Aug. 23, 2003

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford Bulldogs worked out for just over two hours in hot and humid conditions Saturday morning on the practice fields located on the campus of Samford University. The Bulldogs continued to make preparations for the season opener, Thursday night on the road against Chattanooga.

"It is the same old, same old," Bulldogs Head Coach Bill Gray said. "We have certain things that we still need to work on before the game. We stressed special teams today, we concentrated on cover areas for both kickoff and punt protection. After watching some film from the week we felt that we need to go over that again this morning."

Hal Hughston, Chris Hicks and Yancey Gordon work on kicks at practice Saturday morning

Chattanooga enters the season with a new head coach, former Auburn assistant Rodney Allison. Without having any film of what Allison is accustomed to running, Gray and the Bulldogs have to be prepared for anything.

"We continue to throw things at them that we think they will see Thursday night against Chattanooga," Gray said. "We are preparing for a lot of different things, because we don't have any film and don't really know what they are going to do. Defensively we have gaps to fill no matter what play they run and offensively we got a read to make regardless on the coverage and a blocking scheme regardless of the front. If we throw a lot at them now, hopefully it will click when they see it Thursday night."

Samford will take tomorrow off and go to church as a team before returning to the practice fields Monday night. The Bulldogs will go at night Monday to get one more practice under the lights and Monday is the first day of classes for the Fall Semester at Samford.

The Bulldogs open the season Thursday, August 28th at Chattanooga. The game will be televised by The Football Network and kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. Samford opens the home schedule the following Thursday, September 4th against in state rival West Alabama.