Preseason Practices End- Focus Now On Clemson

Excerpts From FSU Sports Information:

For all the excitement that surrounded the beginning of preseason practice the final day came without much fan fare. The Florida State Seminoles held their final practices of the preseason on Saturday and will now get ready to begin classes on Monday and look towards the season opener at Clemson.

The morning session lasted about 1:15 and was mainly spent on special teams. The team went through punt return, kickoff return, punt block, field goal and kickoff coverage.

Preston Parker remained with the ones on punt return as did Michael Ray Garvin and Joslin Shaw on kick return.

Gary Cismesia had a great practice. In the field goal segment he hit 5-of-6 attempts including three of 30+ yards. Graham Gano went 2-of-3 on his field goals.

The evening session was spent with the one's working versus scout teams with minimal contact.

Some of the highlights for the offense included numerous big runs by Antone Smith. Drew Weatherford had some nice completions to De'Cody Fagg and Richard Goodman for big gains. He also hit Smith for a TD inside the red zone. Bert Reed turned in a highlight film play as he burst down the field on a run for a TD.

Xavier Lee had a TD throw as he completed a pass to Fagg in the seam that the senior took in for six.

The biggest cheers of the night came on a TD pass from Christian Ponder. Even though he was sacked on the play, Ponder aired one out to the end zone where a leaping D'Vontrey Richardson made the catch for a TD.

On the defensive side Michael Ray Garvin, Budd Thacker, J.R. Bryant and Patrick Robinson all recorded pass break ups. Toddrick Verdell forced a fumble and Marcus Ball and Anthony Houllis both had picks. Dekoda Watson had two sacks and Everette Brown recorded one as well.

Head Coach Bobby Bowden
"Well it was more of a rehearsal then anything. We got to spend the first half letting our number ones and chief subs go for a half and then we let them run. Then worked with the other guys the other half. We didn't keep score. We didn't tackle, we thudded. The last group tackled but the first group thudded. But anyways, pretty good, pretty good scrimmage."