On Tuesday, during the team's practice in full pads, Perry took most of his snaps with the second team while redshirt freshman Austin Brown ran the first team.

Perry, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound junior and No. 1 quarterback coming out of the spring, said both situa­tions are just part of the pro­cess of getting better in pre­paration for what could be his first season as a full-time starter.

"It does help me stay on my game," Perry said. "I want to see (Brown) do well also because if something happens you still want the team to win. He does moti­vate me to do well every day."

Perry entered the fall with a fairly solid grasp on the starting job. He reached that point after starting eight games last season, throwing for 2,042 yards and 10 touchdowns, and coming off a strong spring practice.

UAB quarterback Austin Brown throws a pass during the first practice of fall camp. (The Birmingham News/Mark Almond)

The gap between Perry and Brown has closed re­cently and it got even closer after Saturday's scrimmage.

Perry admits being far from perfect since camp opened on July 31 but said his scrimmage performance was his "first bad day of camp."

Perry was 11-of-31 for 201 yards with one touchdown and an interception that was returned for a touch­down on his fourth pass at­tempt of the night. Brown was an efficient 9-of-13 for 123 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

"It definitely was a learn­ing experience," said Perry. "I don't want that feeling again during the scrim­mages or during the season. Those times will come, that's what (offensive coor­dinator Jeff Brohm) harps on the most. Bad times will happen, it's just how you're going to respond. I defi­nitely learned from it and will take it and get better."

Brohm would have pre­ferred a smoother Satur­day for Perry, but said the shaky day can turn into a positive.

"We don't want him to just breeze through the camp," Brohm said. "We got our first taste of live action and it was a little bit faster for him. He made a mistake early on for the interception and it affected him. We want him to work hard every day at practice and experience the toughness of it and how we're going to have to battle, compete and fight every play."

He also experienced playing with the second team for a short time on Saturday and again on Tuesday.

Brohm said that's another learning experience.

"It's good for the No. 1 quarterback to work with the white (second) group and experience a little tougher setting," Brohm said. "He gets maybe not quite the pass protection that he has with our green group. We're moving him around, making it tough on him, and we want him to compete and fight through all the things that happen in a practice and in the course of a game."

So is Perry still officially the No. 1 quarterback?

"(Brown is) pushing Jonathan and it's a good quarterback race right now," Brohm said. "Both are competing and we like what we see so far."

A year ago, it was Perry chasing starter Bryan Ellis while trying to hold off Joe Bento. Perry became the full-time starter after Ellis' season ended because of injuries.

"It's an extremely different experience, especially with this offense," Perry said. "Last year, we really didn't know too much about the offensive line and protections, built-in checks and audibles. It's extremely different because you're trying to get every check down. You want to know what to check to when you see this look or that look. You have to do a lot of different things."