Defense Continues To Be Strong And D'Vontrey Richardson Tries Wide Receiver Position

Excerpts from FSU Sports Information:

After taking a day off from the practice fields on Sunday, the FSU football team returned to action Monday morning. The squad was in full pads and practiced for 24 periods. Tuesday will be the second-to-last two-a-day and the last one that will involve a scrimmage.

In skeleton Drew Weatherford had a nice day going 8-of-12 completing his first five in a row. Parker had three catches, De'Cody Fagg, Richard Goodman, Joslin Shaw, Greg Carr and Antone Smith all caught passes as well. Patrick Robinson recorded a pick for the defense.

In 11-on-11 Smith opened the drill with a nice run. He broke through the line and then used a spin move at the second level to turn it into a big gainer. Other offensive highlights included Christian Ponder connecting with Carr and Taiwan Easterling, Pat Davis busting a nice run inside and Xavier Lee completing passes to McDaniel and Rod Owens. There were quite a few defensive highlights as that squad built on the momentum from Saturday's scrimmage. Toddrick Verdell recovered a fumble on a bad snap. Eli Charles and Derek Nicholson both got to the quarterback, Charles on two occasions. Budd Thacker just missed out on a sack but forced the QB into a hurried incompletion. Everette Brown skied to deflect a screen pass and Jatavious Jackson and Justin Mincey both had tackles behind the line.

In goal line, the offense got back on track scoring four times on eight tries. The first team offense got in twice. The first TD came on Smith's powerful run. The tailback lowered his shoulder and drove Verdell into the endzone. On the next play Weatherford and Jonathan Hannah connected for a TD. The defense stymied the next two attempts. Guion forced Weatherford to throw the ball away and Erik Stapleton was then stopped on a one-yard plunge. The defense kept the momentum going stopping the two's on their first attempt as D'Vontrey Richardson was tackled on a pitch out. Lee hit Charlie Graham for a one-yard TD on the next play. Stapleton then gained two yards from the three before Antonio White caught a Lee one-yard pass for a touchdown.

Head Coach Bobby Bowden:

Opening statement:
"Okay I thought from the scrimmage, I thought we improved some over the previous week. And of course that will be the key every time we scrimmage is to improve. I thought our tackling was better. Sometimes our angles are not good, missed a lot of assignments on offense. Of course when you do that, a play breaks down. But again, the main thing I thought I saw some improvement. I imagine Clemson and them improved also last week. So we've simply gotta keep on getting better."

On D'Vontrey Richardson playing wide receiver:
"We worked D'Vontrey, we're gonna work him at quarterback and receiver. We got some receiver work today; looked pretty good in there. We'll work him both positions. It's a case of a good athlete. You can't redshirt him again so if you get a chance to play him and get him some playing experience. No matter where he lines up at, it will be good for him. We're not taking anything away from his quarterbacking. They are usually pretty doggone athletes. Most quarterbacks are pretty good athletes, he is a good, exceptional athlete. But we still don't want to lose him as an athlete. That's a good prospect there."

On the passing of Mickey Andrews' son:
"We had a meeting with our squad today and talked about that. Sad, sad thing. You can tell it when he's (coach Andrews) not here, you can miss that voice. It's gotta be tough as heck. I don't know anything more then losing a son."