UAB Looks To Extend Season-Opening Winning Streak To Nine Straight On Thursday Night Against ASU
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - August 27, 2025
ALABAMA STATE AT UAB
PROTECTIVE STADIUM
THURSDAY, 7:30 P.M. CST, ESPN-plus
When Alabama State has the ball: A healthy Andrew Body will pose a problem for the UAB defense. Body, a dual threat 6-foot-2, 200-pound redshirt junior, threw for 2,839 yards and 15 touchdowns and rushed for 867 yards and five touchdowns in three seasons at Texas Southern. He set a Texas Southern single season record in 2021 with 265.9 yards in total offense per game. Body had a dynamic but brief start to his Alabama State career last season, rushing for 134 yards on 15 carries with two touchdowns and completing 4-of-6 passes for 27 yards. However, his season ended late in the fourth quarter when he suffered a shoulder injury while rushing for a 39-yard touchdown in the 31-24 loss to North Carolina Central. So what is the key to stopping Body on Thursday? Take that game as evidence and you would say making him throw the ball is a start. But this is a quarterback who was the third in career passing yards in Texas high school football history after throwing for more than 13,000 yards at Miller High in Corpus Christi. Trying to make him uncomfortable and perhaps one-dimensional will be the key for a revamped UAB defense. Alabama State was 95th out of 131 FCS teams last season in total offense. The Hornets were 115th in passing offense and 36th in rushing offense. Alabama State’s offensive line includes All-SWAC preseason first team center Dezmond Penn (6-1, 302) and second team right guard Cameron Smith (6-7, 350) and right tackle Desmond Daniels (6-4, 291). As a group, the Hornets are expected to start three seniors, a graduate and a redshirt freshman on the offensive line. The offensive line starters average nearly 6-foot-5 and 322 pounds. Alabama State will look to utilize the running game with a backfield that stretches five-deep. The returnees with the most carries a year ago are 5-9, 176-pound Jamarie Holstzclaw (74-492, TD, long of 67 yards) and 5-foot-9, 233-pound Marcus Harris II (69-267, 2 TDs). UAB struggled to stop the run the past two seasons but, for the most part, this is a new group of players and coaches on the defensive side.
When UAB has the ball: Can quarterback Jalen Kitna and the UAB defense play a clean game when it comes to turnovers? That’s one of the most critical questions coming into the season. Alabama State is a good test. The Hornets were seventh in the FCS last season in turnovers gained with 17 interceptions and 10 fumble recoveries. UAB was 127th in FBS in lost turnovers with 16 interceptions and nine lost fumbles. Limiting turnovers has been an offseason emphasis for the UAB offense, particularly Kitna. Both the UAB offense and Alabama State defense, however, have nearly entirely different personnel heading into the season. Alabama State is also replacing defensive coordinator Ryan Lewis Sr., who is now the cornerback coach at UAB. Alabama elevated defensive line coach Billy Gresham, who is in his eighth season at the school, to defensive coordinator and second-year defensive line coach Todd Middleton to co-defensive coordinator. Alabama State was second in FCS with 39 sacks last season. Again, the personnel will be different but the approach will be the same. UAB’s offensive line, which returns only one starter, gets its first game test. Alabama State will be physical up front but the UAB front will have a size advantage. UAB’s depth chart listed the starters as Brandon Sneh at left tackle, Calib Perez at left guard, JonDarius Morgan at right guard and Logan Moore at right tackle. The starting center is listed as Adam Lepowski or Baron Franks II but Lepowski is expected to start. What the depth chart doesn’t show is which backups will be part of a rotation that possibly stretches to at least seven and perhaps nine. It will be interesting to see how many offensive linemen play in the regular rotation on Thursday. It will also be interesting to see where the defensive strength is for Alabama State. Keane Lewis, a 5-foot-8, 165-pound safety, is the leading returning tackler. He was seventh on the team last year with 40 tackles and was an All-SWAC preseason choice this year.
Special teams: The last time UAB had a kickoff return for a touchdown came in a 24-19 win over Alabama State on August 29, 2019. Myron Mitchell did the honors, carrying a kickoff back 98 yards for a score. Solomon Beebe nearly scored on a kickoff return last year in a win over Tulsa. Beebe had a 90-yard return against Rice where he was tackled by the kicker at the Rice 10-yard line. There was a facemask penalty on the play, so the official starting spot was the 5-yard line. UAB scored on the next play but special teams coordinator John Jones reminds Beebe daily that he shouldn’t be run down by a kicker. Beebe should have plenty of chances this season to get into the end zone on a kickoff and could very well be one of the top kick returners in the American Conference. By the way, Alabama State gave up two kickoff return touchdowns in 2019. Nine days after Mitchell’s return, Tuskegee scored on a 99-yard kickoff return against the Hornets. Alabama State has not given up a kickoff return touchdown since then.
Hello my name is: Jevon Jackson. The 5-foot-8, 210-pound redshirt senior is a proven college football player. He was a FCS All-American at Austin Peay in 2023 after rushing for 1,373 yards and 10 touchdowns. Last season, he accounted for 853 yards and six touchdowns at UTEP. Jackson will introduce himself to the UAB fans on Thursday night. He’s part of a running back rotation that currently has three starters in Jackson, Isaiah Jacobs and Solomon Beebe. All three have different skillsets and talents. All three will play a big role as long as they stay healthy.
Trend to follow: Catches by the wide receivers have been similar in Trent Dilfer’s two seasons as UAB’s head coach. Two receivers received most of the production in each of the first two years. In 2023, Amare Thomas had 53 catches and Tejhaun Palmer caught 47 passes. Samario Rudolph was the most productive receiver after those two with 25 catches. Last season, Kam Shanks and Thomas shared the team lead with 62 catches. Corri Milliner was fourth on the team overall and third among wide receivers with 24 catches. This year’s group looks to be built differently. UAB wide receiver Kevin Garver said it could be a receiver by committee approach for his group. Trent Dilfer said there could be seven wide receivers in the regular rotation heading into the season. How will the catches be distributed this season?
How Alabama State wins: It begins with some help from the Blazers, in the form of turnovers, penalties and mental mistakes. That starts a formula that includes a strong game at the quarterback position and avoiding turnovers.
How UAB wins: Not quite sure if it’s quite as simple as taking care of the football. But that’s certainly an important part of the equation. Winning the turnover battle would go a long way toward a good opening night for the Blazers. Limiting penalties will carry equal importance. Penalties, many of them game-altering fouls, have been an issue for a while at UAB. The Blazers were 128th in penalties per game (8.17) and 129th in penalty yards per game (73.83) last season. In Dilfer’s first year, the Blazers were 100th in penalties per game (6.67) and 82nd in penalty yards per game (56.25).
Coach’s corner: Eddie Robinson was a four-year letterman at Alabama State and the SWAC Defensive Player of the Year in 1990 and 1991. He attended Alabama State on an academic scholarship and graduated with a chemistry degree. He played linebacker in the NFL for 11 seasons, appearing in the Super Bowl with the Tennessee Titans. He had no college coaching experience when hired in 2021. Robinson has a 20-14 record heading into his fourth season as the head coach at ASU.
One more thing: The biggest crowd of the season showed up the last two times that UAB played host to Alabama State. In 2019, a crowd of 39,165 at Legion Field marked the third largest crowd in home history and the biggest home crowd that season. In 2008, a crowd of 26,414 at Legion Field was the largest for a home game that season.