The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Wraps Up 2005 Spring Practice
3/16/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
March 16, 2005
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB football team had its final day of spring practice cancelled due to cold and rainy weather in Birmingham, but head coach Watson Brown was nonetheless pleased with his team's progress during the near-month long off-season workouts. The Blazers return 16 starters from last year's Sheraton Hawai`i Bowl team.
"We had a real good spring," Brown said. "Nobody got hurt despite the fact we had a real physical spring and the three question marks that I thought needed to be answered, we got closer to answering - what we were going to do at linebacker, (receiver) Roddy White's position and (kicker) Nick Hayes's spot. I think that in all three of those, we've made some progress. I also thought there was a lot of improvement by players coming back that we needed to see, so it was a very good spring."
UAB lost some key players from last year's team in wide receiver Roddy White, linebackers Zac Woodfin, Nigel Eldridge and Gaylon Black along with kicker Nick Hayes. White is projected as a first-round NFL draft pick in the April draft of college players. Brown said losing White means a slightly different approach for returning all-conference quarterback Darrell Hackney.
"We've changed some things a little bit in a philosophical way," Brown explained. "Last year, we went at it with the approach of throw it to Roddy (White) if they'll let us. If they won't, then take it somewhere else. I think now, we've got to spread it all around as a starting point. So, Darrell has had to adjust to that and I thought he got better at it as the spring went on."
Defensively, the linebacker corps, which loses all three starters, impressed their head coach.
"Joe Henderson stepped up really well and Mastaki Smith and Marcus Mark are probably the three that I would list as the starting linebackers," Brown said. "But, I also thought all nine linebackers - meaning we went three-deep at each of the three positions - all nine have a chance to help us win games. I was pleased with the linebacker group and that's going to be a big key to our football team next year."
The linebacker situation, along with a defensive backfield which only loses one starter, contributed to some marked defensive improvement according to the Blazer head coach.
"There were two huge defensive pieces we were able to work on," Brown acknowledged. "Those were to defend the pass better and not give up as many big plays. As the spring went on, we got better at both of those. I thought at the end of spring, we were much more competitive in those two areas than we were before."
The Blazers also saw Parker Mullins emerge as a possible replacement for Nick Hayes at kicker. Brown said Mullins will compete for the starting job at both kicker and punter with one of the team's 2005 recruits.
UAB will open its 2005 season on Sept. 3 when it visits perennial SEC power Tennessee. The first Blazer home game will be against in-state rival Jacksonville State on Sept. 17 at Legion Field in Birmingham.
