The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Clark Previews UAB’s Thursday Night Game at South Alabama
9/21/2020 11:43:00 AM | Football
BIRMINGHAM – Coming off its first bye week of the season, the UAB football team returns to the gridiron this Thursday night for a non-conference clash at South Alabama.
Head Coach Bill Clark addressed the media on Monday morning in advance of Thursday night's game.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW:
HEAD COACH BILL CLARK:
Opening Statement . . .
"For us, this is a Monday-Wednesday. We have kind of worked these Thursday games a good bit recently. You kind of get in the mode of what is today when we are in our preparation. First, I will talk about South Alabama and then a little bit about us. I am very impressed with what they have done. We have tremendous respect for Southern Miss. They beat them, and beat them going away. They led a solid Tulane program, as we know, from the opening. Tulane came back and beat them at the end of the game. They are a team that has been in the process with a coach that just got there just a little while ago. Now, they are starting to look how they want to look. They're playing in their new stadium, which we will get to see. That being on campus, from somebody who was there, that was a huge deal that we had originally envisioned. That is a big deal for them. It looks great. I am really impressed with them from what I have seen. Offensively, they have three great receivers. They are running the ball well. They have gotten a lot of big plays from the passing game and have still been able to run the ball. Defensively, they're solid as always. They have good special teams. I know those coaches. They all do a really good job and we are going to have our work cut out for us. Looking at us, obviously, we went to Miami to win that game. We knew those guys are really talented. It probably showed when you watched them against Louisville the other night. The message for our team is for us to keep believing and keep working. We have a really quality opponent, which is an in-state opponent. Their coach said that they are going to be ready for us. I heard him say that last year. Any time you play somebody in-state, that's a big deal. We have had a good week. Obviously, it was not a full open date. We have had good preparation. We had a good number of guys out last week. We have them all back. A lot of them were hamstrings and shoulders. We are almost back to full strength. We should be back to full strength tomorrow. It has been a good week. They have had a lot of energy. The last two days have really looked like how we should practice. I am pleased with them from that standpoint."
On having players from the south Alabama region . . .
"Any time you go home, it's a big deal. You want to do well in the city and area you were born in. That's a big deal to our guys. It's like if they had a guy from Birmingham and they're playing UAB, who they hear about all the time. That's why it is a big deal. Our kids are really excited about it. I hope we have a few faces there as the capacity is very limited. Hopefully, we will at least get their families there."
On Tyree Turner and playing his former team . . .
"It isn't one of those deals where we have talked a lot about it. You know it's a big deal. These are friends of his. These are former teammates of his. They're his coaches. You're always going to want to play well against those folks. He is a great young man. That is the No. 1 thing for all of our guys. He loves to work. He makes our D-line room better because he is full of energy. This is a guy who will have a chance to keep playing past us. Every game, every practice and everything that he does is very important. We are glad to have him with us."
On the injury to Tyler Johnston III . . .
"Back-tracking to Central Arkansas, he probably took a little bit of a shot on that arm. The doctors checked it out and he had a good week of practice going into the Miami game. He got a real shot on the arm and got a crack in it. I don't usually talk about injuries, but I wanted to get that out on him so everybody knew where we stood. After the game when we were talking about how he felt, he didn't even mention it. Monday, when he came in, his shoulder was tilted. We had to scan it. He's so tough. He's such a leader for us. I told him that he has to turn into a coach for the next four to eight weeks, or whatever that is. We will see what the time table is. He is a guy that we know will be back as soon as humanly possible. Bryson Lucero, and that room of quarterbacks, is doing a good job of filling in. Thank God we were able to get Bryson some reps in games. Bryson, like all our quarterbacks, is a worker, a film studier and a guy that wants to do great. We are thankful we have such a great room of quarterbacks."
On having confidence following the Miami game . . .
"We are in a culture where you're either a genius or an idiot. If you win, you have all the answers and if you lose, you don't know anything. That's the problem with these guys. This generation is on their phones so much, so sometimes they get praise too much or criticized too much. We would all like to live in the middle of that. I think that gives them some confidence. We don't want anything from last year's game against South Alabama to play into a factor because that game is over. The Miami game gives us some confidence, just where we are on the national stage. But, we didn't go there to look good. We went there to win. We are still very disappointed by that. Hopefully, we are in the right spot. We know have a lot of work to do. This team that we are playing is very capable."
On special teams. . .
"You just don't know how everyone is spending their time. We invest a lot of time in special teams, so we expect them to be good. We are taking time away from something else so we expect our special teams to be good. I couldn't sleep at night if we didn't. I do not know where everyone is choosing spending their time. We have been great on COVID, but we lost a couple of guys before the Miami game. Every one of those guys was starting on special teams. That's what will keep you up at night. I think that is probably what has happened to a lot of people. Maybe they lost a person that was not a starter on offense, but started on all the special teams. All of a sudden you have this other guy and he is a three. That happened to us and thank God we survived it. It literally happened right before we got on the plane. I could see that happening to other people."
