Spring Practice Report: Noles Hold Final Practice Before Garnet And Gold Game On Saturday

FSU Sports Information Excerpts:

Friday was supposed to be an off day for the Seminole football team but due to a rain out last week the squad made up practice number 14 this afternoon. Florida State practiced for 20 periods in shells on the eve of Saturday's Garnet & Gold scrimmage. The scrimmage is set for a 7:00 p.m. start but there will be free activities starting at 2:00 p.m. and concluding with postgame fireworks.

PRACTICE HIGHLIGHTS

Practice began with field goal and both Graham Gano and Zach Hobby hit an extra point, a 35-yarder and a 41-yarder. Both were unsuccessful on their final try from 47. Hobby's attempt was extremely close but it looked like it just sliced to the left.

After punt work, the team broke up into position group and then inside drills.

While inside was going on, the receivers and DB's worked in 1-on-1. The drill was run from the red zone. D'Vontrey Richardson completed TD passes to Richard Goodman and Preston Parker who made a one-handed grab. The DB's had a great drill as Korey Mangum and Terrance Parks broke up passes while Patrick Robinson had a pick. Parks also drew cheers when he jammed his receiver off the line and didn't even let him run his route. The drill ended with another big DB play as Christian Ponder hit Patrick Robinson for a TD with Parker trying to cover in a little role-reversal.

The defensive line had a great day all practice and it started in pass rush. Justin Mincey had four wins, Everette Brown, Paul Griffin and Kevin McNeil each had two wins while Budd Thacker, Dumaka Atkins, Benjamin Lampkin and Craig Yarborough all got to the QB. For the offense, Rodney Hudson won two battles and Josh Tate, Brandon Davis, A.J. Ganguzza, Antwane Greenlee and Evan Bellamy all won a match-up as well.

In skeleton Richardson connected twice on deep passes to Goodman and also hit Matt Dunham. Ponder found Parker, Brandon Paul, Marcus Sims and Bert Reed twice. One of Reed's catches was extended on a long run after the catch.

The defense was all over the quarterbacks in 11-on-11. Mister Alexander had two sacks, Thacker had a sack as did Brown. Darius McClure almost got one as well on a blitz. Ponder avoided another possible sack when he got past Kendall Smith and turned it into a nice run. Ponder's two completions both went to Greg Carr.

Richardson had some big time help from his receivers during the drill. Goodman caught a deep ball on a great grab, Easterling held on to a pass despite a huge hit and Rod Owens also hauled in a pass on a stellar play. Louis Givens also caught a Richardson pass.

In red zone drills Ponder hit Parker and Carr for TD's. He also completed a pass to Marcus Sims. Richardson had TD passes to Sims, Easterling and Givens, one of three catches by the walk-on,. Givens had the best play of the drill as Jamie Robinson broke up a Richardson pass but the sophomore from Jacksonville stayed with the play and hauled the ball in lying on his back. For the defense Josh Johnson had a sack and McClure broke up a pass.

The 2:00 drill was run with 1:30 on the clock. The first team offense did not begin well as McNeil sacked Ponder on the first play but the offense got the yards back and a first as well on a dump off to Antone Smith. After back-to-back incomplete passes, a defensive penalty made it 3rd-and-5. Dekoda Watson broke through the line but Ponder just avoided the sack by throwing it up to Easterling who came up with a big gain. On the next play the redshirt freshman was rewarded with a TD catch in the corner of the end zone.

The second team offense started similarly. Yarborough had a QB pressure the first play and that was followed by an incompletion. Richardson was nearly untouchable on third down avoiding three would-be tacklers for a big gain only to see the play wiped out on a penalty. Richardson picked up the first in a more conventional fashion on the next play as he found Goodman to move the chains. Givens made a diving catch on the next play before Richardson was forced to scramble and get out of bounds to stop the clock.

The sophomore QB found Timothy Orange on the next play but a big hit by Roosevelt Lawson jarred the ball loose bringing up fourth down with :09 on the clock. Goodman once again made a big play catching a ball and breaking it to the two-yard line before he was tackled with :03 on the clock but the twos were unable to get another play off.