Sept. 18, 2006

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford football team worked out for about an hour and a half in full pads Monday afternoon at Seibert Stadium. The Bulldogs worked on corrections for last Thursday night's game against Austin Peay.

Head Coach Bill Gray said he saw some bright spots from several players during Thursday night's game.

"Freddy Young, I thought, played as good a football game as he has played," Gray said. "He had six knockdowns and also had some good numbers in the receiving part. I was very pleased with his effort.

"B.T. Hartloge, Kyle Morton and Steve Tennin are some guys who continue to show up on defense," Gray said. "Steve was our highest production point guy coming out of the game, and also had our biggest hustle play. That is something we stressed to everyone in the meetings this weekend, is we have to have more like him. Mark Brown made a big hustle play and we are still getting some good effort on our special teams as well."

Assistant Coach Adam Caine instructs the special teams during Monday's practice.

Gray said the Bulldogs need to improve offensively heading into their conference-opener against 20th-ranked and defending OVC champion Eastern Illinois.

"Offensively, we have to get some consistency," Gray said. "We have to move the football more and keep the defense off the field. We had the ball for 11 series and five of them were three and out. We can't beat a lot of people doing that."

Gray said he liked what he saw from the team during Monday's workout.

"I am pleased with the way we worked today," Gray said. "It was tough for those guys to get back up for Austin Peay after an emotional game at Georgia Tech, but we are not blaming it on that. Now, we have a fine football team coming in Saturday. We worked well today, we just need to continue to work better as the week goes on."

Samford will practice again Tuesday afternoon at 3:45 p.m. Saturday's game against Eastern Illinois is scheduled for a 6:00 p.m. kickoff at Seibert Stadium.