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Football Has Busy Saturday Morning
Blazers host annual media day, picture day.

	Head coach Garrick McGee

Aug. 18, 2012

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.--The UAB football team held its annual football media opportunity Saturday morning in what was a busy day for the Blazers.

The 2012 squad began the day by taking posted individual shots, pictures with their position groups and a team photo while dodging early morning showers, which passed through the Birmingham area.

Following the photo session, head coach Garrick McGee joined 10 football players--CB Cornelius Richards, WR Nick Adams, WR Jackie Williams, WR Patrick Hearn, RB Greg Franklin, DT Connor Boyette, RB Darrin Reaves, LB Marvin Burdette, K Ty Long, and S Jake Ganus--to discuss the upcoming season with the local media.

The Blazers will conclude the afternoon with their second scrimmage of the fall camp, which is set to begin at 3:30 p.m. CT at the UAB practice field.

UAB begins the 2012 season on Saturday, Sept. 1 hosting Troy at Legion Field, with kickoff scheduled for 11 a.m. CT. The game will be broadcast by Fox College Sports.

Below are a few quotes from McGee's press conference:

Head Coach Garrick McGee

Thoughts on training camp... "I think we have a lot of confidence and we have come a long way. We still have 14 days to prepare for our first game and we have to maximize every day."

Areas that surprise you... "We have more talent than I thought that we had when I took the job. When you are coming into a program that hasn't had much success, as a matter of fact, hasn't had a winning season in the last five years, and none of our kids have experienced a winning season in a UAB uniform. So as you take the job, you think that there is not much talent and it's going to take a few years to recruit personnel and get really good players in place. What I've been impressed with is we have a lot of talent - size, speed and ability - we have that."

On being so close to the first game... "You are always concentrating, but your intensity level really does raise your focus as the head coach. Your commitment to getting things to come around and your patience starts to go away a little bit because we are not in camp. It's time to start doing things right, time to start getting ourselves ready to play well on game day."

On four tough games to start the season... "We're committed to being the best that we can possibly be on a daily basis. If that's your commitment and that's what you are focused on it doesn't matter who you are playing, it doesn't matter where you're playing, it doesn't matter if it's a practice session, a workout, a walk through, a meeting - none of that matters when you are committed to being the best that you can be on a daily basis."