The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Football Begins Week Three of Fall Camp
8/13/2018 7:02:00 PM | Football
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UAB football team began its third week of fall camp on Monday afternoon, Aug. 13, at the Football Operations Center.
TAKEAWAYS:
Head Coach Bill Clark:
On the evaluation from the first scrimmage:
"We came in Saturday right after the scrimmage right after it happened and tried to grade it hard. It is really a chance to see it in a different light because the defense gets to tackle. So that is a little bit different for the offense. The defense had a good day. I was getting a little concerned with them because the offense had been having really good days. The defense responded, but the offense wasn't terrible. We just want to get better every day."
On what he wants to see from his team entering week three of fall camp:
"Today was the day we swapped out our schedule which is always hard. I don't like to wait until school starts to do that so we go ahead and do that today. They managed it well. We had a good solid practice – I don't know if we had a great one, but we want a great one. I challenged them to come out here tomorrow and have a great practice. Literally coach speak, but taking it one day at a time and get better tomorrow."
On the difference between a morning and an afternoon practice:
"I think it is a big difference. Due to TV we are playing a lot of night games so I really want to get their clocks changed to an afternoon schedule. I love the mornings. We train them throughout the summer in the mornings so that is probably a bigger deal than we actually think. They are so acclimated to coming in to practice during the morning. I think they handled it but we've got to take steps to get used to that, and of course we will scrimmage this Saturday at 7 p.m. which is game-like for us."
Cornerback Brontae Harris:
On having bragging right over the offense after Saturday's scrimmage:
"Whenever we do well you're going to hear from our defense, we're strong back there and we're seasoned. Whenever we're doing well everybody is going to hear it."
On how the scrimmages prepare the team for the season:
"The scrimmages prepare us well for all of our competition during the season. We've got 1s-on-1s and good-on-good, and our receivers are really good and prepare us for the game. It's always good to get those scrimmages in and battle against those guys."
On the difficulty of practice after two weeks of camp:
It's tough, every practice is a grind because Coach Clark makes practice harder than a game so when we get into a game it's easy. Everyday we have to get up and grind and give 100 percent and come to practice prepared because practice isn't going to be easy no matter how close we are to the season."
On the strength of the defense:
"We can definitely tell the difference between last year and this year, we're seasoned, we're a good group and we're an older group. When we come in we know our expectations and we know that the bar is only going to be raised higher. We have to come out and prepare for that."
On what the team has to work on for the opener:
"We've got to keep getting better everyday, keep playing as a unit and learn how to play and gel with each other. Game one we'll be ready."
Offensive Lineman Malique Johnson:
On battling back from Saturday's scrimmage:
"Saturday was tough but it made us come together more as a unit. Today we just tried to shack back and get it rolling again."
On the experience of the offensive line and the comfort level:
"Last year we didn't really have a lot of chemistry being thrown in there but now coming back I'm a lot more comfortable with Lee Dufour, our center, and we don't even have to make a call, I just know what he is going to do. I trust him to be there."
On the communication between the offensive linemen:
"With the offensive line, when we communicate, we don't have to say a long drawn out call. We can just say one word to each other and we're going."
On the grind of practice two weeks in:
"We just come out and challenge each other everyday day and see how good we can be. Go out there and dominate and it has been working."
On what needs to be worked on with two weeks till the first game:
"It's getting started, we have the situations down so now it's just getting the ball and getting started."
The Blazers are 17 days away from opening the 2018 season on Aug. 30 at home against Savannah State. Season tickets, mini plans and single game tickets can be purchased by clicking here.
TAKEAWAYS:
- After having the first two weeks of practice in the morning, the Blazers transitioned to afternoon practice today and will continue to practice in the afternoon for the remainder of camp and into the season.
- Head Coach Bill Clark stated that he likes to make the transition from morning to afternoon practice midway through camp as opposed to the first week of school so they are already acclimated to the change once school starts. UAB will practice this fall in the afternoon and the first week of school starts Aug. 27.
- After reviewing Saturday's film from the scrimmage, Clark was encouraged to see the defense play as well as they did, although he stated the offense did some good things too. The Blazers will play their second scrimmage this coming Saturday at 7 p.m. to replicate the kickoff time of their first game vs. Savannah State on Aug. 30 at Legion Field.
Head Coach Bill Clark:
On the evaluation from the first scrimmage:
"We came in Saturday right after the scrimmage right after it happened and tried to grade it hard. It is really a chance to see it in a different light because the defense gets to tackle. So that is a little bit different for the offense. The defense had a good day. I was getting a little concerned with them because the offense had been having really good days. The defense responded, but the offense wasn't terrible. We just want to get better every day."
On what he wants to see from his team entering week three of fall camp:
"Today was the day we swapped out our schedule which is always hard. I don't like to wait until school starts to do that so we go ahead and do that today. They managed it well. We had a good solid practice – I don't know if we had a great one, but we want a great one. I challenged them to come out here tomorrow and have a great practice. Literally coach speak, but taking it one day at a time and get better tomorrow."
On the difference between a morning and an afternoon practice:
"I think it is a big difference. Due to TV we are playing a lot of night games so I really want to get their clocks changed to an afternoon schedule. I love the mornings. We train them throughout the summer in the mornings so that is probably a bigger deal than we actually think. They are so acclimated to coming in to practice during the morning. I think they handled it but we've got to take steps to get used to that, and of course we will scrimmage this Saturday at 7 p.m. which is game-like for us."
Cornerback Brontae Harris:
On having bragging right over the offense after Saturday's scrimmage:
"Whenever we do well you're going to hear from our defense, we're strong back there and we're seasoned. Whenever we're doing well everybody is going to hear it."
On how the scrimmages prepare the team for the season:
"The scrimmages prepare us well for all of our competition during the season. We've got 1s-on-1s and good-on-good, and our receivers are really good and prepare us for the game. It's always good to get those scrimmages in and battle against those guys."
On the difficulty of practice after two weeks of camp:
It's tough, every practice is a grind because Coach Clark makes practice harder than a game so when we get into a game it's easy. Everyday we have to get up and grind and give 100 percent and come to practice prepared because practice isn't going to be easy no matter how close we are to the season."
On the strength of the defense:
"We can definitely tell the difference between last year and this year, we're seasoned, we're a good group and we're an older group. When we come in we know our expectations and we know that the bar is only going to be raised higher. We have to come out and prepare for that."
On what the team has to work on for the opener:
"We've got to keep getting better everyday, keep playing as a unit and learn how to play and gel with each other. Game one we'll be ready."
Offensive Lineman Malique Johnson:
On battling back from Saturday's scrimmage:
"Saturday was tough but it made us come together more as a unit. Today we just tried to shack back and get it rolling again."
On the experience of the offensive line and the comfort level:
"Last year we didn't really have a lot of chemistry being thrown in there but now coming back I'm a lot more comfortable with Lee Dufour, our center, and we don't even have to make a call, I just know what he is going to do. I trust him to be there."
On the communication between the offensive linemen:
"With the offensive line, when we communicate, we don't have to say a long drawn out call. We can just say one word to each other and we're going."
On the grind of practice two weeks in:
"We just come out and challenge each other everyday day and see how good we can be. Go out there and dominate and it has been working."
On what needs to be worked on with two weeks till the first game:
"It's getting started, we have the situations down so now it's just getting the ball and getting started."
The Blazers are 17 days away from opening the 2018 season on Aug. 30 at home against Savannah State. Season tickets, mini plans and single game tickets can be purchased by clicking here.
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