The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Continues Practice as Season Opener at Oklahoma Nears
8/25/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 25, 2006
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB football team battled the heat Friday afternoon as it worked out in shoulder pads and shorts. The team is making its final preparations for its season opener at fifth-ranked Oklahoma on Saturday, Sept. 2. The Blazers will hold a substitution scrimmage on Saturday morning before players and coaches take part in UAB's Football Fan Day at 4 p.m., on the concourse of Bartow Arena. Fan Day is an opportunity for the public to meet the Blazer football team and get autographs from players and coaches.
The team put in 20 periods of work on Friday with the offense preparing itself for a very skilled Oklahoma defense. UAB head coach Watson Brown stressed how impressed he is with the challenge the Sooners defense will present his talented offense.
"This is the best defense that we've played in my 12 years here," Brown said. "They can fly and they are big. You don't want to let them fester off of turnovers and you've got to get a hat on the right people."
On Saturday, the Blazers will step onto its home field when they go through a scripted substitution scrimmage at Legion Field. The coaching staff and players will use the scrimmage as an opportunity to familiarize themselves with several substitution situations that could arise throughout the season.
"We do everything that can happen during a season (at the scrimmage), said Brown. "We want to go through every substitution issue. We want them to have been through just about everything that we think could happen to them and that's anything from two minute stuff to a quick turnover and having to get on the field. We put everything on them, I've always believed in doing that. We don't want to go to Oklahoma unprepared."
The Blazers 2006 season opener is just more than a week away when they travel to Norman, Okla. to face the Oklahoma Sooners in a nationally televised contest on Sept. 2. The game can be seen at 6 p.m. on TBS. Fans can also listen to the action on the Blazers ISP Sports Network, beginning at 4:30 p.m. CST. Birmingham listeners can follow all the action on WYDE 101.1 FM, and WIQR AM in Montgomery.
