The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Brown Says Defense Shows Improvement in Tuesday's Practice
3/19/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
March 19, 2002
UAB head football coach Watson Brown said Tuesday's practice was an improvement over Monday's due to the play and aggressiveness of the defense.
?I thought today was better,? Brown said. ?We were a little better defensively due mostly to more aggressiveness on the defensive front. And, that is where it needs to start. In the middle drill the front seven was much better than yesterday.?
Brown said he can see players starting to step up on defense. ?Dio Hill is really playing great football right now. He's showing he can be a top-notch corner. Cornerback is our strongest position on defense. That is due to the fact that is where the returnees are. We have Chris Brown, a senior, and Hill and Carlos Hendrick, who have all started, back there.?
Defensive lineman James Malone is another player Brown says is standing out. ?James is playing great. He is having a strong practice to this point. Of course, he is a fifth-year senior, who is mature and knows what it takes and what to do.
?The guys who are playing the best are the ones with experience. The effort from the others is there. We just need to be more consistent,? said Brown.
***The Blazers will wrap up the first half of spring practice with a scrimmage Thursday afternoon and then take the following week off for spring break. ?We hope have enough bodies to scrimmage, because we are really beat up right now,? Brown said. ?Just today Andy Galloway suffered a slight concussion and Chico Cleveland sprained his knee.?
It has been a physical spring so far for the Blazers and Brown said the break comes at a good time. ?We've been doing an ton of hitting. We have one more full day of hitting and then take 10 days off. Hopefully we can get some of the injured back for the final two weeks.?
Brown did say he is looking forward to the scrimmage. ?It will be interesting to see how far our defense has come. Usually at this point the defense is ahead, but we'll have to see.?
