University of North Alabama football is one game away from the season’s end. Currently 3-8, but 3-4 United Athletic Conference, the Lions place sixth at the conference’s rank. Head Coach Brent Dearmon reminisces season’s wins, losses, improvements and gaps.
The Lions kicked off week zero on Aug. 24 with a loss to Southeast Missouri, 37-15, at the historic Cramton Bowl stadium in Montgomery. It took the team another four games, mostly close losses, to reach the first win of the season. On Sep. 28 the first victory came against West Georgia, which plays their first-ever Division I season, 25-16.
“I’m not about more victories, I’m not about trying to find the victory and the loss,” Dearmon said. “I think you can grow from every loss. I think there’s always something to learn from, there’s always positives with every win or loss.”
From then, UNA won the next two games in a row, against Utah Tech, a high margin of 60-14, and Abilene Christian, the Lions’ first-ever Football Championship Subdivision ranked victory at 47-34 to celebrate homecoming.
Compared to the 2023 season’s numbers, where UNA had one conference and three total wins, the Lions possess all their three victories within United Athletic Conference games. Coach Dearmon and assistant head coach Brock Caraboa agreed the wins showed the team’s improvement. Still, being 3-4 is lower than the current standard.
“I think he was right with saying that where we come from last year, you’re probably ecstatic about three conference wins,” Dearmon said. “This year, the standard moving forward is winning. So, close losses mean nothing to us anymore, we got to find ways to win those games.”
Since ACU, UNA came back to a constant of close losses when they faced another ranked opponent at their stadium. Central Arkansas broke the Lions’ winning streak with a 24-19, managing interceptions against the Alabamians’ chance to win.
Dearmon said it was a heartbreaking loss when UNA “out gamed them, probably played better than them in all phases of the game except we had turnovers, and they didn’t.”
Dearmon claims the talent and instruction are within the players, but a few crucial mistakes and low motivation bring performance down. Losing to UCA deflated the team who still had a tangible chance of reaching the playoffs, and who still seemed to always be on the “almost there.”
In the following week, the final home game against Austin Peay proved the head coach’s words, who said they “didn’t play very well,” finishing 17-31. Traveling to Southern Utah knowing a chance to the playoffs was now nonexistent, the Lions went from a UAC 3-3 to 3-4 with a 26-38.
“When you lost the chance of the playoffs, when you lost the chance for winning the conference, now you’re playing for pride,” Dearmon said. “It’s really what [will] ignite us this off-season: to find that extra degree, dig a little deeper and not lose those games moving forward.”
On Nov. 23, the Lions will face Eastern Kentucky, their final 2024 opponent. With the final game, also comes the final Lion performance for some outstanding graduating seniors such as defensive back Gregory Reddick, wide receiver Takairee Kenebrew and quarterback TJ Smith.
“We knew that the senior class was very talented,” Dearmon said. “We’re watching some good players walk out the door in these next few weeks.”
Smith is a star quarterback who has been UNA’s starter since the Tarleton State game. The season began with graduate Ari Patu, who came from Stanford as a starter, but he broke his hand on the third game and was out for the year. The coach said the next two choices for starter did not work out well, which made him go with Smith.
“TJ has put us in positions to win games,” Dearmon said. “Early in TJ’s career, he made big mistakes. Now, he’s eliminating those big mistakes and he’s playing a little bit better mistake-free football. We got to just continue eliminating the turnovers, the two turnovers [against Southern Utah] cost us, and I think TJ has got the confidence of the team.”
UNA football finds itself in possession of one of the most promising freshmen class Division I has ever seen. UAC awarded the Lions with seven Freshman of the Week awards and Jalen Fletcher and Josh Anglin on the watch list for the Jerry Rice Award. Dearmon claims to be excited about the young guys and is “expecting big things from [them] the next three or four years.”
UNA finds itself in possession of valuable players, with Fred Vili and Leo Glover adding to the head coach’s list of outstanding freshmen. Still, the gap of experience and maturity the seniors are leaving is meaningful. Dearmon plans on adding six or seven transfers to the Lion roster.
Another difficulty the team has been facing is the uncertainty in lineup choice and current staff changes.
“It’s a tough situation because you look at practice and some guys perform very well in practice, but then when they get to the game and the lights are on, they don’t play as well,” Dearmon said. “You got to find ways to bridge that gap between getting to be a great practice player and getting to be a great in game player.”
Looking forward, Coach Dearmon is hopeful about winning against EKU, and the goal is for the team to get healthy since linebacker Jackson Bratton has spent a few weeks out due to an injury and Kenebrew is also hurt.
“I want to see us finish strong,” Dearmon said. “I want to see these seniors come out with a win, to carry some momentum into the off-season. Get a win so we can carry into recruiting, carry into the weight room. So, there’s a bunch of expectation revolving around winning.”
Dearmon adds to the importance of UNA, “The wins are gonna come but you’re seeing a good, hard, competitive team, and that’s because we’ve got good people. I love being here, I love my wife and kids being around this place, my team is just like my family here. I can’t imagine being anywhere else. I want us to be conference champions.”
“That’s why we buckle the helmets up. We have to do everything in our power in recruiting to go find those six or seven players to come in and fill that gap,” Dearmon said. “We’ve got to continue to develop this young class that we fill like it’s going to be a really good class for the future of UNA, but, we’ve got to win the conference. We all came here to win, so, our standard is to win the conference now.”
