Blazers preparing to Miners

The UAB football team practiced for approximately an hour and a half Thursday morning at the UAB practice facility in shorts and helmets.

The Blazers (2-5, 2-2 C-USA) will play in their third consecutive road game this weekend when they travel to El Paso, Texas, to face Conference USA foe UTEP (3-4, 2-1 C-USA). Saturday’s contest will mark the third meeting between the teams, with the series tied at 1-1.

Although UAB head coach Neil Callaway was disappointed in his team’s preparations for UTEP on Wednesday, he thought his players progressed well during Thursday’s practice.

“[Today’s practice] was good,” Callaway said. “We did all of our work on UTEP, which was better, so it was a good day. We had a little carryover [from yesterday] learning what to do and we’ll continue the process tomorrow to be ready for Saturday.”

Callaway believes one of the keys to Saturday’s game is strong line play.

“We have to make sure we do a good job up front, ” Callaway said. “We need to carry out our responsibilities and run the ball.”

Callaway named senior QB Joe Webb and senior WR Mark Ferrell as the offensive captains, sophomore DB Terrell Springs as the defensive captain and sophomore P Trey Ragland as the special teams captain for Saturday’s matchup.

Saturday’s contest will kick off at 1 p.m. MT (2 p.m. CT)