the paint to UAB’s 24.
Despite UAB’s 9-4 record, analytics repository Barttorvik ranks the Blazers the 167th-best team in the nation — marking a nine-spot drop from their ranking last week — and the third-worst team in the American. Although Torvik pegs the Blazer offense as one of the AAC’s most potent, it sees their defense as the conference’s second-worst; this hypothesis is supported by UAB’s performance against Temple, a team not known for its firepower.
The Blazers have no time to rest, as they go on the road to face Torvik #67 UTSA on Wednesday.