North Carolina State University Athletics
2002 Football Preseason Diary, Day 7
8/6/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 6, 2002
If I'm this tired, I can't imagine how tired the players and coaches are. I left the field last night at 10:10, and they were just starting their agilities. Then this morning, wake-up was at 6:15 and meetings started at 7:30. I guess that's what two-a-days are all about.
It's getting pretty intense out there. In fact, as many years as I've been covering football (I hate to say how old I am, but I've been doing this for about 15 years now), I've never seen this much intensity - before they even put on full pads! When a defensive player makes a big play, the entire defense jumps all over him, not just the other 10 guys out on the field at that time. If a receiver makes a big catch or a running back makes a big lick, he's swarmed by the entire offense. And talk about a lot of good-natured talking back and forth! Philip Rivers and Terrence Holt seem to be the main perpetrators (in fact, the offense is now calling Holt "One-a-Day," since he missed yesterday morning's practice because of class.
The defense looked pretty strong in last night's 11-on-11. On one series, Dantonio Burnette got Rivers in the backfield, then Jerrick "Hova" Hall batted down a pass with authority, and then Corrie Dawson had a big breakup. (Rivers yelled to Holt, "Y'all just had a few lucky blitzes!"). Freshmen Manny Lawson and Oliver Hoyte also had some big breakups last night. This morning, Lawson had one rep. on the board drills when he almost drove a tight end (whose name I won't mention here) into the first row of the stands.
The offense had its share of big plays as well - it seems like every wide receiver (Bryan Peterson, Dovonte Edwards, Jerricho Cotchery, Chris Murray, Sterling Hicks, Andy Bertrand) is making big plays, and I continue to be impressed by freshman Brian Clark. He catches everything as far as I can see (Cotra Jackson said about Clark: "I thought Willie [Wright] had some big hands, but this guy's hands are huge!").
Coach Chris Demarest's daughter Junelle adds some noise to practices (as if her father wasn't loud enough!). Junelle is visiting from Mt. Vernon, N.Y., and she is a bit partial to the players her daddy coaches and/or recruited. She says that Richard Washington is her favorite because "He's nice and he says hello to me."
After a workout tonight, they'll put on the full pads tomorrow. They'll go twice a day through Saturday, when they'll have a kicking scrimmage in the morning and a regular scrimmage in the afternoon, and then take Sunday off for Media Day and the Day of Champions.
Diary, Day 1
Diary, Day 2
Diary, Day 3
Diary, Day 4
Diary, Day 5
Diary, Day 5, Part 2
Diary, Day 6
