The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Football Team Holds First Practice
8/4/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 4, 2006
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ------ UAB's 2006 football season officially kicked off Friday afternoon with the Blazers' first practice of the season. The Blazers return a large nucleus of players from the 2005 campaign, including Watson Brown's largest senior class of his coaching career.
The Blazers, who begin the new season with a Sept. 2 contest at Oklahoma, worked out for two hours in the afternoon under a hot Birmingham sun.
"I thought we looked good," said Brown, beginning his 12th season at the helm of the UAB program and hoping to guide his team to a rebound from last year's 5-6 outcome. "We run well, we're athletic. Boy, I like a lot of these freshmen even though you may not see a bunch of them this season. It was a good day.
"I think our kids learned there was a difference in summer shape and football-playing shape," said Brown, "so we've got a long way to get into condition, too."
Certainly, many eyes on UAB football during the preseason will be on the quarterback position that Darrell Hackney held for the past four years. Hackney, now with the Cleveland Browns, re-wrote the Blazers' passing record book during his career. Senior Chris Williams and junior Sam Hunt, a transfer from Middle Tennessee State, look like they will both see plenty of action this season with redshirt freshman Joseph Webb also possibly in the mix.
With so many returning players, Brown said these early days of practice may be eye-openers for some of the newcomers. "It's hard on the freshmen because we're pouring it on," he said. "Everybody's back. That's why these freshmen may look lost at times. If we were having a freshmen practice, it would be different. But we're letting it go. There were a whole bunch of defenses called today and a whole bunch of offenses.
"What we do in the first week is get it all in," Brown said. "That's why the first scrimmage is usually pretty bad. The second and third week, you start going back and honing up on things, and then the fourth week you put in a gameplan.
The Blazers will return to the practice field for their second workout of camp Saturday morning.
UAB opens the '06 campaign in Norman, Okla. against the Sooners, a team picked by most observers to be in the preseason top five nationally. The contest will kick off at 6:00 p.m. and be televised nationally by TBS.
NOTE: UAB practices will be closed to the public this season, a change in previous years' policies, starting with Saturday's workout. They will remain open to media.
