North Carolina State University Athletics
Annabelle's Preseason Diary
8/13/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 13, 2003
Sorry to be so late tonight. The team just left the field a little before 9:00 p.m. - a long day for the Wolfpack.
This morning, the team went for a couple of hours in shells in a pass-oriented workout. Tonight, the dress code was full pads and the level of physical contact matched. Things are starting to get pretty intense out there and the battle between the offense and defense is heating up.
Tonight ended with a couple of periods of 11-on-11 and then two periods of goalline. As Coach Amato said after practice, "the offense had a good 'ole time today." The offense dominated in goalline drills, but the most entertaining thing for spectators like me was listening to Richard Washington and Greg Golden go at it from the sidelines. Every time the offense scored, Richard made very sure that the defense knew about it ("Touchdown, Wolfpack! Touchdown, Wolfpack!"). I don't think the defense was very amused - those guys are so competitive, I almost feel sorry for the offense for tomorrow's practice.
Speaking of defense, I was watching freshman linebacker Stephen Tulloch in drills this morning. I'm not sure what they teach them down there at Killian High School, but all three of our "Killian Killer Kats" (as Pat Thomas says they were called) are hard hitters. Tulloch, Thomas and Andre Maddox all can knock heads with the best of them.
Jerricho Cotchery has started doing some activity - riding the bike, the stairmaster. He's out of his sling and hopes to start doing some running tomorrow. The next step will be to let him start catching passes in front of him, according to our athletic trainer Jamey Coll. Jamey and his staff are such a vital part of the program's success. Take today - they were in the training room for treatments at 6:00 a.m., began taping at 7:30, on the field by 8:15 to set up for practice, then were back at treatment after practice by 1:15. They then repeated the whole process for the afternoon workout. Every one of our athletic trainers is hustling all over the field with water or to take care of the players' aches and pains.
Tomorrow is a one-practice day, in preparation for a kicking scrimmage and a regular scrimmage on Friday. We're nine day into practice and have had 11 practices. In previous years, the team would have practiced around 16 times by now, so I know the coaches are itching to get the team in a scrimmage situation.
