North Carolina State University Athletics
2002 Football Preseason Diary, Day 10
8/9/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 9, 2002
Wolfpack Ready For Scrimmage
Season Tickets Sold Out
Day of Champions Set For August 11
These diaries are getting easier and easier. It seems that many of the folks involved with the football program are checking these entries out to make sure I'm being accurate (and probably to make sure I'm not busting on them!). Anyway, a positive result of that is that people (players included) are starting to tell me things that I might have missed that would be good diary fodder.
Last night, Callan White, a student who is helping the coaches out, gave me a great story. Every day before practice, the managers and the trainers play each other in touch football while they're waiting for the team to come out. Evidently the managers pretty much man-handle the trainers every day, and a certain player who usually gets out there a little earlier got tired of the one-sided battles, so he decided to help out. He told the trainers he would watch film with them and that he would coach them. He stood true to his word, and even though the trainers didn't win on Thursday evening, they "came closer" according to Callan. I'm sure that most of you have figured out that only one player is competitive enough that he couldn't stand to watch the trainers get beat every day - Philip Rivers!
T.A. McLendon was back in his regular uniform Thursday night and he, Greg Golden and Josh Brown continue to show promise. Greg never lets up out there. Last night, they were doing some drills, maybe just one-on-one's against the defensive backs, and Greg was running down the field all by himself yelling, "I'm on fire! I'm on fire!" Then when he ran back to the line of scrimmage he stopped and ran about four circles around Doc Holliday. He may be a little crazy, but I think that his energy and enthusiasm has been great for the offense.
Another member of the "Alphabet Soup" unit (T.A., A.J., J.J., T.J.), A.J. Davis has a new nickname. I heard his fellow cornerback, Marcus Hudson, calling him "Apple Jack" last night.
This morning, the guys from FCA and Athletes in Action brought popsicles for the players during their breaks. This is the second time they've done this and it's been very popular. I even broke down and tried one (OK - I had two, but they're the little ones in the plastic sleeve!) and I certainly could see why they're so well-received.
The guys went live on the goalline today and even though Golden scored a few TDs, the defense had some pretty good stops as well. On one snap, there were bodies flying over the pile like projectiles.
Tonight's workout is going to be a little shorter, because they're getting ready for tomorrow's scrimmage. I'll wait until after the scrimmage tomorrow night to post Saturday's entry.
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
