North Carolina State University Athletics
2005 Preseason Diary, Day Two
8/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 3, 2005
I'm sure that the team is glad today is over. This was the day that the team ran the dreaded 110's. The look on most of the freshmens' faces when they came out onto the Carter-Finley game field this afternoon was pretty dismal, since they are told horror stories by the upperclassmen of the 110's and mat drills from the minute they step on campus. Each player ran 20 reps, with each individual group having to make specific times.
I know everyone reading this is about to DIE to know how hot it was, so ... drum roll ... the guys actually got a little bit of a break. Just before they came outside, a storm passed near Raleigh, so there was good cloud cover and a couple of rain drops while they were running.
The linemen ran with the group of runningbacks/quarterbacks/kickers/punters. The linemen have to make each run in 18 seconds, while the others have to make the 16-second mark. Junior college transfer Littleton Wright was ahead of the group on several of the sprints, while DeMario Pressley also was leading the Pack on certain runs. The fastest sprint for a lineman came from freshman Jeraill McCuller - who for some reason was up in the tunnel when the whistle blew for one of the sprints. Jeraill started at the goalline when the rest of the group was almost to midfield and managed to catch up with most of them before they reached the opposite end. The skill players who were waiting to run laughed and predicted that he would be pretty tired after his superhuman effort, but he manged to get through the rest pretty well.
It was good to see John Dunlap out there running - he ran with the bigger group since he's just coming back from ACL surgery, but looked good and said he felt good afterwards. (Must be the new hairdo - he shaved his head completely bald for the start of camp.) DaJuan Morgan has a slight hamstring problem, so he ran with the 'bigs' as well. Only ... he ran in his sock feet. After one run, he crossed the goalline with just one sock on, causing Reggie Davis to exclaim, "I have never, in college history, seen a guy run right out of his socks."
When the skill players started running, the look was completely different. That squad has to make their run in 15 seconds, but most make it with time to spare. A different player seemed to lead the way each time - Marcus Hudson, Miguel Scott ... and even Manny Lawson - who ran with the skill group because he had a late class and missed the linemen run. It doesn't seem that long ago that Manny was a freshmen and ran his 110's with the varsity even though the freshmen didn't have to. He won some of those races too, back on the track field on campus.
On the last sprint, Darrell Blackman and Levin Neal raced the entire way - both were flying when they came across the line. I think Darrell got Levin by a nose, which says a lot since Levin was a track start in high school.
