from the xports network this is the unaa report presented by first class Charter well welcome to the pregame show for week zero as unaa gets ready to take on Southeast Missouri State the second year in a row that the Lions will be playing in Montgomery at the krampon Bowl here what it seconde head coach Bren deerman has to say about this matchup opening week it's exciting for you guys you've been working here for almost a month is how excited is this team get this thing going you know you're ready to hit somebody not wearing purple I know that you know what um we we get to test our o against somebody else um in the coaching world you really don't know what you got you get you're you're really fired up and excited but since you're playing yourself uh you really don't know how you stack up against somebody else and these guys are ready to hit somebody else and ready to see where we're at as a program you know you guys playing this game a year ago whether what kind of uh things did you take from last year that now you guys can move into this year as far as a week zero preparation you know play playing solid team last year you play A ranked opponent in in week zero um you had an early lead in that game I thought we ran out of gas you know it was probably about 130 on that Turf so we're really excited that it's a night game this year um but but I think it it showed us that we got some resiliency you know we we sat in an hour and a half lightning delay last year there was a lot of things happened last year's game that I pray in that don't happen this year's game but I think we're ready if adversity does come got a new quarterback this year I know you expect a lot out of those guys what have you seen out of him practice at that makes you hopeful for Saturday you know I feel good about the whole room you know we named Ari the starter um but but I think Ben and DC and TJ they they really bow their butt off uh nobody really lost the job you know Ari um Can can make all the throws on the field can run uh extend plays he's played in big games of before so all those things probably what ends up getting him the odd so we're we're really excited but you may see multiple quarterbacks in the game Southeast Missouri State uh team that uh and the words of their coach thought they were disappointed a year ago with their performance know it's a team that's going to come out week zero probably pretty fired up yeah they're going to come out fired up you know um I think they're heavy favorites to win this thing and and you you're talking about a really solid program been through the playoffs three times in the last 11 years their head coach has done a really good job of building a a solid culture and program over there so um it's going to be a good challenge for us it lets us know where we're at going year two of our program yeah they got an experienced quarterback and they got a defens they really kind of went heavy on the transfer portal so WI a lot of talent out there on Saturday yes they do you know he's probably going to be the best quarterback possibly on our schedule this year um really talented knows how to get the ball of his hands can throw the Deep ball can run um you know he he's really the whole the the whole package and then uh their defense they fly around their middle linebackers the the key on their defense he's a preseason All-American and he earned every bit of it and they've got some other guys over there there too that there's not really a weakness and we've kind of challenged our guys that we got to step up to the challenge and and uh and and just win win our one-on one battles when we get an opportunity to what do you want to see from your defense coming up on Saturday you know I just want to play Confident you know uh I think we're going to do everything we can to make it simple so they can just play Fast the the the thing you get worried about defensively is trying to overdo it and uh we want those guys to just be able to fly around play Fast tackle you worry early in the season about tacking cuz you don't do it as much in Fall Camp anymore uh so you're hoping that they can tackle and get guys to the ground in space ke the victory here for Saturday oh Keys the victory you got to know that adversity is going to come at some point there's going to be a big play there's going to be a tfl there's going to be something it's going to be a big momentum swing in this football game you've got to take a deep breath um and you got to line up you got to play the next play usually that was a lot of times last year that we we would lose a game is when a big play would happen we wouldn't overcome it uh so if we can overcome the big big momentum plays we can overcome the the the lead changes the momentum shifts I think we got an opportunity to win this game well the Lions will be welcoming back one of the oldest players in all of college football he's someone everyone in Florence loves and he's hoping to set a lot of records and get this team into the FCS playoffs for the first time into Kyrie kenu in the off season to Kyrie kerw had a big decision to make whether to focus on a pro career or come back to unaa and he made the right choice I literally talked to everybody and everybody had a different idea of what I should do and so I asked coach de for about a week to just me and God have a conversation I prayed on it for a week and that last day I still and have my answer I asked him to give me a sign and I can't let everybody know what that sign was but it brought me home it told me this is my home that's where I need to be going into his seventh fall in Florence second year head coach Gren deerman jokes said kinderu is the oldest man in college football but if he had the chance he would come back every time coach dman I I'd love to play for him if I had another yard come back and play for him he's a great coach a great person on and off the field he really brought me in and treated me like a family and I just appreciate everything he's done for me and who who would want to keep playing football forever you know you never know what the future got planned and I'm not ready to put the ball down just yet dyri has seen a lot of changes during this time in Florence as the program continues to evolve and it's been amazing and you know we now that we got the new uh tur field this is my third practice field I've had since I've been here so I've seen all every transition you can think of not only the transition to D1 but it's just amazing seeing the level cuz when I first came in we still had a lot of those D2 guys around so just seeing the way that the recruiting works and the amount of people that we' brought in it's all been amazing to me I love to watch it