Carl Fauntroy Jr. spent his first year as a member of the UAB football team in the training room.

Fully healed from an injury that prematurely ended his senior season at Spanish Fort, the redshirt freshman is now back on the field and picking off quarterbacks.

The Blazers won the day — however you count it — as Fauntroy and the Gold powered ahead to a 53-13 win over the Green in the annual spring game, Thursday, April 6, at Protective Stadium in Birmingham.

“I thought defensively it was winning football,” UAB head coach Trent Dilfer said. “The first half they got the ball moved on them, and besides the one touchdown, they were able to get stops and force field goals. They came out in the second half with a winning mindset. They had an energy to them, a physicality to them and obviously a ball-hawking mentality.”

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Jacob Zeno has not officially been named the starting quarterback but the job is essentially his to lose considering his performance throughout the spring. He’s taken the majority of reps in practice and led the offense on five of seven first-half drives and the first two series of the second half in the spring game.

Zeno finished 19-of-28 for 179 yards and an interception, completing 13 straight passes at one point, and led the Green team (offense) on two scoring drives in the first half.

Louisiana Tech transfer Landry Lyddy was the second quarterback to enter the game, passing for 20 yards with a touchdown and interception through three quarters, and Ole Miss transfer Trace Campbell was the victim of a second-half turnaround by the defense and held to 1-of-8 passing for 13 yards and two interceptions.

“As a whole, we have to get better,” Zeno said. “We got off on the defense last week, they put a chip on their shoulder and got after us today. We have to execute better and stop pre-snap penalties. We got another week of practice so we’ll get better from there.”

The running back contingent went five-deep in the first half alone and was efficient in both the running and passing game. Lee Witherspoon finished with a team-high 10 rushing attempts for 57 yards, followed by Demetrius Battle with six carries for 28 yards, but redshirt freshmen Taven Curry and Lee Beebe were first off the bench — behind Jermaine Brown Jr. — and first in check-down options for Zeno.

“Our back room is amazing,” Zeno said. “Those guys — being able to hit them on the check-down, they’ll make a guy miss and get 10-12 yards on the play.”

Beebe had 34 yards on eight carries heading into the final frame, while Curry added to his 16 rushing yards with seven receptions for 63 yards. Brown played the first two series and finished with six touches for 47 total yards.

“We have really good backs and we’re really deep in that position,” Dilfer said. “They played really well. They run hard. They have good vision. They finish. They’re really good out of the backfield catching the football and becoming better past protectors. We’re really excited about our backs and Skull (Brown), obviously, is going to be one of the better players in the conference, if not one of the best.”

Although the running back position accounted for almost 50 percent of completions, tight ends and wide receivers were responsible for multiple third-down conversions. T.J. Jones led the team with two receptions for 34 yards and Auburn transfer Dazalin Worsham caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from Lyddy in the second quarter. Iverson Hooks had two catches for 19 yards and Fred Farrier II had two catches for 15 yards.

Trailing 13-9 at halftime, the Gold team (defense) turned up the pressure in the third quarter and powered ahead on four turnovers in the frame. Zeno played the first two series of the second half and led the Green to a three-and-out before throwing an interception to Auburn transfer A.D. Diamond, who had a pick of Campbell late in the first half.

With Zeno’s day in the books, Lyddy appeared for one more series but threw an interception to Carl Fauntroy Jr., who returned it 35 yards for a pick-6. Campbell took the reins the next three series and sandwiched two interceptions – the first to reserve linebacker Will Sorrells and the other to Fauntroy for his second pick of the game — with a three-and-out before heading to the bench.

“Our DBs are a strong point of this team, we got a lot of playmakers and a lot of ball-hawks,” Diamond said. “We got aggressive guys all around and it’ll be a strong point of this team.”

The defense forced a total of five turnovers and three sacks in the first three quarters and allowed only three scoring drives in the entire game. Diamond and Fauntroy had two interceptions each and combined for three picks in four possessions in the third frame.

“Our coaches do a really good job of understanding where players are throughout their development and not speeding them up, Carl would be a great example of that,” Dilfer said. “Confidence coming off an injury is always the hardest thing and working yourself back and getting your instincts back. He’s gone to work. He hasn’t felt sorry for himself. He’s gotten better every day. You’re starting to see him react and it was really nice to see him make some plays tonight.”

The Blazers close out spring practice next week with their final four practices, an intentional move by Dilfer to create a true depth chart and a jumping-off point for fall camp.

“There’ll be some real hard evaluations,” Dilfer said. “We haven’t had a formal chart but we’ll come out of the scrimmage with the depth chart. Coaches have a long day tomorrow. There is a standard that you have to perform to and if you don’t, then you’ll be lower down on the depth chart and guys will be moved up because they played well and competed at a high level.”

“It’ll be very physical and — I warned everybody and they shook their heads — it’s going to be carnage,” he added. “We need to find out who can play at a high level. When their bodies hurt, when they’re tired, when they have an academic load? When their girlfriends are mad, when their moms are mad? When life hits you in the face, can you still maintain your technique? Can you still do the things that equal winning football?”