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The easy way to describe what was supposed to be Payton Kirkland’s first season as a college football starter was that setbacks turned it into a negative experience.
The 6-foot-6, 315-pound Chicago native entered the season as UAB’s starter at left tackle. Less than two quarters into the season, Kirkland was helped off Gies Memorial Stadium on the University of Illinois campus in the second quarter of UAB’s loss to the Illini. After receiving treatment in the sideline injury tent, Kirkland left the field on the back of a cart. He missed the next three games after the ankle subluxation. He returned to practice fairly quickly but wasn’t able to play again until the fifth week of the season. Kirkland played on 64 snaps during a win over Samford and loss at Memphis before facing another setback. He suffered a deep tissue injury at Memphis and only played one snap over the next three games.
Put all that together and it would seemingly be easy for Kirkland view the season in a negative light, particularly after finally earning his way on the field after a college journey that included stops at Texas and Colorado and just two game time appearances over three seasons. But Kirkland said he chose to look at it as more of a chance to grow as a person instead of turning to negativity.
“Tremendously, man,” Kirkland said when ask about his growth during this season. “You know, it's easy to get down and backtrack, you could say. I spent a lot of this offseason honing my skills, especially on the left side and then trying to become a leader in my room, bringing the other guys up around me up. It did hurt my feelings a little bit and wasn’t easy. It's all about being a soldier and being able to get back to it and keep your mind moving forward rather than staying stagnant. I feel like just my faith in God was more than enough to be able to put, pull me through this season and get back.”
He said this on Wednesday afternoon, just a few minutes after finishing a full pad practice with his teammates. During the media viewing period, Kirkland was working with the first group at right tackle, alongside guard Calib Perez. Kirkland moved to that side of the ball with Keyon Cox playing well at left tackle. Time will tell if Kirkland is in the starting lineup on Saturday afternoon as the Blazers have the chance to reach bowl eligibility in an American Conference game against Temple at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Barrett Maddox has been the starter in right tackle in each of the team’s nine games. No matter who is on the field first, Kirkland could strengthen a spot that has faced struggles this season.
Maddox has an overall grade of 29.5, according to Pro Football Focus, with marks of 30.8 on run blocking and 40.8 on pass blocking. He was credited with eight sacks allowed, four quarterback hits and 15 quarterback hurries, according to PFF. Now, those aren’t official numbers but they do indicate that the right tackle positioned needs to be strengthened, particularly with Kyrik Mason being credited by PFF with three sacks allowed, two quarterback hits and three quarterback hurries.
For the first time in a while, Kirkland should be helping out on the field, even if he doesn’t get the starting nod, as the Blazers try to reach bowl eligibility.
“You know, it's definitely heartbreaking, anger and all of the above when it comes down to being sideline when you know you could be of assistance,” Kirkland said. “I know the staff and everybody just wanted the best for me in that time period, so it wasn't too much thinking or resentment towards (being injured). It was more of a ‘When I get back, I want to try to make up for that lost time rather than think about what has happened over that time.’ I'm proud of my guys and I'm proud of the performances that we have put out because we have grown a lot as a unit and a lot of the guys are coming along. We’ve become better as the season's went on. I have a lot of trust in those guys.”
It sounds like a simple way to describe a successful night but, according to UAB men’s basketball head coach Andy Kennedy, things went well for his team because they put the ball in the basket.
“You know, it’s amazing how much better your team looks when the ball goes in the basket,” Kennedy said after his team thumped Florida A&M, 92-64, in a non-conference game at Bartow Arena.
Even problem areas in the early part of the season – turnovers and rebounding – were cured on this particular night. UAB, which committed 31 turnovers in the first two games, avoided a turnover in the first 20 minutes and ended up with just eight for the game.
“Like I said, it’s a fun game when you’re hitting the shots,” said guard Justyn Fernandez, who tied Deuce Jones for team-high honors with 20 points. “I think that us hitting shots and not giving them the ball kind of let us go up by 20.”
The Blazers also controlled the boards, outrebounding the Rattlers, 49-33, overall and 19-7 on the offensive glass. They did it by getting contributions throughout the lineup. Aleks Alston had eight rebounds, Matt Mbole and Jeremy Elyzee each had eight rebounds with Mbole’s coming in just 12 minutes on the floor and every player who played at least 10 minutes had at least three rebounds.
