The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazers Hold First Practice Of Preseason Camp
8/2/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 2, 2010
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB football team, after reporting to campus Sunday, hit the practice field for the first time here Monday afternoon as the Blazers officially began their preparations for the 2010 season.
The Blazers worked out for nearly three hours in shorts and helmets in temperatures that approached 100 degrees by the start of the workout.
The Blazers begin preseason camp with high hopes, and they are better equipped than in head coach Neil Callaway's first three seasons when they were short on numbers and depth at most positions.
UAB returns 50 letterwinners from last season's 5-7 squad, including 17 starters. With the newcomers now on board, the overall scholarship number is at 84 and that's a huge jump from recent seasons.
Callaway said he could already see a difference in Monday's first session.
"The numbers are a lot better than we've ever had," Callaway said. "Everybody's here and you could tell it when we were going through drills. There were times last spring and in the past when we've had to pace ourselves some because we didn't have enough numbers. That was a lot better today."
Trying to work off some of the rust was part of what Callaway saw Monday.
"Overall, I thought we had pretty good effort," Callaway said. "The competition was good, but we were rusty today with it being the first day.
"Offensively, we had some people jump offsides a couple times. We had the same thing defensively. We were just trying to knock the rust off and hopefully, we'll come out and it will be better tomorrow."
The Blazers will be back on the practice field Tuesday afternoon for their second workout of camp.
UAB opens the 2010 season on Thursday, Sept. 2 when the Blazers play host to Florida Atlantic in a 7:00 p.m. CT kickoff at Legion Field.
