Aug. 12, 2003

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford football team continued preparations for its first game, against Chattanooga, Tuesday afternoon on the practice fields on the Samford Campus. Practice was shifted around due to rain in Birmingham; however the Bulldogs still worked out for two and a half hours. The Bulldogs ran their first live scrimmages pitting the offense against the defense.

Head Coach Bill Gray watches over drills at Tuesday's practice

"You always want your defense to be ahead at this point of practice so I am not upset about the way things went," Head Coach Bill Gray said. "The defense basically took it to offense. It took us awhile to even get a first down. One side came out and got by, while one side didn't work hard and didn't have their mind right. We kind of took a step backwards today and we don't need to put two practices like this back-to-back, so it will be interesting to see how they come out in the morning. I will be very disappointed if they don't come out here and have a great day tomorrow, because that is the type of character that they have."

The Bulldogs will return to the practice fields twice tomorrow in preparation for their first full scrimmage, which is Saturday 9:00 a.m. at Seibert Stadium on the campus of Samford University. The scrimmage is open to the public.

Samford opens the 2004 season at Chattanooga on August 28, at 7:00 p.m. The game will be televised by The Football Network. The Bulldogs first home game will be the following Thursday, September 4 at 7:00 p.m. against in-state rival West Alabama.