North Carolina State University Athletics
2002 Football Preseason Diary, Day 1
7/30/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
July 30, 2002
Looks like it's diary time again. Hard to believe that it's July and we're already talking about preseason practice, but even harder to believe that the season begins in just three-and-a-half weeks. This is my fifth season at NC State, but even the old timers are telling me that it's been a long time since they've seen this much excitement about the Pack this early. The media attention has certainly been at an all-time high, especially on a national level. Coach Amato has been on just about every national radio show in the last two weeks and our players have been inundated with requests as well.
I've been questioned by some folks about the content of the preseason diary (I've even heard that some comments have been made that because of my gender, maybe all I know about football is how hot it is out there!). Just let me say that although I would love to share with Wolfpack fans everywhere every offensive play, every defensive scheme and every special teams alignment that we are installing, our practices are closed to media and public for a reason. What I hope I am able to do is share with you the sights, sounds and attitudes of the players and coaches as they get ready for the season. (And even though the heat might not be such a big deal when you're sitting in the air conditioning reading the gopack.com site, believe me - it is a HUGE deal to the guys who are out on that field!).
The Wolfpack rookies' wake-up call came at 7:15 this morming and they began meetings about an hour later. Today, the "Pack Pups" learned where to drop their laundry off after practice, how to hang the equipment in their lockers (Wolfpack players must arrange their lockers in a very specific way - no exceptions!), and learned about the weight program.
There were 20 players out at practice this afternoon, including a junior college transfer (Sheldon Lewin) and three walkons. Another junior college transfer, Alan Halloway, will join the team later, while Tramain Hall will begin work with the varsity on Saturday. He was out running drills with the varsity players on the lower field while the younger guys were on the track fields.
They worked out for about an hour and a half (in shorts and shoulder pads), with two water breaks under the tents and in front of the water fans. (There are even pools set up behind Weisiger-Brown for the players to get in when they finish practice.) Today, the players mostly learned where to go during practice and did some basic drills, but there was some one-on-one work, including pass rush and pass skeleton. Although they aren't supposed to be having contact yet, A.J. Davis and Brian Clark were bumping around a little bit on a couple of pass routes. Most of the work was just on basic installation, which will continue to get more complicated as practice continues. Coach Amato said that it won't take long to find out if it's going to be "clear as mud."
The group spent a little time learning the "flip" drill. That's the drill the team does in pregame warmups, when they all flip over in unison. They make it look pretty easy on Saturdays, but today when Todd Stroud was telling them to "flip like bacon," it didn't look so simple. Coach Amato told them that after they finished practice, they would go up to the green room and do a "couple other things." Nicely put, that meant - TIME FOR GASSERS! I doubt he'll be able to fool them after today.
Coach was pretty positive after the workout, telling the media that his versatile class of rookies could lead to some position changes. He said he'd love to get a look at T.J. Williams at defensive end (he's playing tight end right now) and that there was a possibility that Greg Golden or Lamont Reid could move over to tailback. He said he's talked to both players and that if it was a move they wanted to make, the coaching staff might consider it - that both had great running skills (which they certainly showed evidence of on kickoff returns last season).
Tonight, the guys will have kicking meetings and segment (or position) meetings until 9:00 p.m. Curfew is at 11:00 p.m. and they'll officially start two-a-days tomorrow morning.
Don't forget to log on to Philip Rivers' Gopack.com chat Wednesday at 1:00 p.m.
