Frigid Florida
December 26, 2004 04:35 PM | General
December 26, 2004
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| Quarterback Rasheed Marshall stretches before Sunday's practice at the University of North Florida.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Forty degree temperatures greeted the West Virginia University football team for their first practice in Jacksonville in preparation for the 2005 Toyota Gator Bowl next Saturday against Florida State.
Overcast skies and a stiff wind made it feel like it was 10 to 15 degrees colder. Mountaineer coach Rich Rodriguez is unfazed by the weather and is simply happy to be outside practicing.
“Just getting outside because we’ve been inside so much (is beneficial),” said Rodriguez, who managed to get his team outdoors twice in Morgantown before the break.
The extended forecast is calling for gradual warming throughout the week and temperatures to reach the mid 70s by game time, but that was of little consequence to the players Sunday morning looking for warmer weather to practice in.
“I’m freezing right now,” admitted WVU quarterback Rasheed Marshall. “I like my hands to be warm but once practice starts going you get warmed up a little bit.”
“I feel like putting another shirt on,” added senior offensive tackle Mike Watson, a native of Pasadena, Calif. Watson does admit he has gotten used to colder weather during his two years living in Morgantown.
“I do find myself walking outside in shorts on days like this now,” he laughed.
Senior Jason Hardee, another California resident, was looking forward to practicing in some warmer weather this week.
“This is ridiculous,” he said. “I didn’t think it was going to get this cold. You come to Florida with a certain mindset and I wasn’t really used to this.”
Even though the cold weather is an aberration and may bother Florida State a little more because they’re not used to it, Marshall says it would be nice to have warm weather right away to get used to it.
“When it’s hotter you get tired a lot quicker,” Marshall said. “As long as we get one or two days then we should be alright.”
Cold weather can make a team become more focused during practice. But Marshall says if it’s too cold it could have the opposite effect.
“If it’s too cold then you just want to get up out of there,” he said. “As long as we can stay warm a little bit then we’ll be alright.”
Rodriguez noted that three players were missing from Sunday’s workout due to bad weather in different spots of the country. Running back Jason Colson, backup defensive tackle Craig Wilson and punter Phil Brady were unable to get into Jacksonville until Sunday afternoon.
“We had some guys who had some travel problems,” Rodriguez said. “There was snow and ice in New Orleans, believe it or not, and some travel problems up in New York. Just about everyone got in and there are two or three that are coming in today and that’s to be expected when you’ve got guys coming in from all over the place.”
The coach anticipates there to be no academic casualties before the bowl game against Florida State.
“I haven’t got all of their grades but all indications are good so far,” he said.
Rodriguez said that reserve defensive tackle Warren Young broke a bone in his foot in practice before the break and will not be available for the bowl game.
Briefly: The Mountaineer Bowl Office at the Sawgrass Marriott will be open from 9 to 4 pm daily through Friday to purchase Gator Bowl tickets … Fans can also buy tickets at the Mountaineer Fan Center located at the Budweiser Fan Festival at Alltel Stadium … The team is once again practicing at the University of North Florida although it has access to just one of the two practice fields because the campus is also being used by the NFC champion team for the Super Bowl … Rodriguez has instituted a closed practice policy for the bowl game this year, “We’re in Florida and we play Florida State and there are several of their fans around and we just want to be safe,” he said. “We have been more open than most of the teams and I’m going to start being more closed.”
