The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazers Hold First Scrimmage Of Preseason
8/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 20, 2011
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB football team held its first preseason scrimmage Saturday night and head coach Neil Callaway came away with both positive and negative assessments.
As much as anything he saw, Callaway was thrilled with the spirit and emotion his team displayed.
"I really thought both sides competed well," Callaway said. "I loved the competitive spirit that they showed throughout the night.
Overall, it was the 11th practice day for the Blazers and the first scrimmage. "It was good to have the first game-like scrimmage," Callaway said. "It was good to have the officials clean up some things. I am tickled to death with the competitive spirit they had and the way they competed."
Starting quarterback Bryan Ellis saw limited action in the scrimmage, completing 10-of-17 passes for 73 yards. He was one of four UAB signal-callers who played in the scrimmage. The foursome of Ellis, Jonathan Perry, Joe Bento and true freshman Austin Brown combined for 333 passing yards as they hit 34-of-54 attempts.
Callaway said he thought the defense had the better scrimmage but mistakes were made on both sides.
"Obviously, we had a lot of mistakes on both sides, probably more offensively than defensively," he said.
"Defensively, we had some offside penalties and a couple dropped interceptions that could have made a difference, but clearly, the defense got the upperhand.
"I think the defense has a little confidence going which is good, but at the same time, we are not close to where we need to be. One thing that has helped is that we finally have some depth. I think we're going to be able to play the front seven two-deep, and that will be a plus for us."
Senior running back Pat Shed sat out the scrimmage due to injury, as did sophomore Greg Franklin. Freshman RB Darrin Reaves led the ball carriers as he rushed for a scrimmage-high 86 yards on 17 attempts and had a long rush of 43 yards.
As far as receivers, running backs Dontavius Jackson and D'Andre Mostella led the way with four catches each. Freshman Teddy Wright had three receptions for a team-best 63 yards. Wright caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from freshman Brown.
One area that all eyes were on was the kicking game. It got mixed reviews from Callaway. The pair of true freshman kickers -- Ty Long and Colin Anderson -- were both impressive but there were mistakes in other areas.
"For the kicking game, I thought there was a lot of good competition," Callaway said. "The guys worked hard, but we still had some mistakes. We had a fumbled punt return which is not good. We had another miscommunication. We had a blocked punt."
Long and Anderson combined to make 7-of-8 field goals with Long connecting on a perfect 4-for-4 and Anderson going 3-for-4. Long hit the longest field goal of the night, a 39-yarder.
Another highlight was the punt return play of sophomore Jackie Williams. Williams returned punts of 69 and 53 yards in the scrimmage.
UAB is continuing to work toward its season opener, scheduled for Sept. 10 at Florida (7 p.m. ET/Fox Sports Net). The Blazers will be home the following weekend to host Tulane in their Conference USA opener at Legion Field on Sept. 17.
