North Carolina State University Athletics
Annnabelle Vaughan's Preseason Diary, Practice 3
8/9/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
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Aug. 9, 2004
RALEIGH, N.C. - Practice was long, tough and hot on Monday - just the way Coach Amato likes it! The team went out around 3:30 and started practicing after 4:00, going 24 periods with several breaks. Today was the first day the guys donned shoulder pads - once they put on pads, they can start doing contact work, although they can't actually bring anybody down to the ground until they put full pads on Wednesday. Today was definitely the hottest day so far, although the weather was still fairly pleasant. Sounds like the serious heat will return just about the time the full pads come out. From my writing perch on the tower, I've got a great view of "Wolfpack Towers" - the new press box going up over the west side upper deck. If you don't live in Raleigh and haven't seen this project, you can't believe how HUGE it is. Three complete stories (and half of a fourth) stretching endzone to endzone across the whole upper deck. It's going to be a great place for fans and the media and will really complete the look of Carter-Finley Stadium. Third Sutton was back in practice today after coming back from the funeral of his grandfather. A lot of the players had final exams for second session summer school today and some more will take tests tomorrow. A couple of players missed the workout as they took their finals - Patrick Thomas was one of the players I noticed was missing. Watched the linemen during board drills. I won't mention any names on the offensive side of the ball, but let me tell you that Mario Williams absolutely dominated whenever he stepped up to the boards. Mr. Williams came close to an interception during 11-on-11 drills at the end of practice as well. Linebacker Patrick Lowery made some nice plays during inside drill. Inside drill is always made more entertaining by the comment made in the distinctive voice of Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay as he exhorts his defensive teammates. Eleven-on-eleven ended with Garland "Muck Sauce" Heath breaking up a long pass, much to the approval of his defensive teammates. Went by the equipment room right before practice to take by some media guides (if you want a copy, you can buy one at the media relations office). Eddie Gardner and his staff were busy unloading all of the new adidas apparel and equipment. You wouldn't believe the amount of organization that goes into getting all that gear in it's proper place. Everything is categorized by type, size, color. Eddie and his assistant, Wayne "Smoke" Hubert, always seem to know exactly where to go to find even the most minute article of clothing. I don't know how they do it - maybe I should let them work on my desk. Gassers again at the end of today's practice and then back to dinner and segment meetings. Tomorrow's schedule will be pretty close to today's. Practice ended, not with goalline (offense vs. defense), but with goalline installation, with the offense on one field working on goalline and the defense on the other field doing the same thing. I can't wait until they put on full pads, so they can do goalline against each other. In so many words, Coach Amato said that the defense dominated today's practice. That's the way it usually is this time of year - one day, one side of the ball dominates and the next day the other side seems to have the better day.
