The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Football Team Opens Spring Practice Wednesday
3/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
March 16, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ------ The UAB football team will begin spring drills Wednesday as the Blazers hope to carry their late-season momentum from last fall into their practices over the next three weeks.
UAB won two of its last three games last November, defeating Tulane (41-24) and UCF (15-0) on the road. The Blazers' lone loss in the final three weeks was a 17-13 decision to eventual Conference USA champion East Carolina.
After allowing an average of 37 points over the first nine games of the 2008 season, UAB closed out by yielding an average of only 13.7 in the final three contests.
"Defensively, at the first of the season we struggled," said head coach Neil Callaway, who will be in his third season at the helm of the program in 2009. "We were very young, very immature. But I do think we really improved as the season went along. The first couple of games, we couldn't stop anyone. By the time we got to the end of the year, we were playing pretty well defensively."
Much of the reason for UAB's success down the stretch last season was its turnaround in the turnover category. In 12 games, the Blazers committed 25 turnovers while causing 24. But in the last three contests, UAB only had two turnovers while its opponents turned it over 11 times.
"Offensively, there are two things we need to improve on this spring," said Callaway. "The first thing is we have to cut down on our turnovers. To be a good football team and have a chance to compete for a conference championship, we have to cut those down. If you look at when we were playing our best at the end of last season, we didn't turn it over as much.
"At the same time, on the defensive side, we have got to create more turnovers," he said.
Callaway and his staff feel good about the group of returning players for the 2009 season. Every starter returns on offense while all but three will be back on the defensive side. However, there is a significant void to fill in the kicking game as Swayze Waters, who became the first kicker in C-USA history to earn all-conference honors as a kicker and punter in the same season, has departed.
But the Blazers won't be at full strength this spring as they'll be shorthanded at several positions due to injuries and rehab to a number of players. "I think once we get everybody here (in August), we'll be fine," Callaway said. "But it's going to be tough at a couple positions to get through spring practice.
"We want to work hard, but we've just got to be smart and know when to back off."
Certainly a big plus for UAB will be the return of senior quarterback Joe Webb. Webb put up some impressive numbers in 2008 in his first full season as the Blazers' signal-caller. He finished with 2,367 yards and 1,021 rushing yards, the latter a conference record for a quarterback. Callaway says what Webb needs to improve on the most are his turnovers.
"Joe is a tremendous leader for us and a tremendous athlete," said Callaway. "For him to throw for 2,000 yards and rush for over 1,000, I think that speaks for itself and shows you how much he means to this football team and what kind of ability he has. What Joe has to work on more than anything are turnovers. He's a big part of our offense. As much as he handles the ball and is involved in our offense, he's got to take care of it."
Despite being thin this spring, Callaway said his team's overall scholarship numbers for the coming season will be "somewhere in the neighborhood" of 82 after being at 68 his first two years in Birmingham. "I think our numbers should be in pretty good shape once everybody gets here."
The Blazers' practice Wednesday will be their first of 15 workouts over the next several weeks. UAB's spring drills will culminate on Saturday, April 11 with its spring game at Legion Field.
