SPARTANBURG, SC – The Wofford College football team completed the third day of practice on a rainy Wednesday afternoon. The practice was the first of the season in shoulder pads and lasted approximately two hours.
“We did alright in pads but it was a sloppy day with a lot of rain early,” said head coach Mike Ayers. “The balls got heavy as practice went on and we did not throw it as well as we needed to, but I saw some good things. We are still putting in a lot of stuff and installation always gives us some problems with the thinking process. It is just a matter of repetition and time. We really need to stress the fundamentals. Hopefully the more we work the better we will get.”
The practice began with a short team segment in which Tommy Irvin intercepted a pass. After thirty minutes of individual work, the team worked on the inside game with the lines, linebackers and running backs participating.
In the skelly session, Sean Lees made a 25-yard catch despite being well covered by Trey Diller. The special teams work focused on the kickoff cover unit before moving to separate offense and defense drills.
With the offense running plays during the team session, Cody Burris and Austin Palmer had nice runs, while Mike Rucker tossed a perfect pass to Justice Joslin down the sideline. C.J. Turner came up with an interception. While running plays for the defense, Robert Williams, Tommy Irvin, Trey Diller and James Lane all had interceptions.
Practice ended with PATs as Landon Bennett, Chris Tommie, Grant Cody and Christian Reed took turns with the attempts.
Players who were limited in practice due to injury included DE Mitch Clark, HB Lavadrick Farrar, DB Michael Roulhac, LB Mark Flott, HB Brad Nocek, TE Kenny Barnes, DB Mychael Johnson, and DL T.J. White.
The team will return to the field on Thursday at 3:30 pm. The first full pads practice will be Friday at 3:30 pm and the first two-a-day will be Saturday, August 15. Practice will be held on the intramural field next to Gibbs Stadium until the end of Carolina Panthers training camp. All practices are open to the public; however keep in mind that the schedule can change without notice.
The Terriers will open the 2009 season on Saturday, September 5 against South Florida. The home opener will be September 12 against Charleston Southern at Gibbs Stadium. Tickets are available by calling the Wofford Ticket Office at 864-597-4090.