I love to help it in the way that I can ker brew has lit up the record books at unaa as he continues to climb the charts in every category it's amazing Dre Hall that was a great guy I've met him when he was here I've talked to him over through social medias he's a great guy he congratulates me every chance he gets and it just feels good seeing some of those names already in the UNA Hall of Fame and just knowing that I could possibly be in there at some point it feels amazing he's caught his 26 career touchdowns from several different quarterbacks and he'll have a another different one to start 2024 caught touchdown passes in game from about five or six different quarterbacks so at this point in my career we going to make the connection at practice of course but whoever throwing me the ball I'm going to make him look as great as I can in his last stance as a lion the only way that TK wants to go out is as a champion I need that hardw I got to bring a ring back I feel like that's the only thing that I haven't done for this program I've done a lot I feel like that would be the best way to end at all bring that Hardware back home let everybody walk around with a little jeury on their finger now over to the Lions opponent in week zero as they'll be taking on Southeast Missouri State at Red Hawk team that's looking for a bounce back here in 2024 Southeast Missouri stayed had high expectations going into 2024 but injuries and bad luck LED them to a 4 and seven finish but there's a thousand things that we're looking to try to get better at from the offseason the the strength and conditioning and all those type of things and o line play and and stuff like that but uh certainly uh we have several stars and we're going to be a lot better um Team if we could keep them healthy despite the disappointment a year ago the Red Hawks were picked to finished third in the Ohio Valley Conference but the headed coach knows there's improvements to be made I would have voted myself [Music] 10th I can't watch the film it it looks so bad uh fundamentally stupid penalty uh you know just it I mean it made my eyes bleed there's there's little blood coming out of my pores when I was watching uh the film this offseason so I appreciate everybody helping me out and still think we're going to be okay but unless we fix some of those things we're we're going to be 4- seven again cimo will bring back linebacker Bryce Norman who is a preseason All-American and one of the top ranked players at his position in the FCS I think he'll tell you he's kind of Mr Simo you know his dad and lots of relatives went to Simo uh and he loves everything about it um he is a a great football player a great teammate and it's hard to believe this is year four and this will be the last year with him feels like he just got here um but I'm going to try to soak up him and several of these seniors that this will be the last time I get to be their coach also back for the Red Hawks is quarterback Paxon deloren who had a a promising 2023 that was cut short due to injury once you get good it's hard to get better and really he came in pretty good in a lot of areas but you know here we believe in getting better at everything and we have challenged him in all aspects uh to try to improve in in every one of those areas and he really has he's really um embraced that there's things that he can improve uh he got to go down to the pass Manning Passing Academy and June there in Louisiana and uh it was just a great opportunity for him to uh see what how he measures up against other great talent but also just how those guys interact with others their presence how they come across all those type of things was great for him and this is his team you know last year it was still uh you know kind of Gino and Lawrence and there was a lot of other names in there and now this is you know certainly on offense unquestionable questionably he is the the face and the the voice of of our offense and our team there's a lot of changes on both sides of the ball the coaching staff has turned over on defense and several have come in out of the transfer portal and the offense will have to replace a lot of production especially at running back got a lot of new coaches a lot of new faces on defense and so it may take us a little bit to just understand uh what our players are really good at and emphasizing that I still feel like we're going to have a a top one two defense it's not that it's just uh putting it all together may take us a little bit offensively uh you know they we've kind of we already knew our Personnel pretty good our old Line's doing really well so we don't have to change kind of some of the schemes that we've had so I feel like they're going to be able to start pretty strong the Red Hawks are looking to prove they belong in the FCS playoff picture in 2024 and it's going to involve a maximum effort but what I learned again is it takes what it takes like you want to be a good football team it's going to take XYZ and you got to figure out how to be good at XYZ and so uh you know it's the one thing you can't cheat you know there's one way to get good at football and you got to go outside and practice until you get good at it um and that's exactly what we're going to do this year coming up next we'll now check in with everything else that's going on in the world of North Alabama Athletics this week for decades first class Charter has provided highquality motor coach transportation services to the Tennessee Valley with numerous safety and cleanliness accreditations first class Charter is ready to make your group trip a reality contact us today by visiting FirstClass charter.net FirstClass Charter the official motor coach company of the north Alabama lions from the xports network this is the UNA report presented by first class Charter welcome back to the pregame show where it's been a busy week for all college teams over at North Alabama starting first with the women's soccer team who had a busy first week and also had a big matchup on Thursday the lion women's soccer team fell to Alabama on Thursday night in Tuscaloosa with 3 to1 the lone goal came from Hope linding in the 7th minute up next for unaa they will travel to Middle Tennessee State this coming Thursday the volleyball team will play an exhibition at oldness on Saturday at 2:00 and then the Lions will head the Auburn for tournament the following weekend that does it for the pregame show kickoff will be this evening Between the Lions and Southeast Missouri State from mcgomery and you can check out all the highlights coming up on the Saturday night tailgate for our postgame show from the xports network this is the unaa report presented by first class Charter [Applause]