Jermaine Brown Jr. heard the talk.

The criticisms. The rumors. The overreactions.

He put an end to such speculation the moment he cut right through a gaping hole and sprinted unimpeded for his fourth and final touchdown.

“I have to give all of the glory to God, but it feels good,” Brown said. “It’s been a little struggle, our season this year, but we come to practice every day and give it our best. I always have more in the tank, but shout out to the O-line, man. A lot of people say we don’t have a good run game this year and we took that to the heart and worked on it.”

The Blazers shut down naysayers as the rushing attack caught up to their high-volume passing game to secure a 56-35 victory over South Florida in the 7th annual Children’s Harbor game, Saturday, Oct. 7, at Birmingham’s Protective Stadium.

UAB earns its first win over an FBS opponent this season, snapping a four-game losing streak, and improves to 2-4 overall and 1-1 in the AAC. Additionally, the Blazers are now 6-1 in the annual Children’s Harbor game, for which they honor patients by affixing their names to the back of the alternate gray and lime uniforms.

“First and foremost, the kids played for the names on the back of those jerseys,” UAB head coach Trent Dilfer said. “This was an emotional week for our family, but for our kids, they really embraced the Children’s Harbor game. Throughout the week, we told them the importance of it and the opportunity for them to spread joy to families that are going through one of the tougher things they can go through.”

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The Blazers were an offensive marvel in building a 56-21 advantage and scored on eight of 12 possessions leading into the final frame. UAB totaled 608 yards of offense and Brown powered a refurbished rushing attack that accumulated a season-high 253 yards, averaging 5.3 yards per attempt and producing nine rushes of more than 10 yards.

“I always have a high level of confidence,” Brown said. “We came into practice, knew what we needed to focus on and tried to get better.”

Brown finished with 116 yards and four touchdowns on the ground, adding two catches for 20 yards, and moved into fifth place in UAB history for rushing yards (2,545) and rushing touchdowns (25). Lee Beebe served as the secondary option, contributing 11 carries for 44 yards, and true freshman wide receiver Amare Thomas had a 33-yard gain on an end-around late in the first quarter.

“We want to be balanced and we have to do a better job controlling the game with the run game,” Dilfer said. “We did that tonight. Our backs were running really well. I got on the phones on a couple of series and I said, ‘Let’s not forget who the best players on the field are right now, they’re number one and number 29, let’s make sure we get them the ball as much as possible.”

In an effort to provide interior running lanes for Brown and Beebe, UAB continues to utilize lateral movement by the receiving corps and it finally paid off with Brandon Buckhaulter taking a jet-sweep 75 yards for a touchdown on the Blazers’ initial possession of the game. Senior Tejhaun Palmer followed that up with a 61-yard catch-and-run on a lateral crossing pattern, doing so again for UAB’s final score early in the fourth quarter, and Thomas added a 49-yard touchdown on a similar crossing pattern late in the third frame.

“If they (South Florida) are moving laterally, there’s less vertical movement and it’s easier to run the ball,” Dilfer said. “It’s why we do what we do offensively. If we can throw the ball on the sideline, run the jet sweeps and make them play sideline to sideline, we’re going to have more success running the ball between the tackles.”

For his part, Jacob Zeno finished 19-for-25 passing for 353 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. He was 3-of-6 on third down while converting two touchdown passes to Palmer and Thomas.

“He did some really nice things,” Dilfer said. “On one completion, one touchdown, a guy just happened to go in front of him. I said, ‘All you did was hit a guy in a facemask, let’s not get too proud of that.’ But he had some huge conversion downs. A lot of those weren’t rhythmical throws. For a couple of the touchdowns, he had to sit back there, be patient and let things unfold.”

Brown’s rushing performance, along with a much improved showing from the offensive line, could potentially be the spark to ignite a dormant running game and motivation was not a problem for the senior taking part in the fifth and final Children’s Harbor game of his career.

“We always play for something bigger than ourselves, but tonight, it really was bigger than ourselves,” Brown said. “That’s real life. Those children, who are not able to do the things that we do, we really take that in our hands and play for them and give them joy.”