“Good defense helps offense and kind of vice versa,” said Kennedy, whose team outscored Florida A&M, 13-5 on fastbreak points. “I think that the more we defend and get rebounds the more transition opportunities will come about. I think that’s where we’ll be at our best but it starts with getting stops.”
The stop came on Monday night and UAB made it pay off on the opposite end of the floor by making 12 of 24 3-pointers with Fernandez, Jones, Salim London and Tim Holliday all hitting two from long range. While Fernandez and Jones led the way in points it was London filling the stat sheet with 12 points, six rebounds, six assists, two steals and two turnovers in 23 minutes.
“I love Salim,” Kennedy said. “He had a huge night. He had one of this turnovers trying to feel (Alston), who was kind of posting. We just do some foolish things. But I thought to see the ball go in the basket for him (was big). He made two big 3s. We need to see Salim be our steadying force. It’s good for his mojo to play well.”
UAB (2-1) plays its first true road game of the season on Saturday night at Jacksonville State.
Technically, it’s a road game for Charlotte quarterback Conner Harrell on Saturday afternoon. But this road trip comes complete with a lot of a familiarity for the former Thompson High standout.
The last time that Harrell was in Protective Stadium he helped Thompson win its second consecutive Alabama 7A state championship. In the stands on Saturday, just as they were that chilly December night in 2021, will be his family and a ton of familiar faces. He’ll recognize the roads that the 49ers take to get to the stadium. Heck, even Saturday’s opponent is familiar considering his older brother Kyle played at UAB from 2017-22.
“That’s pretty cool having the opportunity to play there,” Harrell said. “My last high school football game was in Protective Stadium. I’ll have a lot of family and friends at the game.”
One of those family members will be his older brother, who played an important role in the most successful tenure in UAB football history. He was part of two Conference USA championship teams and three C-USA West Division winners. He played in 46 games during his time in the program, which began as a walk-on in 2017.
“I went to a lot of their games, mainly at the old stadium,” Conner said. “I traveled to as many games as we could. It was fun watching him play.”
Now that Conner is on the other sideline, an intriguing question is which team will Kyle Harrell root for on Saturday in Protective Stadium?
“Oh, he’s rooting for Charlotte,” Conner said with a laugh.
Conner was making his name on the football field at Thompson about the same time his brother was finishing up his college career. Over his final two high school seasons the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Harrell threw for more than 6,100 yards and 81 touchdowns with just six interceptions. The Warriors were 27-1 in those two seasons with the lone loss coming to Hoover in the final regular season high school game of Harrell’s high school career. Thompson came back to beat Hoover in the playoffs and won the championship with a 38-22 victory over Central Phenix City. The previous season, Harrell led the Warriors to an undefeated season but he was forced to leave the state championship game in the first half after breaking his collarbone in the wacky 29-28 come-from-behind win over Auburn.
He began his college career at the University of North Carolina, where he played in 11 games over three years before deciding to enter the transfer portal. Harrell stayed in state and won the starting job at Charlotte to begin the 2025 season. Harrell started the first four games at his new home, including against North Carolina, and threw for 737 yards with four touchdowns. He set a Jerry Richardson Stadium record with 382 passing yards against Monmouth but his season ended the following week against Rice when he suffered tears in the ACL and MCL in his left knee while trying to gain a few extra yards.
“It was a long year,” Harrell said. “It kind of taught me how football can be taken away and not to have my identity rooted in football. It was something I knew before but I got to really, really practice it last year while really growing my faith.”
He wasn’t fully ready to go when fall camp opened this season and Western Carolina transfer Cole Gonzales was the quarterback starter in the first five weeks. Harrell earned his first start against North Texas on Oct. 10 and he led the 49ers to their only win of the season thus far in the following week at Temple. He was 23-of-31 from 281 yards with two touchdowns through the air in the win over Temple and he also rushed for two more scores. In the three games overall, Harrell is 61-of-89 for 738 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions.
On Saturday, he’ll try to make his return home memorable.
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