Pre-Season Diary: Entry 5
I know it's been a while since the last entry.  The Internet was down on Thursday and I went out of town to Silver Spring, MD to attend by best friends funeral.  What a rough weekend.  Needless to say I am somewhat out of touch and trying to catch up.  I missed practice today, but had a chance to talk to offensive coordinator Fred Farrier and defensive coordinator Kelvin Smith. 

Before I get into that the season will open with the 2004 Shaw Football kickoff luncheon tomorrow at O'Charley's in Garner.  Also the Shaw Football Coaches Show featuring Deondri Clark begins tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. on WSHA 88.9-FM. 

Anyway I talked to Coach Farrier and asked him what they had been doing the last couple of days.  He said that today was the second day of practice in preparation for Livingstone on Saturday.  Instead of working on general stuff the team prepared specifically for Livingstone.  He said that the guys were tired of beating up on each other and are anxious for game day.  He said that the team is looking to win the championship.

Coach Smith's defense worked on more general things.  He said it's hard to really prepare for Livingstone since they have a new defensive coordinator.  He suspected that the Blue Bears would do some of the same things as last year since their head coach (George Johnson) probably would stick to the same philosophy.  But he wants to make sure the Bears are right.

I also asked Coach Smith, with him being a new coach which veteran impressed him and which freshman/newcomer impressed him.  He likes Chris Peavy in terms of the veterans.  He also likes defensive back Marlon Jones, the transfer from U-Conn.

Did you know that Shaw has 19 players from the state of Florida on the roster?  Nineteen.  And eight of those are from Jacksonville (5) or Florida (3).  That's pretty big.  We also have players that represent 12 different states.  The coaching staff over these last three years has done an outstanding job of recruiting players from all over.

We are now just five days a way from kickoff.  Are you ready?