The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazers Hold First Scrimmage Of Spring Football
3/11/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
March 11, 2006
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The UAB football team held its first scrimmage of spring football under sunny skies on the Blazers' practice field Saturday. UAB scrimmaged for almost two hours and used many different players in an effort to fill some holes left by key players from the 2005 squad.
As a team, the Blazers had three touchdowns, two rushing and one through the air. UAB worked mostly in the middle of the field, opting to not focus on goal-line situations.
The Blazers had three quarterbacks rotate the majority of the playing time, as UAB looks to replace Darrell Hackney. Senior Chris Williams was 13-of-21 for 142 yards and one touchdown. Williams completed the only passing score of the game, a seven-yard pass to senior tight end Jordan Erwin. Sophomore Sam Hunt was 16-of-21 for 124 yards, but threw an interception. Finally, freshman Joe Webb completed 9-of-16 attempts, threw two pics and was sacked three times.
"We had not done any short-yardage stuff, so we wanted to keep the ball in the middle of the field," said UAB head coach Watson Brown. "We'll work more on that next week. That's why there weren't very many touchdowns. I thought the offense was pretty good, but we had some turnovers. Last year we did a good job with turnovers and today, we had five. That's too many turnovers, but some of those came from young quarterback mistakes, in my opinion. I thought the offense looked pretty good and I was pleased with it. All three quarterbacks have pluses and minuses. I thought all three have been better in practice than they were today, but that's to be expected."
Returning running backs Corey White and Dan Burks led UAB's ground game. White had 90 yards on nine carries and a touchdown run, while Burks totaled 78 yards on seven carries and a touchdown. Additionally, Marculus Elliott had 14 carries for 50 yards, while Trey Chaney ran for 41 yards on seven carries.
Erwin led all receivers with 108 yards, eight catches and a touchdown. Stephen Brown recorded 41 yards on five receptions, while senior Norris Drinkard tallied 35 yards on four catches. Sylvester Mencer and Jonathan Northington made two catches each, Mencer for 24 yards and Northington for 20.
