The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Recapping a Historic 2016 UAB Football Season
11/28/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - One of the most unique chapters in college football closed on Thursday afternoon, November 17, when Bill Clark's UAB football team practiced for the final time this fall.
For nearly four months, beginning with the grind of a full fall camp in the August heat and humidity, the Blazers worked toward getting better as a football team.
WE'RE BACK! Time to take the field for the first practice of #UABcamp16 pic.twitter.com/fflj1SwAYX
— UAB Football (@UAB_FB) August 8, 2016
A typical week, once preseason camp concluded, featured three days on the field and three days in the weight room. Game days were Saturday but they consisted of scrimmages in front of no one outside of the UAB football family. Two public scrimmages were held at UAB's West Campus Field and both gave the program a chance to shine in front of the Blazer faithful.
RECAP: Erdely leads Gold past Green 33-10 on Monday night --> https://t.co/E6GgJJUr90 pic.twitter.com/q1WS4EcMHa
— UAB Football (@UAB_FB) August 30, 2016
Most importantly, though, was the Blazers completed an important checklist, put together by Clark and his staff.
"How can you be physical without beating them down, but still try to make it, at least somewhat fun," Clark said, as he began recalling the checklist. "Not make it monotonous, have the two big scrimmages in front of the fans, keep most everybody well, learn the system, understand how to practice, teach them what urgency is, even though you don't have a game."
He paused for a moment before continuing.
"I think we did those things," Clark said. "Now, can you always do better, can an individual do better? Of course, but generally it was as good as I hoped, I guess because we had good attitudes. People came to work and were always on time. Now that's the expectation, but they did it and did it with good attitudes."
One of the biggest questions coming into the opening of camp in August was the level of talent that Clark and his staff brought to campus. The roster was put together with a combination of meticulous preparation and hard work. Clark said the UAB coaches "literally scoured the country" to find a heavy dose of junior college transfer mixed with four-year transfers and high school players.
"I guess I am cautiously optimistic or reasonably happy," Clark said when asked about his assessment of the team's talent.
However, talent alone won't win football games, which is why the practice sessions in the fall were as much about becoming a team as it was getting better individually. The Blazers made strides toward that daily but Clark said it's still a work in progress.
"It's just the camaraderie that we're pulling for each other," Clark said. "The name on the front is more important than the name on the back, that's something we're still working on. That part is coming."
As with everything else, this fall was a series of adjustments and it didn't start or end with the players. Clark said it was several months of learning for himself. He watched games with a different purpose than he did last fall. He studied himself as much as he did his team. He listened and learned, especially away from the practice field.
"There is the discipline of `I'm fixing to be making calls in front of 40 to 75,000 people,'" Clark said. "That makes you go to work. I'm an early in the morning, late at night guy anyway but when you know that's coming, you go from an 80-hour week, which is where we are now, to a 110-hour week, that's what games will do to you. That's the things you miss, that urgency and playing for something.
"I think one of the things I've tried to do is look for trends. We've watched some of our opponents but we've really watched everybody across the country. I've watched some FCS games. I've watched a bunch of different ball to see what the trends are."
The focus transitions into an offseason program that will push the UAB players to another level. The Blazers had the advantage this season of training at a more strenuous pace than accustomed during the season. Lyle Henley, Jhun Cook and the UAB strength and conditioning staff have led the way in helping the players transform their bodies during the summer and fall.
"We've really started holding our guys accountable to body weight but, just as much, body fat," Clark said. "We spend a lot of time measuring these things, along with all of our testing methods. You just think of in season, it's almost maintenance. We say we get a little stronger but it's tough. These guys have really gotten stronger. That's one of the things we don't have to fight with them on. They go into the weight room and work. That makes me think we're doing something right."
It's max bench day in the gym 💪🏼 pic.twitter.com/SXTu7nsH8I
— UAB Football (@UAB_FB) July 26, 2016
Clark said the players have also taken vital steps in the classroom. He said the players have made the stringent expectations when it comes to classroom and study hall attendance. The extra time to focus on academics, he added, have been extremely beneficial for the newcomers to adjust to what it takes to be successful in the classroom at UAB.
Now it's time to take the next step - in all areas - toward preparing for the 2017 season. The players have a couple more weeks of work in the weight room before closing out the fall semester. They will come back together when the spring semester begins in early January to begin winter workouts.
For the UAB coaching staff, though, the most immediate concern is continuing to build another promising recruiting class. Clark said the staff will continue to target plenty of in-state prospects while also fanning out throughout the country. He said this year's class will continue to have more junior college players than he hopes to target in coming years.
"That's my hope, my dream and now it's factual," Clark said when asked if the UAB program continues to draw national interest in recruiting. "I think, when you come to Birmingham, you see how much the city loves football, where we're headed as a community, our facility and then you've got a world class education. All of this growth that we have as a university makes us a national team, along with our story, which is historic."
That's a wrap for the 2016 season #theReturn pic.twitter.com/mBsUSNei4C
— UAB Football (@UAB_FB) November 17, 2016
