SPRING PHOTO GALLERY

SPRING FOOTBALL CENTRAL

Tallahassee, FL – Spring football is a time for optimism and that was the case in Tallahassee on Tuesday as the Seminoles took to the practice fields for the first time in 2008. The FSU football team practiced for 26 periods in shorts as the squad got in the first of 14 practices leading up to the 2008 Garnet & Gold game, which will be played April 12 at 7:00 p.m.

PRACTICE HIGHLIGHTS

• One of the biggest storylines of the first practice was the wind. With heavy gusts blowing most of the day, the passing game was erratic but there was plenty to be encouraged about.


• Most of the first half of practice was spent working in position groups where new tight ends coach James Coley worked with Jonathan Hannah and Caz Piurowski.


• One-on-one drills were plagued by the heavy winds but the QB’s and receivers both managed to do some very good things. Taiwan Easterling stole the show despite not hauling in a single pass. The speedy redshirt freshman got open on numerous routes but the wind wreaked havoc on the deep ball. The same happened to fellow redshirt freshman Bert Reed and Richard Goodman who both had deep TD passes sail on them but they both did manage to pull in two other passes including a deep ball each. Rod Owens caught four balls and Greg Carr, sporting a new jersey (18), caught three. Defensively Tony Carter and Ochuko Jenije each broke up a couple passes and Korey Mangum and Patrick Robinson also got a PBU each.


• While the offense was working in one-on-on, the rest of the team was working on inside drills up on field three. Kendall Smith and Derek Nicholson both got to runners behind the line of scrimmage. Marcus Sims and Pat Davis had nice gains for the offense. One of Davis‘ best runs came when he was able to break a play to the outside and turn the corner.


• In ½ skel Robinson, Carter and Darius McClure all broke up passes. Drew Weatherford connected a couple times with Reed and once with Owens and Goodman. Christian Ponder hit Owens, Carr and Goodman. D’Vontrey Richardson completed balls to Easterling, Owens and Chase Walker but the biggest jaw-dropper came when Preston Parker adjusted to a ball thrown by Richardson to his back shoulder and hauled in the pass over his defender.


• In 7-on-7 Weatherford hit Parker twice, Walker once and Reed three times. One of Reed’s catches was a phenomenal leaping grab. Ponder had success with the deep pass connecting with Reed and Goodman on long passes. Easterling got behind the defense once again in this drill but a wind-aided pass was just out of his reach. For the defense, Dionte Allen broke up a play.


• In pass rush the defensive line was ahead of their counterparts on day one. New defensive lineman Dumaka Atkins had three sacks as did Emmanuel Dunbar. Kevin McNeil, Jamar Jackson, Neefy Moffett and Everette Brown all had multiple wins. One of Brown’s sacks came on a power rush. Budd Thacker, Paul Griffin and Justin Mincey also got to the QB. For the offense, Daron Rose had the best day with three wins. Antwane Greenlee and Rodney Hudson won multiple battles and Brandon Davis and Ryan McMahon picked up wins.


• The session ended with 11-on-11. Weatherford and Richardson each completed a pass to Parker and Owens, respectively. Ponder hit Carr and then Easterling turned in the play of the day. The Mississippi native made a leaping grab between two defenders and came down hard but held on to the Ponder pass. Antone Smith and Richardson both had nice runs. For the defense Moffett jumped up to bat down a pass at the line and true freshman Terrance Parks broke up a pass.

QUOTES

Head Coach Bobby Bowden:

Opening Statement:

“Well what I observed today, the first day today, no comparison to the first day last year. Just no comparison, you know what you got, you’ve got coaches that are familiar with the players which they were not last year and you had them putting in a whole new system last year which we’re not having to do this year, you can just tell the difference. Kids are picking it up quicker; know a little bit more, what they are doing. Coaches know a little bit more what they can do. As far as this first day compared to last year’s first day is a lot of difference. Of course now the key will be how much can this improve. We’ve got to improve. I think that if they stay healthy and get all these practices in, then we will be okay.”

On who impressed him today:

“It’s hard to single anybody out when you’ve got no pads on. You get two different looks. You get kids with no pads on; some of them look like All-Americans. Then you put pads on them and some of them that didn’t look like All-Americans all of a sudden do like All-Americans. You can’t give them much comparison of who did good and who didn’t do good today. They worked hard, that’s the big thing, they looked like they were listening, looked like they were attentive to what the coaches were trying to tell them to do. But the good thing, again, I could see so much difference between this first day and last year’s first day.”

On Preston Parker listed as number one as wide receiver and number two as a tailback:

“Well, I think what you would like to do is get him settled in one position, which you would like to do. So if we can get some help from some of these kids we signed or some of the kids that are here, that last year redshirted. It’s according to how much help we can get back there. One of the good things about Preston you know that he can always go back there and you are gonna get superb play of out him. The down side is if you get overworked, like today he had a cramp because he did a lot of running”

On having D’Vontrey Richardson on the football field instead of the baseball diamond:

“It’s good for us and good for him. It’s hard to play, especially quarterback, on a partial basis. You can’t hardly do it. Now he’s out here getting his reps and watching what’s going on and not missing anything. That’s got to help him which will help us.”

Freshman LB Nigel Bradham:

On his first practice at Florida State:

“It was good, everything went hard today, we worked hard today. I’ve got to adjust to the speed right now. Basically I’m just learning right now and trying to get adjusted.”

Expectations for the spring:

“Just to get better, aiming for that number one spot. As a team for us to get better and to just have a great season next year. Hopefully get to the ACC Championship and the National Championship.”

On getting to play football for the first time as a Seminole:

“It’s always exciting to be back on the field. I love being out here with these guys, they are showing me a good time. Everything is great, getting friends and as teammates we are bonding.”

Senior WR Greg Carr:

On his number change:
“Just coming to my senior year, I wanted to recreate myself and get better. I felt the number change was something I wanted to do and get better. I just wanted to change my number. Seventeen was my number in high school, and I knew there wasn’t no way in the world that I was going to get 17 so I just settled on 18.”

On what he wants to change this year:

“More on route running. I feel like I’m getting better as far as running and blocking. I just feel like I have to get better each and everyday. But I just feel like this is something I just have to continue and let it come second nature to me.”

On his relationship with the coaches compared to last year:

“This relationship is a lot different now. Coming into last spring and me and coach (Jimbo) Fisher and coach (Lawrence) Dawsey for the first time was kind of like `Whoa…wow’ because with their coaching style is kind of something you have to get used to. But now coming into this spring you know that if you mess up, coach Fisher will come and find you. But now rather then last spring, you know this is something to expect because you know that he only wants the best for you.”