UAB football opened the 2022 season in style, cruising to a 59-0 win over Alabama A&M. The Blazers put up 478 yards of offense and forced four turnovers in the shutout.

Jermaine Brown Jr. paced UAB in the contest, rushing for 114 yards and a touchdown.

The win was Bryant Vincent's first career collegiate victory and it was the second straight year and the third time in the past six seasons UAB has opened the year with a shutout victory.

The Blazers scored 28 first quarter points, including touchdowns on offense, defense and special teams, to separate from the Bulldogs early.

Dylan Hopkins finished the game 13-of-18 for 191 yards a passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown. Defensively, UAB had three interceptions and a forced fumble. Noah Wilder led the team with nine tackles.

Brown Jr. scored the first touchdown of the season for the Blazers, taking a handoff and racing 19 yards to the corner of the end zone on the first offensive drive of the season.

On the ensuing Alabama A&M drive, UAB immediately forced a three-and-out before Charlie Goode blocked the punt and Damien Miller recovered the ball in the end zone. Goode – a redshirt freshmen, blocked that punt on his first collegiate play.

Another turnover quickly led to another Blazer touchdown. Kyle Harrell got into the backfield to force a fumble on the first play of the Bulldog drive and Damien Miller was the first to jump on it. Taking over on the Alabama A&M 25-yard line after a personal foul, quarterback Dylan Hopkins found Bryce Damous for a touchdown, making it 21-0 for the Blazers.

Alabama A&M crossed midfield for the first time with less than a minute to go in the first quarter. However, a short pass to the left side was picked off by Mac McWilliams and returned for 72 yards to push the UAB lead to 28 in the opening stanza.

In the second quarter, the Blazers rattled off a quick six-play, 80-yard drive that was capped off by a two-yard Lee Witherspoon rushing touchdown, the first of his career. To cap off the first half, Matt Quinn drilled a 51-yard field goal that snuck right over to crossbar putting the score at 38-0 at the break.

Another Blazer added his first career touchdowns in the third quarter. Terrell McDonald caught a short pass for a four-yard touchdown from Jacob Zeno to put UAB up by 52. Later in the period, Witherspoon took off for a 33-yard touchdown to put the score at 59-0, where it would remain.

UAB outgained the Bulldogs 478-235 in total offense. UAB held the Bulldogs to just 3-of-15 on third down.

The Blazers head to Lynchburg, Va. next Saturday, Sept. 10, for a contest at Liberty. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. CT on ESPN+.