Spring Football Game This Saturday @ 1:00

Spring is in the air and pollen is on the cars...must be time for spring football!

State will conclude their spring practice session with a scrimmage open to the public to be held this Saturday at Carter-Finley at 1:00 p.m.

I've got to admit, I'm a much bigger believer of the way TOB is running the Spring Game than did Amato. Here's a quote from the story found at www.packpride.com:

Opening Thoughts:
The Spring Game is Saturday at 1:00. We will try to run the game similar to what we did last year and separate into teams. There will be no kickoffs or kick off returns and we'll definitely kick field goals and extra points if we're able to score. We will punt and punt return if we're healthy enough to do that phase of the game.

The teams will be split up on Friday morning after we get the injury report after Thursday's practice to see how we can best separate up. We'll play like we did last year, normal 15-minute quarters and game conditions for the first half and then we'll play a running clock in the second half just because we don't have enough bodies to last a whole game.

It's always good to play a game. Something always happens within the framework of a game that you just really can't simulate on the practice field even though you try. Every year something comes up that I think is real good for the football team one way or another.

I never was a big Amato basher, but when he switched the Spring Game from the "game" format to the Day Of Champions, with the tests of strength and agility in the RBC Center, I was thoroughly non-plussed. What am I supposed to take from the team heading into the summer by watching Adrian Wilson show off his ridiculous vertical leap? I'm impressed, of course, but that doesn't answer any questions about the team.

That last bold quote from TOB is EXACTLY what you want to hear from your coach. He's looking for every last opportunity to prepare his team for any and every gametime scenario that may arise.

We've got a FOOTBALL coach, folks.

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From the PackPride.com vault: The early years...

I have had the rare privilege over the last few years of being a contributor to one of the largest--if not most-visited--N.C. State sports sites, www.packpride.com. James Henderson and the folks at Scout, who run and host the site, have been kind enough to let me pitch in my two cents on Wolfpack sports over the years.

What follows is a collection of articles I've written throughout the years. Hard to believe the first one I wrote way-back-when in 2002. Remember that time? Yeah, that's when we were lighting the world on fire in football. Seems hard to believe it's been five and a half years since.

*sigh*

Anyways, enjoy some classics from the year of our Lord, 2002:


The Nature of the Rivalry (10/5/2002)

For most of us, it was not a choice we remember making. We were born into it. Raised up in it. Given no other choice but to devote ourselves to it. It’s the Rivalry: State vs. Carolina.

The ACC anything but predictable (10/22/2002)

The conventional notions of who belongs where in the ACC have been thrown out the window.

The Pack--This Year’s Maryland? Hardly. (10/29/2002)

The successes of Maryland in 2001 and N.C. State in 2002 are strikingly similar. 2003 is where the similarities will end.

Were we ever so young?

More to follow...

View the complete entry of "From the PackPride.com vault: The early years..."