UAB head coach Bill Clark gestures during UAB's spring NCAA college football game at Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala., Saturday, April 1, 2017. UAB football returns to the field for the first time after the program was eliminated after the 2014 season.
Mark Almond | AL.com via APAt Conference USA Media Days last year, Alabama-Birmingham players Shaq Jones and Chris Schlueger quietly but firmly insisted that the Blazers were ready to win immediately.
“Yeah, right,” was the polite but skeptical response.
UAB’s program had been on ice for two seasons. The Blazers had not played a game since November of 2014, and players had scattered.