By Evan Dudley, special to AL.com

The Green team beat the Gold team, 14-13, in UAB's annual Green and Gold spring game Saturday at Legion Field.

A.J. Erdely led the first-team offense for the Gold and took an early 10-0 lead before James Noble III trimmed the lead with a 1-yard touchdown in the final minute of the first half. Green team quarterback Tyler Johnston put his side ahead with a touchdown run in the third quarter.

Offensive coordinator Bryant Vincent said this week that 40 percent of the offense still needed to be installed so the Blazers stuck with the basics and ran the ball with their stable of running backs.

"I think anytime you can come out of the spring game with no injuries, it's a good day," head coach Bill Clark said. "Probably a little bit colder than we thought it would be but we handled it and I thought they competed really well. We had some guys out who were bumped up but it gave some opportunities for some other guys to play."

Here are five takeaways from the UAB spring game:

Kingston Davis

The Michigan transfer and Prattville native got the benefit this spring with minor injuries to his backmate and received a fair share of reps heading into the spring game.

Those extra carries in practice paid off as Davis led the Gold team with 71 yards on 10 rushing attempts and 46 yards on two catches. His brutal running style was on display when hitting the first level and his deceptive speed paid dividends in the passing game for the Blazers.

"We said we were going to run the ball today and that's what this spring was really about," Clark said. "We threw some, had some balls we should have caught but we wanted to run the ball, see the run game, see the defense stop the run and that's what spring is about. They got summer to throw more."

Returning 2017 C-USA Freshman of the Year Spencer Brown was limited to only six carries on the day but had 31 yards. A bruised foot has limited Brown this spring but Clark said shouldn't be an issue when fall camp begins in August.

Offensive line depth

The first-team offensive line allowed Brown and Davis to combine for more than 100 yards but the second grouping was just as impressive with Noble, Johnston and Yusupha Foster combining for more than 200 yards on the ground.

Clark was impressed by the second-team unit that consisted of Colby Ragland, David Galten, Andrew Smith, Greg Fecanin and Patrick Nuss.

The returning line lost only one starter from a year ago so the influx of junior college transfers and backups from last year should give the Blazers a formidable if not arguably one of the best lines in C-USA.

Secondary dominant

Both starting quarterbacks completed less than 50 percent of their passes as the cornerbacks and safeties were on top of receivers almost every play.

Erdely was hounded most of the day in the live scrimmage but was able to find Collin Lisa on a touch pass to the corner of the end zone in the second quarter to give the Gold team a 10-0 lead.

Johnston made the most of facing the second team defense but fared as well as Erdely did in the passing game with his lone highlight play being a 79-yard pass to Sederian Copeland that set up Johnston's go-ahead score two plays later.

"I thought they did well," Clark said. "There were some 50-50 balls and I thought the DBs did a good job getting those balls out and a lot of back-and-forth. It wasn't always three-and-out but the defense did well. I thought specifically the corners did a good job."

Front seven strength

The first-team defense on the Green team was as dominant as the Blazers were in the 2017 season. Craig Kanyangarara led the way with five tackles and two sacks of Erdely.

"We made the quarterbacks live today to kind of see what both the offensive line could do in terms of protection and the defense as a unit who can control the line of scrimmage," Clark said. "And I think the way the defense played, it'll help them going forward. How do you respond to that as a quarterback? But I also think it shows we have a strong front seven who can keep things at the first level."

Chris Woolbright also made plays from the Mike linebacker position and Stacy Keely was a presence on the edge for the Blazers.

Work to do

The weather was uncooperative, the offense was not fully installed and plenty of mistakes were made. There are a host of freshman who will arrive on campus in fall that will boost depth and opportunities but Clark was adamant that the current roster be accountable and focus on improving throughout the offseason.

"I told them, and maybe it sounds hokey, but I said it should be the best May-June-July anybody has ever had," he said. "That's the goal, and specifically to UAB and the teams I've had but we'll see. We get done with school earlier than others and a lot of them will be back for the mini-semester which will give them a chance to get stronger and faster and get in great shape for June and July. We'll see how bad they want it."

Here are the unofficial stats provided by the UAB athletic department:

Green Offense:

Passing

Tyler Johnston III: 7-of-20, 130 yards

Rushing

Johnston III: 10-75, TD

James Noble III: 14-74, TD

Receiving

Sederian Copeland: 1-79

Demetrius Davis: 2-19

Green Defense:

Craig Kanyangarara: 5 tackles, 2 sacks, 3TFL

Chris Woolbright: 6 tackles

Stacy Keely: 4 tackles, 1 sack, 2 PBU

Gold Offense:

Passing

A.J. Erdely: 9-of-21, 135 yards, TD

Rushing

Kingston Davis: 10-71

Spencer Brown: 6-31

Erdely: 2-14

Receiving

Andre Wilson: 1-25

Xavier Ubosi: 1-23

Collin Lisa: 1-13, TD

K. Davis: 2-46

Gold Defense:

Thomas Johnston: 7 tackles

Kristopher Moll: 6 tackles, 1 sack, 1 FF

Jamell Garcia-Williams: 6 tackles, 1 TFL, 2 QBH

Keilan Knight: 4 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 PBU, 1 FR (49 yards)

Adrienne Talan: 7 tackles