Wednesday Practice Report: Getting Ready for Maryland

* Florida State practiced for 20 periods in shells Wednesday in preparation for their game Saturday against Maryland at 7:00 p.m.

* Highlights for the offense in 11-on-11 included:

* Xavier Lee completed two passes to Marcus Sims for a combine 22 yards (10, 12).

* Lee also completed a pass to Damon McDaniel (27 yards), Preston Parker (13 yards) and Greg Carr (8 yards).

* Highlights for the defense in 11-on-11 included:

* Recardo Wright recorded an interception and Michael Ray Garvin had a pass break up.

QUOTES

Head Coach Bobby Bowden

(On practice tomorrow)

"Tomorrow the offense will go into the stadium and get crowd noise. The defense will work out here."

(On Jae Thaxton)

"Thaxton is still out there practicing. I hope he is okay Saturday. He has made some shoulder contact but nothing live. He just has to not hit with his head. He has to tackle with his shoulder instead of his head which is what you are supposed to do anyway."

(How concerned are you with what Maryland does offensively especially with the young guys?)

"There is always concern. There is just nothing you can do about it, you just have to go out and play the best you can play. The kids are getting some great experience."

RB Lorenzo Booker

(On Maryland)

"They are scrappy. Maryland is one of those teams that they start slow and as the season goes on they continue to get better and better and better. They pushed Georgia Tech to the end and they had N.C. State shutout for a long time until the end. We are playing there and I mean they came here and we were up 14 nothing and they end up scoring 24 unanswered points and we had to come from behind so it is definitely going to be tough. It is a night game and it is going to be chilly which won't mean much but their crowd will definitely be into it."

(Is the weather going to affect the team?)


"I don't think so. Actually we like it. We are used to practicing in the hot and it is hard to get your rest back. There will be more oxygen in the air since there won't be any humidity so I think we will recover a lot faster."


(How much do you need a victory?)


"We need one. Regardless of how you get the victory it is still a win. You never like practicing through the week with a loss because it is not much to build on. Even though you learn more from a loss than from a win, it just does a lot more for your confidence going into the next game coming off of a win."

WR Chris Davis

(On the freshman class)

"Since the summer when they first came in you knew that they were going to get their chance. A lot of them got here earlier than expected and Mickey Andrews and the defense staff have made sure that they are ready."