Aug. 20, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB football team returned to the practice fields on Wednesday afternoon, going for just over two hours in full pads in 90-plus-degree weather. It was the first Blazer football practice since the fall semester classes resumed on Tuesday.

The team worked on the Tulsa game plan and also did some conditioning workouts during Wednesday afternoon's session. With just 10 days remaining before the season-opener against Tulsa, Callaway knows there is a lot of work left, but felt good about how his team responded to the day off on Tuesday.

"I thought it was pretty decent today," Callaway said. "I thought the competition was good. We worked on our Tulsa stuff still but we still have a lot to do as far as schemes and what they're doing on both sides of the ball. We seemed to be fresher today after having yesterday off."

UAB will continue preparations for the Golden Hurricane with three more practices this week. The end of the week will culminate in the annual "Breakfast With The Blazers" fan day on Saturday morning beginning at 9 a.m. at Bartow Arena.

"We're going to have a kind of medium day Thursday," Callaway said. "Friday won't be too bad and of course we will have our fan day and a closed scrimmage on Saturday. Then we will be on our normal game week. We have a lot to work on and a lot to get better at, but we are going to keep going."

The Blazers and Golden Hurricane will open the 2008 season on Aug. 30, with a 3 p.m. kick off at Legion Field.