OLB Alex Wright:
On gaining confidence by playing at Miami . . .
"Going into the Miami game, we had the mindset that we were going to play with Miami no matter the conference. We came in there with the mindset that we weren't going to lay down. The ultimate goal was to come out of there with a W. Obviously, that didn't work out. It kind of gave us that confidence that we are playing with anybody. The confidence is built up going into this game. We are going to do what we have to do going into this game."
On QB Bryson Lucero . . .
"I have been talking to him about this. We were going in as freshmen and he had that leadership mentality. He is really vocal. Everything he does, he does to the fullest. He has the it factor about him. You can sense it when he walks on the field. He is a true leader. For him to do it early, coming in, that proves and shows a lot to the whole team. That's a real dude right there."
On playing in the south Alabama region . . .
"(Tyree Turner) is ready to go back down there and play against his boys. Everybody else is ready to go down there and show their talent off against South Alabama."
On G5 teams beating P5 teams . . .
"The group of five can play with anybody. As long as you show up with a mindset to do what you have to do an get everything right, we can play with everybody. That gives us, as a conference, motivation because people are doubting us. We just showed this past weekend that we can play with anybody, no matter who you are."
TE Hayden Pittman
On QB Bryson Lucero . . .
"Bryson does a lot of things well. He takes it really seriously. He kind of reminds me of Tom Brady with how much he is in the film room. He does a really good job. His deep ball is really good; he can throw it about 70 yards. That's one thing he excels at. We aren't worried about that at all."
On playing close to home at South Alabama . . .
"I went against Tyree and he's a mean dude on the field. He is hard to block. I talked to him about the game. He's ready to go back down there. He's ready to go play them and show them what he can do. He didn't get to play against us last year because he was hurt. He is ready to prove himself this year. I am super ready to go back home. My friends and family will be there. I am ready. I've been waiting on this one."
On G5 teams upsetting P5 programs . . .
"If you play college football, you have to be a good player. It doesn't matter if you play power five or not, if you play, you can win that game. You have to have your mind right when you come to play. That's the biggest thing to me."
Head Coach Bill Clark addressed the media on Monday morning in advance of Thursday night's game.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW:
- Thursday's game will be nationally televised on ESPN and kicks at 6:30 p.m. CST. Matt Barrie, Mike Golic Jr. and Lauren Sisler will be on the call.
- Senior running back Spencer Brown is approaching another major milestone in his career. Brown is three rushing touchdowns shy of becoming the program's record holder in that category. Brown scored his 33rd career rushing TD at Miami and is approaching Pat Green (1991-94) who currently has the school record of 35.
- UAB has nine players on its roster from the Mobile area. Along with those nine players, Head Coach Bill Clark was the defensive coordinator at South Alabama from 2008-12, while offensive coordinator Bryant Vincent was their OC from 2011-13 and 2015-16. Additionally, cornerbacks coach Jay Simpson played for the Jags from 2009-11.
HEAD COACH BILL CLARK:
Opening Statement . . .
"For us, this is a Monday-Wednesday. We have kind of worked these Thursday games a good bit recently. You kind of get in the mode of what is today when we are in our preparation. First, I will talk about South Alabama and then a little bit about us. I am very impressed with what they have done. We have tremendous respect for Southern Miss. They beat them, and beat them going away. They led a solid Tulane program, as we know, from the opening. Tulane came back and beat them at the end of the game. They are a team that has been in the process with a coach that just got there just a little while ago. Now, they are starting to look how they want to look. They're playing in their new stadium, which we will get to see. That being on campus, from somebody who was there, that was a huge deal that we had originally envisioned. That is a big deal for them. It looks great. I am really impressed with them from what I have seen. Offensively, they have three great receivers. They are running the ball well. They have gotten a lot of big plays from the passing game and have still been able to run the ball. Defensively, they're solid as always. They have good special teams. I know those coaches. They all do a really good job and we are going to have our work cut out for us. Looking at us, obviously, we went to Miami to win that game. We knew those guys are really talented. It probably showed when you watched them against Louisville the other night. The message for our team is for us to keep believing and keep working. We have a really quality opponent, which is an in-state opponent. Their coach said that they are going to be ready for us. I heard him say that last year. Any time you play somebody in-state, that's a big deal. We have had a good week. Obviously, it was not a full open date. We have had good preparation. We had a good number of guys out last week. We have them all back. A lot of them were hamstrings and shoulders. We are almost back to full strength. We should be back to full strength tomorrow. It has been a good week. They have had a lot of energy. The last two days have really looked like how we should practice. I am pleased with them from that standpoint."
On having players from the south Alabama region . . .
"Any time you go home, it's a big deal. You want to do well in the city and area you were born in. That's a big deal to our guys. It's like if they had a guy from Birmingham and they're playing UAB, who they hear about all the time. That's why it is a big deal. Our kids are really excited about it. I hope we have a few faces there as the capacity is very limited. Hopefully, we will at least get their families there."
On Tyree Turner and playing his former team . . .
