FSU Practices For 22 Periods

FSU Sports Information Excerpts:

The excitement for Saturday's River City Showdown is growing throughout the south but the Seminole football coaches are trying to keep the team focused on facing a top 25 Alabama team. The Seminoles (2-1) and Crimson Tide (3-1) have not played in over 30 years and this will be FSU's first game versus a ranked opponent in 2007. With everything going on outside of the game, the FSU football team was back on the practice fields Tuesday going for 22 periods in uppers.

Practice started with special teams work and moved into position drills. Both units spent extensive time working against the scout teams.

In 7-on-7 there were few highlights. Drew Weatherford and De'Cody Fagg connected and Xavier Lee hit Richard Goodman deep. Defensively Roosevelt Lawson had a pass break-up.

In pass rush Paul Griffin and Neefy Moffett each had four sacks. Emmanuel Dunbar, Alex Boston and Everette Brown also got to the QB. For the offensive line, Jacky Claude had multiple wins. Shannon Boatman, Will Furlong and David Overmyer also held off their counterparts.

In 1-on-1 Christian Ponder connected with Goodman, Fagg and Preston Parker. Weatherford completed a pass to Goodman. Jamie Robinson had a pass break-up.

11-on-11 was spent in down and distance. Weatherford had a first down scramble and hit Fagg who turned in a big run after the catch. Lee hit Jamaal Edwards underneath and the back turned the dump off into a big play. Lee also connected with Goodman and Josh Dobbie for a first down. Defensively Michael Ray Garvin and Patrick Robinson broke up passes and Moffett had a QB hurry.

Weatherford led the offense on a successful drive in the 1:00 drill. He completed passes to Parker twice and Fagg. He also converted a fourth down hitting Goodman for a TD. Lee started off well in the 1:00 drill connecting with Bert Reed for a first and then with Rod Owens. After that, it turned into the Toddrick Verdell show. The linebacker broke up a pass and then recorded a third down sack. The offense was unable to convert on 4th and long to end practice.

Head Coach Bobby Bowden

"Well we had a better practice today then I thought we did yesterday, thought we threw the ball better and we caught it better. Alabama is a big blitzing team. I mean they'll blitz you to death, so we worked real hard on trying to pick up that dadgum blitz. It was a pretty good practice. Great Saturday, I want to have a great one Saturday."