The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Football Camp Coverage - Day 16
8/23/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Now less than a week away from the Green and Gold game, the UAB football team completed its 16th day of fall camp on Tuesday morning.
Head Coach Bill Clark Quote Sheet
On Saturday’s scrimmage:
“I think the offense answered the bell. We picked up the pace of our tempo and tried to get the ball snapped as quickly as we could and it showed that the offense has gotten better. Now we are back to challenging the defense. It was back and forth, but overall we had a good day.”
On there being fewer turnovers:
“Maybe we had one turnover. But overall we protected the ball and moved the chains. The scrimmage was like the other one where the defense made some plays, but it was just the offenses’ day.”
On being surprised by the defense on Saturday:
“Yeah maybe I was surprised, but I think what happens is when a group gets challenged they respond and our offense was challenged. They have had some hard coaching lately and they responded so now we have to see what the defense does.”
On spending the first part of practice with the defensive backs:
“Usually for me at this time I start getting to the defense a little more because that is kind of my strength. I like to be in the middle as much as I can but it’s time for me to start working with the defense a little more.”
On the play of the quarterbacks on Saturday:
“I thought that A.J. Erdely and Tyler Johnston both played well. A.J. (Erdely) played really well, Tyler (Johnston) did the same. We’re excited about both of those guys and they’re developing. We have a good problem to have with them and there are guys behind them as well.”
On keeping the guys engaged and motivated:
“We have to do a good job of giving them something to play for right now. We have the big scrimmage on Monday and that’s our game, then after that we are going to have to be smart. We are going to have to cut our practices back, maybe go three days a week, then we’ll have another scrimmage in October and November. For us it’s about quality. Those three days should be great quality and great effort then we can use the other three days to go in and train. We have the chance to have a great academic year but also a great training year.”
On the scrimmage on Monday being game like:
“It will be game like for everybody. Our kicking might be a little toned down as far as we treat them because our teams are very intermixed but offense and defense it’ll be live. We want it to be that way for our fans, and for these guys, to have it as game like as possible.”
On the scrimmage having a spring game feel:
“It will be very similar but hopefully with a little more intensity. I hope people go out and feel like it’s a game, that’s how I want our guys to treat it and for them to get into game mode starting tomorrow.”
On the guys talking about Monday’s scrimmage:
“I think so. They have been trying to survive camp a little bit but now their minds will start going towards that. We have students coming in this weekend, and I hope we have a great crowd which I think we will. I was talking to our players about an event we had last night with some of the leaders of the city and it’s amazing just the excitement from them. I want to get that across to our guys and have them out there playing for a bunch of folks.”
On the team progress:
“For us we have to see how they compete in one-on-one situations and the depth chart needs to change. That’s the key to competition and so if the ones are really the ones then maybe they’re the twos the next day. The guys are really competing against each other and that’s how we can gauge it.”
On the team meeting expectations up to this point:
“I feel like we are in the spot we hoped to be and I don’t know what that is going to translate into ’17. I think our guys have treated June, July, and August like we wanted them to. I have said all of the time that with coaching you get what you ask for and demand and these guys have had a great attitude. Hopefully we can keep that going, but up to this point I’m pleased.”
On how big the groundbreaking is for the program:
“I don’t know if it gets much bigger than that. We were out here talking this morning about where they’re going to put the chairs and I mean it doesn’t get any bigger. From where we came from to where we’re going. Last night there were talks about the stadium and I really think that the sky is the limit. It is going to be how big we want to dream and how high we want to go.”
On Kingsley Ejike:
“Ejike is a great weight room guy and a great kid. Now we have to take that and translate it to the field. He has all the tools so now it’s time to put it all together.”
Linebacker Shaq Jones
On Saturday’s scrimmage:
“The offense came out guns blazing. A.J. (Erdely) had a great day and the guys up front were blocking for him, bouncing off the walls. The offense got a lot better and got the best of us.”
On the corrections made since the scrimmage:
“We had to make assignment changes. We played with great effort out there but now we have to focus on playing fast and not having any loafs. We missed a few assignments so we slowed things down in practice the following day and made the corrections.”
On how the team feels physically at this stage of practice:
“It’s fall camp. We’re just like any other team in the nation in the fact that fall camp takes a toll on you, but the best thing out is we have great trainers and great strength guys that help us out every day.”
On being excited about Monday’s scrimmage:
“It’s a game. There is nothing different than anybody else except that we’re playing each other. The exciting thing about it is we are going to have a lot of people coming out there to see what we can do and we’re excited to have something to show.”
On Kingsley Ejike:
“Kingsley is coming along. To me he is one of the most athletic players we have on the team. For him, once he can put everything together mentally, as far as being consistent and making the correct plays he’ll be a great asset to this team.”
On Ejike being a weight room warrior:
“Always. His numbers are off the chart. He’s only like 230 or 240 but he is strong as a 400-pound guy, he’s a weight room warrior like you said. I could speak for days about him. I don’t know if he understands how great he is. Once he can fix the small things he’ll be a bigger asset for this team.”
On being a leader for the team on Monday:
“Not only just me as a leader but also our coaches. Our coaches are really leading this team so we are just piggy backing off whatever they say. On Monday we are going to put on a show and being excited about everything we have going for us.”
On how to know what the team is getting better at:
“We watch film like we would if we were playing a different opponent. We watch it and make the small corrections. Today I worked on playing with my hands at low pad level and that was something that I saw on film that I needed to work on. We watch film every day and make corrections.”
