The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Football Team Holds Blazer Day Scrimmage
4/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 17, 2004
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB football team held its annual Blazer Day scrimmage in front of an enthusiastic crowd at West Campus Field here Saturday and Blazer head coach Watson Brown says he saw noticeable improvement in his team's play from the scrimmage held earlier in the week.
"Well, the first thing is we scrimmaged for two hours and we didn't have a major injury," said Brown, whose team has been snake-bit from injuries the past two seasons.
"I thought the offense did a better job today than in the scrimmage on Wednesday. We didn't have as many penalties or as many balls on the ground. We executed things better. Our defense looked good again today. Right now, we can't do anything against our defensive front-seven and that's a good sign."
The first-team Blazer offense, working primarily against the second unit defense, was impressive on the ground and through the air.
Junior quarterback Darrell Hackney was nearly perfect, hitting 8-of-9 passes with his only miss a ball he threw away to avoid a sack. He finished his brief play in the scrimmage with 202 yards passing, including a 70-yard strike to wide receiver Bradly Chavez. Chavez finished with four receptions for 139 yards and a touchdown.
Hackney wasn't the only UAB quarterback to shine Saturday. Sophomore Curtis Falany hit 10-of-12 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown while junior college transfer Chad Wilmott was 6-of-10 for 124 yards and a touchdown.
Wideout Reggie Lindsey, who enrolled in January as a junior college transfer, had a pair of receptions for 75 yards while Jason Southall had four catches for 50 yards and Roddy White three grabs for 50 yards.
Sophomore RB Corey White led the way among the Blazer running backs with 40 yards on nine carries with five attempts going for short touchdown runs. Trey Chaney added 47 yards on the ground on nine carries.
On the defensive side, three Blazers (Bobby Keyes, Darrius Taylor and Dominique Cosper) all had interceptions while defensive end Larry McSwain, a native of Vigor, Ala. and a transfer from Jackson State, registered four sacks.
In the kicking game, Groza Award candidate Nick Hayes was successful on both of his field goal attempts (41 and 32 yards) while also converting all eight extra point attempts.
"I thought it was a good scrimmage, an improvement for everybody over the Wednesday scrimmage," Brown said. "We went first team against second early in the scrimmage, then we started mixing them about halfway. The first series for the first unit, both on offense and defense, those units were dominant and that's what I would like to see, to be very honest."
The Blazers will have four more practices this before they conclude spring drills with a final scrimmage on Thursday.
Blazer Day - April 17, 2004
UAB Statistical Leaders
Rushing: Corey White, 9-40, 5 TDs; Trey Chaney, 9-47, 1 TD, Marculus Elliott, 11-26, 0 TDs.
Passing: Darrell Hackney, 8-of-9 for 202 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs; Chad Wilmott, 6-of-10 for 124 yards, 1 TD, 0 INTS; Curtis Falany, 10-of-12 for 119 yards, 1 TD, Chris Williams, 6-of-11 for 110 yards, 0 TDs.
Receiving: Bradly Chavez, 4 rec., 139 yards, 1 TD; Reggie Lindsey, 2 rec., 75 yards, 0 TDs; Jason Southall, 4 rec., 50 yards, 0 TDs; Roddy White, 3 rec., 50 yards, 0 TDs.
Kicking: Nick Hayes, 2-for-2 field goals (41 and 32 yards); 8-for-8 extra points
