March 12, 2004

FURMAN FOTBALL TO PRACTICE SATURDAY,
SCRIMMAGE SUNDAY IN PALADIN STADIUM

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Furman head football coach Bobby Lamb announced today that he would put his team through a regular practice Saturday morning and conduct the squad's first scrimmage of the spring season on Sunday at Paladin Stadium.

"We'll have a regular workout at 10:00 a.m. Saturday on the practice fields and a scrimmage at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Paladin Stadium," Lamb said Friday afternoon.

Furman had originally planned to scrimmage on Saturday in Paladin Stadium, but the team's practice schedule was altered this week to accommodate player lab schedules on Tuesday and Thursdays. NCAA rules allow schools 29 days from the start of spring practice to complete 15 workouts. Furman, which opened its spring season on Monday, completes its third practice today.

In addition to releasing the weekend practice schedule change, Lamb announced several positional switches. Rising junior Andrew Carson has been moved from linebacker to defensive end, and junior Rory O'Day has been switched from safety to linebacker. In the secondary, sophomore Jon MacDonald, who tallied 10 tackles as a backup cornerback in 2003, has been moved to safety, as has redshirt freshman Andrew Thacker, who also makes the switch from cornerback.

The switch of MacDonald and Thacker is aimed at shoring up depth at the safety slot, where sophomore Shelton Riley will be sidelined for the entire spring after undergoing recent shoulder surgery. The only other Paladin sitting out spring practice is senior nose guard Michael Burant, who has also undergone surgery for an injured shoulder.

Lamb also announced Friday that junior walk-on placekicker John Mark Shiflet had quit the team.