The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazer Football Team Opens Spring Football Practice Tuesday
2/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Feb. 21, 2005
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- Less than two months after making its first bowl appearance, the UAB football team begins its 2005 spring practice drills Tuesday afternoon.
The Blazers are scheduled to be on the practice field around 3:00 p.m. for the first of their 15 spring sessions.
While there is no disputing the Blazers lost some key players from their Conference USA runner-up and Sheraton Hawaii Bowl team, the roster of the 2005 UAB football team will still be heavy on upperclassmen. Eight starters return on the offensive side, including All-Conference USA senior quarterback Darrell Hackney. On defense, all-conference performers Larry McSwain (DE) and Dominique Cosper (FS) are among six starters back.
As head coach Watson Brown and the Blazers start spring drills Tuesday, much of the emphasis for Brown and his coaching staff will be looking to fill the voids created by the losses of All-America wide receiver Roddy White; the trio of starting linebackers that included Zac Woodfin, Nigel Eldridge and Gaylon Black; and record-setting placekicker Nick Hayes.
As a senior wideout in 2004, White enjoyed one of the top seasons nationally, catching 71 passes for 1,452 and 14 touchdowns. Combined, the linebacking threesome of Woodfin, Eldridge and Black started 95 games for the Blazers and accounted for 850 tackles during their careers. Woodfin three times was an All-C-USA selection, a first-team choice his last two years. Hayes concluded his senior season with a school-record 288 points as he connected on 54-of-74 field goals.
"Obviously, we have some question marks to get answered with the guys we lost," said Brown, who will be in his 11th season at UAB in 2005, "but we have a really good nucleus back and this will be an older team with a lot of juniors and seniors."
One area where there are no questions is at quarterback where Hackney returns for his final season. The 6-2, 240-pound Hackney has thrown for 6,706 yards and 49 touchdowns in his first three seasons and will enter 2005 as the nation's fifth-leading returner among signal-callers in passing yards per game.
Hackney will miss his favorite target from last season, White, who set a Conference USA record for receiving yards in a season. Brown said as the Blazers head into spring practice, "Somebody needs to step up and offset what we're missing without Roddy. At this point, I don't know if it will be individual players or something we look to do collectively."
Certainly a plus for the Blazer offense is that four of five starters return on the line with the only departure being guard Andy Galloway. In addition, UAB returns its top two running backs in juniors Dan Burks and Corey White. The Blazer duo combined for 1,469 yards and 12 touchdowns last season, averaging 5.4 yards per attempt.
Defensively, the Blazers will need some immediate help at linebacker after losing, not only their three starters, but also two senior backups in Darrius Taylor and DeMarcus Rodgers. McSwain made quite an impact in his first season of action at UAB, leading Conference USA and ranking among the national leaders in sacks 11.5. Cosper emerged as one of the league's top secondary performers as he led the Blazers in tackles (102).
The UAB defense will also get a boost with the return of cornerback Carlos Hendricks. Hendricks, a senior from Montgomery, played in only one game last season because of a knee injury but was granted a medical redshirt.
UAB opens its 2005 season at Tennessee on Saturday, Sept. 3.
