Tuesday Practice Report: Preparing For Wake

The Florida State football team held its standard Tuesday practice, going 21 periods in shells (helmets, shoulder pads and shorts) in preparation for Saturday's 8 p.m. contest against No. 18/19 Wake Forest on ABC.

NOTES:

- Florida State's game with Western Michigan on November 18th will kickoff at 2:00 p.m. with pay per view live coverage by ESPN 360 only. The live video broadcast of the game will be available online at the ESPN 360 portion of the ESPN.com website.

- In honor of Veteran's Day, military veterans and Florida State football walk-ons, linebacker Jeremy Franklin (Navy), running back Eric James (Army and Navy) and tight end Josh Johnson (Army) will be honorary captains for Saturday's Wake Forest game.

Practice highlights:

Quarterback Xavier Lee was 6-of-8 during pass skeleton with a 35-yard pass to Joslin Shaw and a 20-yard strike to Chris Davis.

Fellow quarterback Drew Weatherford was 5-of-8 in pass skeleton, hitting Damon McDaniel for a 40-yard pass as well as a 20-yard pass to Robert Hallback.

The defensive star of the pass skeleton was cornerback Tony Carter as he had an interception and a pass break up.

During 11-on-11, Lee was 1-for-2 against the second-team defense with a 15-yard pass to full back Matt Dunham, while Weatherford went 0-of-2 against the starting defense.

Tailback Lorenzo Booker had a 10-yard run against the second-team defense.

Geno Hayes practiced for about a third of Tuesday's session without pads and will probably work in pads Wednesday. De'Cody Fagg worked out without contact in Tuesday's practice.

QUOTES:

Head Coach Bobby Bowden

(on Wake Forest's surprising success)

"I think they (Wake Forest) were predicted to be on the bottom but they have had a good year, an excellent year. As you watch them play, they've played the good ones. They beat Boston College last week and nobody thought that would happen. They have played real good and they've gotten some breaks."

(on what it would mean to get Geno Hayes back)

"It would be big, big. He's one of the best players we've got. Need him back healthy though. We don't want to put him out there and just expose him. The doctors won't do that. If they think he's okay, they'll let us play him. If they don't, we won't. He's the kind of guy you need for that kind of stuff (Wake's misdirection). You need somebody who can tackle in the open field."

(on play of Myron Rolle at safety and secondary)

"It's such an important position and he has played it well. He's gained a lot of good experience from it and if they stay healthy (secondary), they get what they want. We play a lot of people and never substitute the secondary."

Freshman Tight End Charlie Graham

(on his three catches in UVA game)

"It felt great. I was trying to show the coaches that I could do something with the ball. We've started a couple of games with two tight ends and that's been good."

(on Wake Forest)

"They have a lot of heart so when your opponent has a lot of heart, it means you have to play even harder because they're not going to give up. We just have to do the same things we did last week, be consistent on the offense and not make any turnovers."

Senior Left Tackle Mario Henderson

(on this week's preparation)

"It's kind of frustrating to hear we are the underdogs here and there but it's making us work even harder. The last couple of weeks, we've been working real hard. This has not been a bad year for us. We're only a couple plays away from being undefeated, so our worth ethic hasn't changed. It's just gotten better week in and week out."


Senior Linebacker Buster Davis

(on Wake Forest)

"Wake gives you a lot of misdirection, a lot of misdirection try to get you in the gaps. They don't put up a ton of yards but they are the type of team that will fight you to the end. They are very scrappy."

(on the team after the Virginia win)

"The Virginia game was a big win for us. Getting a shutout was real key. Hopefully we can build on that performance and get another victory this week."


Freshman safety Myron Rolle

(on how his first year of college is going)

"My first year is going pretty good. It's been a little bit more than I expected as far as on the football field. We've had a few guys go down and I've had to play a lot more snaps than I thought I was going to walking in here but I've enjoyed it and I've been trying to take advantage of the opportunity I've had when I'm on the field and I think it's been going pretty well. School has been going great and plus, we're at a good point right now and I think we are going to continue to do well."


(on what coaches are stressing this week)


"Before you line up and play a snap, know your assignment and know what could happen if someone moves or changes their position. Also, communication is a big factor when you're playing a team that likes running reverses and the option. You have to talk and have that communication and make sure everybody's on the same page on defense and you're able to stop what they're trying to do."