North Carolina State University Athletics
Football Preseason Diary, Day 14
8/20/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 20, 2001
OK - I know there are less than 30,000 students at NC State, but there were at LEAST 50,000 cars on campus today! It took me 20 minutes to get from Reynolds to the football office today and then another 40 minutes to search for a parking place when I tried to get back. I `m ready for everybody to learn where they need to go and GET OUT OF MY WAY!!
Whew - glad to get that off my chest. Today was a hectic day all over the place. I came out of my office this morning and saw Lamont Reid, Chris Murray and Brian Cross walking back from class and realized it was the first time I've seen them when they don't have their jerseys on! All of our student-athletes are back, so Reynolds, Case and Weisiger Brown were pretty crazy today.
Dantonio Burnette came in to do an interview today. Have I mentioned that he is one of my favorite players? This guy doesn't say much, he just goes out on that field and plays his heart out. I think if you asked 100 players who the toughest guy on this team is, all 100 of them would say that "Thunder Dan" would go out there and play hard if his leg had fallen off. And off the field, he's the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet - he doesn't like the spotlight, but he deserves it. I think his media relations director hasn't promoted him enough - I think I'll have to have a heart-to-heart with her immediately.
Practice didn't start until almost 4:00 this afternoon, but they're getting a good long one in today. The coaches were in meetings all morning. They watched all the film from yesterday's scrimmage and have been analyzing depth charts, positions, etc. You wouldn't believe the amount of time those guys spend watching film. And it's not clean, pretty film, like watching a game on the network. It's taken from far away so they can see the whole field and it's not very clear. It's a wonder every one of them isn't cross-eyed!
I met with the men's basketball team this afternoon and they are fired up and ready to go. Individual skill workouts for basketball will start next week, so it's time to get in that mode as well.