"It isn't one of those deals where we have talked a lot about it. You know it's a big deal. These are friends of his. These are former teammates of his. They're his coaches. You're always going to want to play well against those folks. He is a great young man. That is the No. 1 thing for all of our guys. He loves to work. He makes our D-line room better because he is full of energy. This is a guy who will have a chance to keep playing past us. Every game, every practice and everything that he does is very important. We are glad to have him with us."
On the injury to Tyler Johnston III . . .
"Back-tracking to Central Arkansas, he probably took a little bit of a shot on that arm. The doctors checked it out and he had a good week of practice going into the Miami game. He got a real shot on the arm and got a crack in it. I don't usually talk about injuries, but I wanted to get that out on him so everybody knew where we stood. After the game when we were talking about how he felt, he didn't even mention it. Monday, when he came in, his shoulder was tilted. We had to scan it. He's so tough. He's such a leader for us. I told him that he has to turn into a coach for the next four to eight weeks, or whatever that is. We will see what the time table is. He is a guy that we know will be back as soon as humanly possible. Bryson Lucero, and that room of quarterbacks, is doing a good job of filling in. Thank God we were able to get Bryson some reps in games. Bryson, like all our quarterbacks, is a worker, a film studier and a guy that wants to do great. We are thankful we have such a great room of quarterbacks."
On having confidence following the Miami game . . .
"We are in a culture where you're either a genius or an idiot. If you win, you have all the answers and if you lose, you don't know anything. That's the problem with these guys. This generation is on their phones so much, so sometimes they get praise too much or criticized too much. We would all like to live in the middle of that. I think that gives them some confidence. We don't want anything from last year's game against South Alabama to play into a factor because that game is over. The Miami game gives us some confidence, just where we are on the national stage. But, we didn't go there to look good. We went there to win. We are still very disappointed by that. Hopefully, we are in the right spot. We know have a lot of work to do. This team that we are playing is very capable."
On special teams. . .
"You just don't know how everyone is spending their time. We invest a lot of time in special teams, so we expect them to be good. We are taking time away from something else so we expect our special teams to be good. I couldn't sleep at night if we didn't. I do not know where everyone is choosing spending their time. We have been great on COVID, but we lost a couple of guys before the Miami game. Every one of those guys was starting on special teams. That's what will keep you up at night. I think that is probably what has happened to a lot of people. Maybe they lost a person that was not a starter on offense, but started on all the special teams. All of a sudden you have this other guy and he is a three. That happened to us and thank God we survived it. It literally happened right before we got on the plane. I could see that happening to other people."
OLB Alex Wright:
On gaining confidence by playing at Miami . . .
"Going into the Miami game, we had the mindset that we were going to play with Miami no matter the conference. We came in there with the mindset that we weren't going to lay down. The ultimate goal was to come out of there with a W. Obviously, that didn't work out. It kind of gave us that confidence that we are playing with anybody. The confidence is built up going into this game. We are going to do what we have to do going into this game."
On QB Bryson Lucero . . .
"I have been talking to him about this. We were going in as freshmen and he had that leadership mentality. He is really vocal. Everything he does, he does to the fullest. He has the it factor about him. You can sense it when he walks on the field. He is a true leader. For him to do it early, coming in, that proves and shows a lot to the whole team. That's a real dude right there."
On playing in the south Alabama region . . .
"(Tyree Turner) is ready to go back down there and play against his boys. Everybody else is ready to go down there and show their talent off against South Alabama."
On G5 teams beating P5 teams . . .
"The group of five can play with anybody. As long as you show up with a mindset to do what you have to do an get everything right, we can play with everybody. That gives us, as a conference, motivation because people are doubting us. We just showed this past weekend that we can play with anybody, no matter who you are."
TE Hayden Pittman
On QB Bryson Lucero . . .
"Bryson does a lot of things well. He takes it really seriously. He kind of reminds me of Tom Brady with how much he is in the film room. He does a really good job. His deep ball is really good; he can throw it about 70 yards. That's one thing he excels at. We aren't worried about that at all."
On playing close to home at South Alabama . . .
"I went against Tyree and he's a mean dude on the field. He is hard to block. I talked to him about the game. He's ready to go back down there. He's ready to go play them and show them what he can do. He didn't get to play against us last year because he was hurt. He is ready to prove himself this year. I am super ready to go back home. My friends and family will be there. I am ready. I've been waiting on this one."
On G5 teams upsetting P5 programs . . .
"If you play college football, you have to be a good player. It doesn't matter if you play power five or not, if you play, you can win that game. You have to have your mind right when you come to play. That's the biggest thing to me."
Players Mentioned
RB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
TE
/ Football
DL
/ Football
OLB
/ FootballUAB Baseball | The Quick Cut: at Alabama
Thursday, April 23
UAB Beach Volleyball | The Quick Cut: Blazer Beach Bash
Saturday, April 18
UAB Softball | The Quick Cut: Memphis Series
Thursday, April 09
UAB vs ECU Post Game Press Conference
Sunday, March 08
