The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Football Fall Camp Coverage: Practice No. 2
8/6/2020 2:02:00 PM | Football
BIRMINGHAM – Following yesterday's first practice of the 2020 season, the Blazers were back on the field Thursday morning for their second day of fall camp at the Football Operations Center.
THREE TAKEAWAYS:
· The Blazers are acclimating to the Alabama summer heat and were able to get through today's entire practice with no cramping. Temperatures have been in the low 90s for the first two days, and the UAB athletic training staff is doing a tremendous job keeping the Blazers hydrated.
· Spencer Brown, Jermaine Brown Jr. and Lucious Stanley form a three headed monster in the backfield and are off to a great start in camp. Brown has lost 10 lbs from last year and looks dynamic to begin his senior year. He is UAB's career leading rusher (3,122 yards) and is the nation's second active career leading rusher entering the season. These three have helped UAB to the third most combined rushing yards nationally by a running backs group entering 2020 (4,368 combined rushing yards, only behind Clemson and Tulsa).
· It was announced today that UAB will be Miami's only non-conference game this season. The game was originally slated for Thursday, Sept. 17, but has moved up a week to Thursday, Sept. 10. It will be UAB's second game of the season and Miami's first. Click here to read more about UAB at Miami.
HEAD COACH BILL CLARK:
Opening Statement:
"I thought we had a lot of improvement today. We handled the weather better. Maybe there were more clouds or whatever. For us, it's how much food we are getting in. It's how much hydration we have. It's a constant after the day's practice what we put in them: the lunch, the snacks, the Gatorade etc. I thought they handled it a lot better today. There are still lots of things to work on. From an organization standpoint and the heat, they handled it a lot better today."
On keeping Miami on the schedule . . .
"We are trying to play the whole schedule. That was a big game for our kids and our program. We are excited. We thought we would play week three on a Thursday and now it's week two on a Thursday. It's a big deal. We have a lot of Florida guys on our roster. Miami, I don't even know the number of transfers they have went out and gotten. They got that whole team back. I'm sure we are going to be playing a really good team at their place. We are excited about that. Obviously, we will take them one game at a time, but it's good to keep that game. It's a national team with national exposure. I think our guys are excited."
On playing Miami early in the season . . .
"I think before I said I liked that that game (against a Power 5 school) was late when we were trying to establish who we were. We played Mississippi State back in 2014 week 2 and I kind of liked it. We have been later in the year (Florida, Texas A&M, Tennessee) and I kind of liked that even though we haven't played or done as well as I want. Early on, we will be able to focus on them. The first game is going to be important. The conference games are the most important, but that is a biggie for us. I believe we are their opener, so I don't necessarily like that because I won't be able to see them, but they won't have a game under their belt. We will see how it works out. We like it where it is."
On stadium capacity . . .
"I won't complain about them not having a stadium full of people hollering at us. I have not seen their plan for capacity yet, whether it's 50% or less, I have not seen. I won't complain. From playing our people in our conference, it seems like their music always gets cranked up right when we have the ball, but, at the same time, the fewer fans we have on the road, it doesn't bother me any. I do like their environment with their stadium. It's going to be a net environment."
On using the game as a recruiting tool . . .
"We are always working hard at home. We consider that Florida is right in our back yard. We have guys from there. We are going to be recruiting there every year. Hopefully we can play well. It's good for those guys to have family come see them and recruits come see us."
Running back Lucious Stanley:
On playing at Miami . . .
"For me, Miami was my favorite college football team before I came to UAB. We all want to go down there and show how hard we work during the offseason. We are excited."
On being a leader in the backfield . . .
"We play for each other. When somebody scores a touchdown, we all celebrate like we just scored. We just want to win. We don't care about who gets the ball. We love to get the ball, but it doesn't matter."
On depth at the running back position . . .
"We all have different styles. They (the defense) don't know how to adapt. We can throw Spencer (Brown) in and he will start it off with power. He has dropped a little weight so he has that speed. I can get them with the speed. (Jermaine Brown Jr.) has the finesse and dead leg to the max. We are just going to keep on running. Until they stop it, we aren't going to stop. We will keep on running and taking turns."
On being proactive about health . . .
"At camp, there are no outsiders, so it's just us. We get checked every day. We take it seriously. We always have our masks. We can be in the living room playing a game and everybody has their masks. We take it seriously."
The Blazers continue camp on Friday with practice No. 3. For continuous updates, follow @UAB_FB on Twitter and Instagram.
