The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Football Holds First Media Luncheon Of Season
8/30/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 30, 2004
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- UAB head coach Watson Brown and selected football players talked with the local media here Monday about the Blazers' first game of the 2004 season against Baylor Bears this Saturday at 6 p.m. (CT) at Legion Field. The Blazers and Baylor played each other in the 2003 season opener, as UAB defeated the Bears, 24-19, in Waco, Texas. Darrell Hackney returned to the game after missing a series with a swollen knee to throw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Nick Coon with 40 seconds left and UAB rallied for the victory. "I think we have a chance to have a good team, but football is a different sport," said Brown. "It is not how you start, it is do you finish with the same ones you start with. If this team can stay healthy and stick together through the season then we will be very disappointed if we do not reach the goals of going to a bowl and having a shot at winning a conference championship. That is a lot of big if's and it starts Saturday night. We are pretty healthy going in, but we will have to see once we get out there where it goes from there." UAB return 21 of 25 starters overall on a team that finished 5-7 in 2003. The Blazers have substantial returning experience at virtually every area of the team except one, albeit an important one, the offensive line. UAB lost just four seniors from last season but three of them were starters on the offensive line. "We have never had this many playmakers here," Brown said. "We have had some great defenses here, but we have never had the talent at skill positions on offense that we have right now. Every receiver position can make plays for us and we are deep at running back, and of course we need to keep Darrell (Hackney) healthy. We have playmakers and what I think we have to understand is taking care of the ball and that there is nothing wrong with punting. I think with the playmakers that we have, we can come up with big plays that can turn a game around. You could be rolling along for a quarter and a half and have nothing happen and then you get a chance to make a big play. That is why I think this team will be capable of doing that and I am trying to make our players understand that in a way of `don't lose your cool, things might not be going well, but we could breakout at any moment. "I think the first thing you want as a coach is to stay healthy," said Brown. "You even fight it during two-a-days, like how much do you hit, when do you hit, do you just keep your fingers crossed that you did not lose an important player. I think our players are ready to play, and the schedule is very tough, and I think we just have to focused win or lose each game. If this team will do that and stay healthy then we have a great shot." Player Quotes Quarterback DARRELL HACKNEY On the preseason workouts "I think we had a successful camp; everything went well for me and for the offense. We're just eager to go out against Baylor on Saturday and hopefully good things will happen." On Baylor's defense "Baylor has a defense that's either hit or miss. They can blitz you and get to the quarterback or they can sit back and play long defense. I'm just ready to get back out and play ball and hopefully good things will happen for us." On UAB's offense "We' feel good about the offense, it's going to be an exciting year. We've got Reggie Lindsey, Roddy White and Bradly Chavez. Dan Burks runs harder than any running back we have." DEFENSIVE TACKLE Shamar Abrams On Baylor "Baylor's got a lot of guys coming back and that's bad for us; but every game is going to be tough. That's part of it, but we're ready to play." On upcoming season "It's going to be an exciting season. We're just ready to get this started and see where we stand after this first game." LINEBACKER NIGEL ELDRIDGE On Baylor game "We're very excited about this team and this game. Everyone's kind of flying around ready to play. It's really exciting to get a chance to play with one another and to see how we're going to benefit the team as the year progresses." On excitement of upcoming season "There's a lot more excitement around and people are expecting more of us; hopefully we'll be able to take that and go with it." WIDE RECEIVER RODDY WHITE On expectations for 2004 "We expect a lot out of ourselves. We feel like we can win games because we have experience. Especially on defense, we've got a lot of people coming back, and we're just really excited right now. I'm very excited; Darrell's healthy and throwing the ball well. Everybody's just making good plays right now and I feel that going into the game we're going to make a lot of big plays." On wide receivers "There's a lot of mixture in our group; we can all do different things and we're good at it. They can't double anyone up because of that." On overlooking Baylor "We're not taking any game lightly. Last year we had to pull it out in the end and we need to be really prepared for this game. There's some things we need to work on, and so we're going to really focus on those in practice this week." LINEBACKER ZAC WOODFIN On expectations for 2004 "I think that if we're going to win a conference championship, this is going to be the year that we have the best opportunity to do it. I'm not going to say that we have to do it this year, because we're going to have a pretty good team next year. I think that we need to make a run at it this year, with all the seniors and all the experience we have. It's our senior year; that's our goal and we have a good shot." On UAB's defense "Our frontline guys are all starters coming back on defense. There's a few guys on the offensive line that are new, but they're quality players; they've got a lot of talent, they just need some experience. They're going to do the job for us. We feel good this year. We did pretty well good last year, and we're playing basically the same schedule this year, with a few differences. We played every school pretty close last year, and I think that with one more year of experience it's going to put us over the top." On last year's game with Baylor "I remember the opening drive last year, and we didn't really know what to expect last year because it was the first game of the season, just like this year. They came in on the first drive and scored on us, and I was thinking `what are we going to do.' We settled down and got the lead, then we gave it up late in the game. We were down with a minute left, and Darrell came back in and threw a miraculous touchdown to Nick Coon. We were all relieved, but they're a good team. They're a Big 12 team and they had some quality wins last season. If we come out and play our game, which I think we will, we'll have a very good chance of winning." On UAB's defense "I would describe our defense as very experienced, very talented, very fast and very aggressive. We're going to attack everybody we play this year, and try to be one of the top-five defenses in the country. I think we've got a lot of tools that a defense needs to be great: speed, quickness and aggressiveness. We love to fly around, love to hit and love to make plays."
