North Carolina State University Athletics
Football Preseason Diary, Day 11
8/17/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 17, 2001
We had a new coach on the field today. The coaches wanted to see what some of the less-expericned quarterbacks could do, so Philip Rivers spent most of the day with a whistle around his neck. I saw him put his arm around some of the "younger" guys a couple of times (like Philip is so ancient!) and help them out. Believe the hype on Philip - he really is a great young man.
The defense looked pretty tough on the goalline today - there were some pretty good in-your-face hits. The offense scored a couple of times, but the guy calling the touchdowns, one of our equipment guys, Wayne "Smoke" Hubert, is a little prejudiced towards the offense. I was standing right next to one of the so-called touchdowns and if I were a coach, I would have asked for an instant replay! Anyway, you can tell some of the guys are worn out AFTER practice, but during practice things are pretty competitive. Freshman linebacker Avery Gibson had a great stop on the goalline today.
Victor Stephens, who has been sitting out with a bad hamstring, worked out at free safety today (he's been at cornerback). Tight end Paul Whittaker is missing time with a sprained foot and Brian Jamison went down at the end of practice today with a foot injury. Right now, they think it's a sprained foot as well, but they're going to do an MRI in the next couple of days to make sure. Keep your fingers crossed! K.J. Stone and Carlos Doggett are still nursing muscle pulls, but nothing too dire.
Coach Chris Demarest's eight-year-old daughter, Junelle, has been visiting her dad this week and has added an extra touch to practice. She's a little partial to the guys her daddy coaches and really loves Terrance Chapman. I keep hearing this little high voice squealing, "Come on, eleven!!"
Tomorrow is the first big test - the first major scrimmage. The guys will have a kicking scrimmage in the morning and the full scrimmage in the evening. We'll post a story on the gopack site afterwards so look for it tomorrow night.
For those of you who actually get weekends off, have a good one!
