Veteran Defensive Back Sirad Bryant And UAB's Defense Look To Get Back On Track Against Navy
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - September 4, 2025
The start to the season, at least defensively, didn’t go as UAB safety Sirad Bryant expected.
Missed assignments led to big plays and third downs conversions. Miscommunication led to big-chunk touchdowns. Missed tackles led to first downs and big gains. Bad angles were an issue at times.
All in all, it led to a forgettable opener for a defense that was itching to show it has taken a step forward from the past two seasons.
“I would say everybody (on defense) was like a little down on that game because they know we can play better than that,” Bryant said of the 52-42 win over Alabama State.
The next day, though, the process of figuring out what went wrong began. Bryant, who is the lone returning starter and the team’s leader in tackles with eight in the opener, had an idea, even before the film work began.
“I would say last week, it was really just everybody learning how to play together, getting everything together,” Bryant said. “It was really mental lapses on us, you know, especially with the quarterback scramble and some of the passes. Like the one before halftime, there was one call that I messed up and they ended up scoring off of us. That one was on me, you feel me? It was really just us beating ourselves when it came down to things like that. They had a good quarterback though. Andrew Body, he was good. But I feel like we didn't have so many mental errors as a defense and we didn’t communicate well with each other.”
Make those same mistakes this week and the results will be much worse against Navy in the American Conference opener. The Midshipmen not only have more offensive weapons but offensive coordinator Drew Cronic runs a system that is built to magnify the results following defensive mistakes.
Bryant is one of the few current UAB defenders who has played against the Midshipmen offense. He had three tackles in last season’s 41-18 loss to Navy at Protective Stadium. Adjusting to playing against the Navy offensive style was difficult.
“I felt like it got better as it went,” Bryant said. “I played teams in high school, they did the triple option, but it wasn't fast and it wasn't so disciplined. That was my first time actually playing a real disciplined (option) team. And they ran it with great efficiency. I would say like in the middle of the game, that's when I started catching on the things, catching on the tendencies, how the guys put their hand in the ground before they blocked (a certain way) and things like that.”
The only other UAB defenders in the regular rotation to play significant minutes against this particular style of option football are safety AJ Brown, defensive end Ezra Odinjor, cornerback Tariq Watson and defensive tackles Demarcus Smith and Jonathan Allen. The rest of the defense is learning the nuances of this offense this week and duplicating it in practice is not easy.
What makes it even tougher is the Navy offense is run by quarterback Blake Horvath, who accounted for 2,599 yards and 30 touchdowns in 2024 during his first year as a full-time starter. He was 9-of-11 passing with a season-high 225 yards and two touchdowns in last year’s win over UAB. He also rushed for 84 yards and a touchdown. Against Memphis, he was 9-of-12 passing for 192 yards and two touchdowns and he gained 211 yards on 12 touchdowns with four touchdowns, including a 90-yarder. His longest touchdown run of the season was a 95-yarder in an Armed Forces Bowl win over Oklahoma.
“He's a really, really fantastic player and I think he gets pigeonholed as a triple option quarterback,” said UAB head coach Trent Dilfer. “I think he could play quarterback in a lot of different systems. His skill set allows them to do so much both in the triple game and in the spread game. He's a very accurate passer. He's a very decisive passer. You know what they do in the passing game is very effective and explosive and he executes at a very high level. He doesn't get the easy throws. A lot of his throws in the game are high impact, difficult throws and he he's very consistent making them. And then his ability he can take it 80 anytime, you know he's an elite athlete.”
Horvath eased into the 2025 season last week during a 52-7 rout of VMI. He only played in the first half before giving way to Braxton Woodson, who put together the more dynamic numbers. Horvath was 6-of-7 passing for 66 yards with a touchdown and had just two carries for 14 yards. Woodson had seven carries for 180 yards with touchdown runs of 74 and 68 yards.
Dilfer said he expects to see both Horvath and Woodson this week. But Horvath is clearly the offensive leader.
“Oh, he's the head of the snake, man,” Bryant said. “He a great, great leader, relentless effort again and he just knows how to win. You know, he’s got that grit to him. He gets hit, gets back up, very tough player, kudos to him.”
Bryant said he is looking forward to the opportunity to show second week improvement after the difficult first game.
“Last year when we played Alcorn State, we thought we was just gonna be rolling downhill after that game,” Bryant said. “We didn't have nothing bad that actually happened in that game. I would say us playing Alabama State, some things went wrong. For us, seeing where guys could have communicated better and just being a better team on defense, I would say we needed that adversity to hit so we can all come together and just look at the brighter side of things and just get better and get better as a team. Learn how to communicate better on the fly and just try to get everybody all on one accord.”