August 21, 2002

ONE-ON-ONE, GOAL LINE WORK FIRES UP PALADINS;
LAMB CITES CORNERBACKS FOR SOLID PLAY

GREENVILLE -- Furman head coach Bobby Lamb came away from his team¹s first practice in full pads on Wednesday impressed with the Paladins' intensity, which was aided in part by some spirited one-on-one and goal line situational work at the end of the three-hour session.

"We had a little live one-on-one situation that got the whole team fired up, and that carried over to the goal line period where we had the number one offense and defense going head to head for several plays," said Lamb. "We put the ball on the three-yard line to see who could score in three downs, and we later put in on the one-yard line and made it fourth down. We saw a lot of positives on both sides, which is good because in the preseason you don't won't one side of the football dominating the other."

Furman's goal line session lasted 25 minutes and provided the coaching staff its first evaluation of the squad in full gear.

'The defense started out real well and stymied the offense, but I thought the offense bounced back well with a couple of scores. It was hard to score up in there, so we ran a couple of fades to (wide receivers) Brian Bratton and Issac West for touchdowns, which was encouraging."

Also drawing particular praise on Wednesday were cornerbacks Rodney Johnson, T.J. Wilson, and Maurice Duncan. While Johnson is a returning starter, Wilson and Duncan are battling for the starting job at left cornerback.

"Rodney had a good day with a couple of interceptions and several good breaks on the football. T.J. Wilson continues to play well on the other side, as does Maurice Duncan," added Lamb.

The Paladins return the practice field with two workouts on Thursday, beginning at 8:15 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. The morning practice will likely include one of the team's longest scrimmages of the preseason, expected to last an hour and a half or half the entire practice session, according to Lamb.

"Tomorrow afternoon we'll lighten up on them and come back Friday morning and scrimmage some more."

Furman will hold its annual Football Fan Day Saturday, August 24 prior to the Paladins' scrimmage in Paladin Stadium. An autogragh/photo session featuring Furman players, coaches, and the team mascot "Sir Paladin", is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. in Timmons Arena, where "Pump Up The Purple" t-shirts will be given away to children in attendance. In addition, fans can pick up Furman "Purple Reign" posters. A limited number of media guides will be sold for $12 each. Furman's scrimmage is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.