The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazers Hold First Spring Scrimmage
4/7/2012 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 7, 2012
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB football team held its first scrimmage of spring drills Saturday and head coach Garrick McGee said he and his staff learned a lot about the team though he will need to look at video from the workout before having a full evaluation.
McGee had said after Friday's practice that he planned for the scrimmage to be a long one and that certainly turned out to be the case. The first-year Blazer coach said the team went through 150 or so plays.
"I wanted to see them push themselves to where they didn't think they could go anymore, then have to push themselves a little longer," McGee said. "We finished the scrimmage with about 20 straight runs. That's what we call run to win. It means that everybody's tired and we want to see who can gut it out and stop the run. That's what it takes to win games."
McGee was again pleased with his team's enthusiasm on the field. "I thought they came out with great attitude, they played hard," he said. "Everything definitely wasn't perfect. We got to see them play football and we learned a lot about our team."
All five quarterbacks saw action in the scrimmage. Junior Jonathan Perry had a productive practice as he connected on 11-of-16 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns. Redshirt freshman Austin Brown was 11-for-22 for 120 yards with a pair of touchdown tosses.
Overall, McGee gave the signal-callers mixed reviews after watching the scrimmage but said he wanted to look at tape of the practice. "It was up and down," he said. "It's kind of hard for me to judge them, because I've been fortunate to have had kids that I coached for three or four years the last place that I've been.
"I've got to watch the video and see who actually took the proper drop, went through the progressions. There were some mistakes with guys throwing bombs down the field on 2nd and 10 instead of taking completions to get us in a position to convert on third downs."
Jackie Williams had four receptions for 78 yards with a touchdown catch while Freddie Moore had three grabs for 83 yards and a score. Nolen Smith, Jay Davis, Bud Pruitt and running back D'Andre Mostella also recorded three catches in the scrimmage.
Redshirt freshman Bashr Coles led the rushing game as the Tucker, Ga. native had 85 yards on 15 carries. Senior Dontavius Jackson ran for 48 yards on 13 attempts while Mostella carried 19 times for 61 yards.
"I think we've made strides when it comes to the tempo that you have to practice at and the energy that you have to go about playing the game with," McGee said. "But we've got a long way to go when it comes to executing what's coached in the meeting rooms, competing through injuries and competing when you're tired. They've got a good attitude and we're going to keep grinding them.
"We'll evaluate the film tomorrow and Monday and then we'll come back on Monday evening with another practice. I'll know more about exactly what happened then."
When asked if anything surprised him in the scrimmage, McGee said the play of the defensive line. The Blazers registered seven sacks in the scrimmage, led by two each from defensive tackle Connor Boyett, as well as defensive ends Chris Walton and Diaheem Watkins. Defensive end Trey Grissett accounted for the other sack.
"I knew we had a good defensive line, but there was more pass rush than I anticipated," he said.
Junior safety Calvin Jones led the tacklers with nine stops. Linebacker Marvin Burdette had seven tackles, as did Desmond Wills and junior college transfer Cortez Webb.
Redshirt freshman cornerback Darius Powell, recently moved from wide receiver to the secondary, had the only interception in the scrimmage, grabbing a ball that was deflected by linebacker Jesse Parrish, and returning it three yards.
The Blazers have now almost reached the halfway point of spring drills with seven of their 15 practices in the books. They return to practice Monday at 7:00 p.m.
SCRIMMAGE STATISTICS
Rushing Leaders
Bashr Coles 15-85; Dontavius Jackson 13-48, 1 TD; D'Andre Mostella 19-61; David Calloway 6-12; Mike Miller 2-12; Jonathan Perry 2-9.
Passing Leaders
Jonathan Perry 11-16, 181 Yds, 2 TD, 0 INT; Austin Brown 11-22, 120 Yds, 2 TD, 0 INT; Joe Bento 2-4, 16 Yds, 0 TD, O INT; Mike Miller 2-4, 4 Yds, 0 TD, 0 INT; Josh Greer 3-8, 44 Yds, 0 TD, 1 INT.
Receiving Leaders
Jackie Williams 4-78, 1 TD; Freddie Moore, 3-83, 1 TD; Jay Davis 3-36, 1 TD; Nolen Smith 3-33; D'Andre Mostella 3-20; Bud Pruitt 3-16; Jamarcus Nelson 2-34; Bashr Coles 2-13.
Tackles Leaders
Calvin Jones 9 TKLS; Marvin Burdette 7 TKLS, 1 TFL; Desmond Wills 7 TKLS, Cortez Webb 7 TKLS.
