North Carolina State University Athletics
Annabelle's Preseason Diary
8/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 18, 2003
Today's schedule got thrown way out of whack due to non-cooperating weather. About three quarters of the way through this afternoon's workout, some lightning strikes came fairly close to the practice fields and the wind whipped up a little, so the team took a break up under the shelter by the practice field.
Meanwhile, the coaches discovered that the water up at the Murphy Center was temporarily shut off. So .. the options were to stick out the weather and finish practice, or go up to the building and have dinner and walk-throughs ... sans showers!
But everyone was in good spirits and the players had a good time while the coaches watched the weather. They kept doing their chant that they do at the end of practice when Coach Amato calls it up, hoping he would take the hint and end practice (therefore bypassing the dreaded gassers!). Freddie Aughtry LIndsay yelled that with his gold teeth, he needed to get inside before the lightning struck. They got their wish - the team went back inside for dinner and meetings and may do a walk-through tonight. The concentration is all on Western Carolina right now.
Jerricho Cotchery looked good, catching passes and running today. It kills him to have to miss practice, but Jamey Coll and the Sports Medicine staff have done a great job reining him in until he's back to full strength.
While they did practice, the defense made some big plays in 11-on-11 drills. I saw Ollie Hoyte with a nice pass breakup and Dovonte Edwards had another. Once again, T.J. Williams looked tough, with an athletic grab from Jay Davis. It looked like Renaldo Moses was making some big plays on inside drill as well.
Tomorrow is the last day of two-a-days, with a kicking scrimmage in the morning and a regular scrimmage in the evening. (Remember, they're closed to the media and the public!). Wednesday, classes start at NC State and they'll get down to their game-week schedule. Today's practice was the 18th since the team reported on August 4, so things are really starting to come together.
