North Carolina State University Athletics
2002 Football Preseason Diary, Day 11
8/10/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 10, 2002
Coach Amato's Post-scrimmage comments
It's the end of a long day and a long week for the Wolfpack. Fourteen practices down and quite a few to go, but as Coach Amato reminded the team when he called them up after this afternoon's scrimmage, two weeks from now, we'll have already played a game.
This morning, there was a kicking scrimmage out at the stadium early. Adam Kiker has missed time all week with a sore back, so there's nothing to report about the battle for placekicker. The team did all its special teams work this morning and did nothing but PATs in this afternoon's scrimmage. Last night's practice was a little shorter and a little lighter to help the guys get ready for today's full load.
After a few hours rest this afternoon, the guys were back at the stadium for their first scrimmage. It was very much a situational scrimmage, with pre-scripted number of plays for each unit in different situations (25-yardline going out, 20-yardline going in, one-minute offense and of course, goalline).
I left the scrimmage feeling pretty good about both sides of the ball, especially the first-team units. Philip Rivers threw for 261 yards on 14-23 passing with three touchdowns and no INTs, while working with the first team against the second-team defense. The defense had its share of big plays, however, tallying 29 tackles for loss and a dozen sacks (remember, no one is allowed to hit the quarterbacks, so the stats are a little subjective). Sean Price had a big day on defense with four tackles for loss and a pair of sacks (plus numerous more times when he had to run by the quarterbacks to keep from hitting them). He worked with the first-team defense against the second-team offense. A.J. Davis had six tackles and a tackle for loss and a pass broken up, while Lamont Reid had four PBUs. Dwayne Herndon had a couple of big stops as well.
Jay Davis and Chris Moore both had good plays, with Moore throwing two long passes and Davis scoring on a bootleg play. Bryan Peterson caught a touchdown pass from Rivers, while Chris Murray had two scores. Fifteen different receivers caught the ball (T.J. Williams made a nice 27-yard grab, he said to say it was "spectacular").
Greg Golden looked good running behind the first-team offensive line, scoring twice. Josh Brown had a tougher time running behind the second-team unit, but saw some action with the first team and had some nice runs. T.A. McLendon sat out with a bruised foot (Sterling Hicks and Sean Berton also missed the scrimmage with injuries, but all three should be back early next week).
Terrence Holt and Philip Rivers continually jawed at each other throughout the afternoon (remember, they were never on the field at the same time, so they had plenty of opportunities to work from the sidelines). When Holt intercepted a pass and took it 54 yards to the house, he was promptly called for an excessive celebration penalty. Rivers was quick to note (quite loudly, I might add), "You don't know how to act in the endzone because you've never been there before, Holt!"
Coach Amato told the media afterwards that four players will be ineligible to play next season: Cotra Jackson, Terrance Chapman, J.J. Jones and Carlos Doggett.
There won't be an entry tomorrow because after Media/Photo Day (which takes several hours before the players go to the "Day of Champions"), I'll be totally exhausted. Getting individual photos, position photos, family photos, team photos and tons of interviews done with 105 players in the 90+ degree heat is not usually a lot of fun! But the "Day of Champions" should be a blast - I hope everybody plans on attending to get their first glimpse of all these guys I've been writing about!
Diary, Day 1
Diary, Day 2
Diary, Day 3
Diary, Day 4
Diary, Day 5
Diary, Day 5, Part 2
Diary, Day 6
Diary, Day 7
Diary, Day 8
Diary, Day 9
Diary, Day 10
