North Carolina State University Athletics
Bowl Diary, Day 6
12/19/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 19, 2001
Orlando, Fla. - Wow - it's been a long day and it's not over yet. I left the hotel on a bus with our seniors this morning at 8:30 for a trip to the Florida Hospital. A bunch of Pitt's players were there as well and it was a really neat experience for me, our players and I think everyone involved. Our guys were great with the kids - having their photos made, visiting with the kids and parents and just offering encouragement. Willie Wright was holding babies and Ray Robinson challenged one little boy to a video game matchup. Our players were giving out footballs and the Pitt players were giving out hats. So our guys went behind the Pitt players and put Wolfpack stickers on top of the Panthers logo on all the hats!
After the hospital visit, it was on to a press conference with Coach Amato and our four senior captains: Olin Hannum, Willie Wright, Brian Williams and Levar Fisher. By the time the media had finished asking their questions, the rest of the team had arrived and we went to the Kickoff Luncheon. Adam Kiker won the academic award for our team. Did you know that he has a 4.0 gpa in aerospace engineering? Pretty impressive, huh? Our band and cheerleaders performed at the luncheon, getting the whole team fired up.
Mike Tirico and (NC State alum) Jerry Punch were at the luncheon and Tirico did a brief interview with Coach that had everybody rolling. As always, Coach Amato stole the show. Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso will join them over at our hotel tonight to sit down with Coach Amato, Levar and Philip Rivers. Last week, they all did a conference call with our coordinators, Marty Galbraith and Buddy Green, so they should know all there is to know about the Pack.
After the press conference, a few of us had a mandatory bowl meeting and then got back to the hotel a little after 5:00. I just sat with the team and watched the season highlight tape. It seems like years ago since we played some of those games! I think they are really ready to make some more highlights tomorrow night.
The players are eating together now and then will have a couple more meetings, a devotional and then an early curfew tonight. Tomorrow, they'll follow their normal game-day schedule, with meetings galore.
