UAB
UAB

UAB Team Report

Updated: April 26, 2012 02:53 EST

When UAB hired Garrick McGee to be its head coach, replacing Neil Callaway, the understanding was McGee would come in and struggle in 2012 while focusing on a major overhaul of the roster and heavy recruiting.

He admitted after the team's late April spring game that plans may be changing.

And why? Well, the Blazers are a much better team than even he thought they were when he accepted the job.

"I learned they have a great attitude and are really committed to doing things well," McGee said. "They want to do things the right way. They want to learn how to play the game at a certain level. I also learned we have a lot of good players on our team -- more than most people think we have."

And when McGee says "most people" he is including himself. He acknowledged that he wasn't sold on the Blazer's overall athleticism and roster talent when he took the job, but that changed after 15 practices in April.

"I was surprised," McGee said. "When you read about a team that hasn't had a winning season in while, you think you're going into a situation where you've got to go and recruit players, but once we got going, we've got a lot of really good players on our team."

One of those players McGee was most happy with this spring was quarterback Johnathan Perry. Perry is a scrambling quarterback who has to become more of a pocket passer than he may be accustomed to. McGee has no doubt that can happen and will happen in time for the Blazers to be competitive in the fall.

"He's a smart kid," McGee said of Perry. "He understands football and he understands concepts. He doesn't just try to memorize plays. ... I'm proud of him."

McGee made several position changes in spring, most of which were geared specifically at making every position faster. He moved corners to safety, wide receivers to cornerback and defensive ends to defensive tackle, among other experiments.

"I think our spring went well and we started to develop a plan to go about our business," McGee said. "I think we are capable of developing into a good team."

--OG Cody Payne was moved in spring drills from DT to the offensive line. By the end of spring camp, the 6-6, 275-pound senior was working out with the first team offense.

Payne has tried his hand at both TE and DE in the past two seasons at UAB, but never really found his way on the field much for either position.

It seems he's settled in.

"I think we found the position for him, he's an offensive lineman," UAB head coach Garrick McGee said in the Birmingham News. "There's an example of taking a kid that was potentially an average defensive lineman and I think he's one of the more athletic offensive linemen that we have."

--There were rumblings, and even some unconfirmed reports that it was a done deal, in April that UAB head coach Garrick McGee would bolt the Blazers program before ever coaching a game to return to Arkansas and replace Bobby Petrino.

McGee, Arkansas' former offensive coordinator, did not leave the program obviously, and the Razorbacks hired John L. Smith instead on a 10-month basis.

It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility if after the coming season to hear McGee's name come up again at Arkansas if he has a solid year with the Blazers.

SPRING MOVERS:

QB Jonathan Perry -- The job was essentially his to lose heading into spring, but the junior-to-be not only held on, he thoroughly impressed his head coach with his mental ability to adapt to a new offense. Parry is known for his scrambling ability, but head coach Garrick McGee's offenses at Arkansas weren't exactly known for running quarterbacks so Perry's ability to be a pocket passer was in question heading into spring drills. McGee feels Perry passed with flying colors.

FS Cortez Webb -- The junior college transfer who enrolled in January from Butler County CC in Wichita, Kan., was battling out with former junior college transfer FS Calvin Jones throughout spring for the starting job. Jones was on the team last year, but Webb was mentioned specifically by head coach Garrick McGee after the April spring game as one of the players who most impressed him in spring drills.

OG Cody Payne -- When Garrick McGee was hired, Payne was working to get his name penciled in as a solid No. 2 on the depth chart as a defensive lineman. Before camp began, he was told he had to make a position change before his senior season to offensive guard. He did. He didn't complain. He worked and by the end of camp, he was atop the depth chart as a likely starter next fall.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "I learned we have a lot of good players on our team -- more than most people think we have." -- First-year UAB head coach Garrick McGee.

2012 OUTLOOK: First year UAB head coach Garrick McGee said he was genuinely surprised with the talent level the Blazers have and thinks there may not be the rebuilding project first anticipated. If the team can catch up to the pace of practice and game-sped McGee demands, the Blazers could catch some teams off guard and make a run at a .500 season. But the schedule is unforgiving early and it will be hard to keep a program used to losing from reverting back to old ways with a slow start. The defense will be tested, especially with its inexperienced secondary. Many position changes on both sides of the ball were done with the intention of improving athleticism and speed. The Blazers may still struggle in 2012, but they'll do it in a hurry.

SCOUTING THE OFFENSE: QB Jonathan Perry is known as a scrambler, which isn't exactly how the Arkansas offense light up scoreboards last year when McGee was the offensive coordinator there. But when the new Blazers coach spent some time in spring with Perry, any doubt about the junior's ability to run the offense was erased. While Perry was completing only about 60 percent of his passes in spring (McGee says he needs that to improve for this scheme to be successful), he was also showing an ability to learn and adapt to the new offense in a hurry. McGee said the strength of the offense this fall may be with the skill at wide receiver, but he was also impressed with the unexpected depth he saw at running back.

SCOUTING THE DEFENSE: The secondary has a lot of inexperienced players and some position changes that were still clearly not gelling at the end of spring camp. McGee said some corners who weren't as fast as he liked were moved to safety and some speedy wide receivers were shifted to corner. How that all plays out is still very much a guessing game, but there won't be a lack of speed in the secondary for UAB this fall. UAB is deep at linebacker where Marvin Burdette is the clear-cut star of the defense after a standout spring. UAB ranked No. 11 in the 12 team C-USA last year in total defense, allowing 485.6 yards per game. That will have to improve by a good 75 yards a game just for this unit to possibly be considered a middle of the pack team in this league. C-USA is still high scoring though and it's doubtful UAB's defense will be much better in McGee's first season as head coach.

SCOUTING THE SPECIAL TEAMS: It's hard for special teams to get much love or attention in a spring camp with a first-year head coach implementing a new offense. Still, the Blazers are confident heading into 2012 that sophomore K Ty Long will be a solid performer this fall. He was a breath of fresh air in 2011. P Trey Ragland is gone and Hunter Mullins will get the chance to replace him. If the new offense struggles, the punter will be relied on heavily so this is a position to watch. WR Jackie Williams is an all-league candidate in the return game.

TOP NEWCOMERS:

CB Kelton Brackett -- Brackett had four interceptions as a senior in 2011 and was selected to play in the Mississippi/Alabama All Star Classic where he had a pair of tackles, forced a fumble and had a tackle for loss. He and fellow UAB signee Larry Pettaway played together in high school. Brackett could see the field this fall with some more development physically.

WR Nyiakki Height -- It may still be a little unclear which side of the ball Height will play on at UAB as he was a standout wide receiver and defensive back in high school. UAB could use the help at either position. Height probably isn't an Day 1 star as he could still stand to improve on his speed, but he has the makeup of becoming a great all-around player for McGee.

QB Josh Greer -- The 6-4, 215-pounder was the first person UAB head coach Garrick McGee offered a scholarship to and Greer enrolled at UAB early in January so he can participate in spring drills. Greer threw for 2,691 yards as a prep senior to go along with 24 TDs. He's an extremely accurate thrower and with this spring under his belt, he may play his way into some true freshman playing time in 2012.

ROSTER REPORT:

--OG Cody Payne was moved from DL to OL before spring drills began and will likely be a starter this fall at one of the two guard positions.

--DL Connor Boyette, the 6-5, 265-pounder who had 31 tackles and three tackles for loss last year, was moved to DT this spring in an effort to get more speed and athleticism across the defensive front.