The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Offense Improves In Second Scrimmage Sunday
8/19/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 19, 2001
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -
The UAB Blazer Football team
showed improvement from its first scrimmage last week - especially
offensively - but numerous penalties on both sides of the football was a
major concern for Blazer head coach Watson Brown as the team went through a nearly two-hour scrimmage
Sunday afternoon.
The Blazers ran through 105
plays - 51 rushing, 54 passing - highlighted as usual by senior
quarterback Jeff Aaron, who
passed for 219 yards and a touchdown. Aaron took 49 snaps and completed 17 of
26 passing attempts.
Sophomore wide receiver Jason
Southall, who, along with freshman
running back Kendal Gibson has
been the talk of preseason training camp, showed why he has received so much
attention, catching seven passes for 133 yards and one touchdown, a 20-yarder
from Aaron.? The former Midfield
High School running back and defensive back made the move to receiver from
defensive back at the beginning of preseason practice, and has quickly worked
himself into a starting position at wideout.
Gibson, a true freshman from
Aliceville, carried the ball seven times for 40 yards, scoring touchdowns on
runs of four and 14 yards and once again showing the amazing power that he has
become known for, running over defenders on virtually every carry.
Senior running back Jegil
Dugger, who is slated to occupy the
starting role when UAB opens the season vs. Montana State on Aug. 30 at Legion Field,
rushed for 60 yards on 13 carries, scoring a touchdown on a three-yard run.
Another freshman runner who
had a big day was Theron Dudley
(Stone Mountain, Ga.), who carried the ball 15 times for 65 yards and showed
great poise and determination.
Junior flanker Willie
Quinnie caught four passes for 32
yards, and freshman Sharod "Roddy" White caught four balls for 60 yards.
The battle for the backup
quarterback position continues, as redshirt junior Thomas Cox took 37 snaps, throwing for 78 yards (4-15), while
true freshman Darrell Hackney
(Atlanta, Ga.) took 20 snaps, completing seven of 13 attempts for 44 yards.
Despite the marked
improvement on the offensive side from Wednesday's scrimmage to
Sunday's, Coach Brown was distraught over the penalty situation.
"The? worst thing was the penalties,"
said Brown afterward.
"And it's both
teams, so you can't? just say
it's one unit.? I think we
had five illegal procedures in the scrimmage? -- that's between three teams, although I remember two
with the first team - that made us second-and-15 or? first-and-15, and that's not easy
to make up.? We made it up today,
but that won't be easy to do.?
We lined up wrong? -- the
defensive line - five times between the three units.? And then we had six pass interference
penalties.? And what we're
doing is mugging people, we're too aggressive.? We're playing a lot of `bump' coverage.? We're? jamming them, but we're grabbing.? And we've got to quit doing that.? Those are fundamental things that
we've got to get better at.??
Other than that, I thought
it was pretty good.? I thought the
offense was much better today than it was the other day (Wednesday 8/15).? The one thing we're doing so much
better right now is catching the ball.?
Anyone who watched us last year would know that we're catching the
ball a whole lot better right now.?
We did not have a turnover on offense in today's scrimmage -
we had four in the first one - so that was much better.? So I think it was a good scrimmage
other than the penalties. The penalties really disappointed me.
There weren't a ton of
big plays, which is good by our defense. There were a lot of good plays by our
offense, but the defense just didn't give up a lot of big ones. There
were a lot of real good things, but the penalties was the glaring
negative."
UAB returns to the practice
field Monday at 4:00 p.m.??
Practice time for Tuesday is also 4:00 p.m.? The fall 2001 semester starts Wednesday (8/22), and practices
will move up to 3:00 p.m.??
Wednesday's practice scheduled calls for a "dress
rehearsal," which is essentially a simulated game, in which the team
practices everything from pregame warmup drills to sideline organization and
substitution patterns.
"Fan Day
2001" is set for Saturday, Aug. 25 at 4:00 p.m. at the UAB Mini Park (University
Boulevard between 13th and 14th Streets South).
?
STATISTICAL
HIGHLIGHTS:?
?#3????
JEFF AARON (QB) - Passing: 17-26, 219 yds., TD
#30??? JASON SOUTHALL (WR) -
Receiving:? 7-133 yds, TD
#25??? THERON DUDLEY (RB) -
Rushing: 15-65 yds.
#24??? JEGIL DUGGER (RB) -
Rushing: 13-60 yds., TD
#41??? KENDAL GIBSON (RB) -
Rushing: 7-40 yds.,? 2 TDs
?#5????
WILLIE? QUINNIE (FLK)
- Receiving : 4-32 yds.
#22??? RODDY? WHITE? (WR) - Receiving:? 4-60 yds.
#14??? THOMAS COX (QB) -
Passing: 4-15, 78 yds.
?#4????
DARRELL HACKNEY (QB) - Passing: 7-13, 44 yds.
