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Aug. 18, 2008
Cullowhee, N.C. - On the first day of classes Monday, the Western Carolina Catamount football team took the day off from the practice field, spending the morning in meetings and with the newcomers taking their head shots in the team room.
Looking back to Saturday, Western had much-needed rain play spoiler in its afternoon scrimmage plays. After enduring nearly a three-hour rain delay, the Catamounts ended up hitting the turf at 7:00 pm for a 90-play scrimmage.
"We had every intention of having a scrimmage in the middle of the afternoon, putting our players in a position where they would be playing in a little heat. But the rain put things on hold Saturday afternoon," said first-year head coach Dennis Wagner. "I thought our defense responded well and pretty much dominated the offense. They flew around and ran to the ball well."
He added, "Offensively, we had too many bad exchanges with the snap, and did not run the ball as well as we needed. We also dropped eight or so passes that dropped our completion percentage from the 60's down into the 40-percent range. Overall, we just need to be much more efficient as an offense."
Wagner indicated that every player was able to get into the scrimmage situations on Saturday, with no one playing more than 40 of the 90 plays, with the minimum number ranging around 25 snaps for each player.
On Monday, the WCU coaching staff met to compile their first two-deep chart of the season, which will be released on Tuesday.
As preseason practice winds down the team turns its focus outward, Wagner was excited about opening camp with a full roster and concluding preseason with the same number.
"We opened camp with 90 and finished camp with 90, so obviously the attitudes are right," said Wagner. "We added 12 players with the start of classes, so we have 102 on roster. After Thursday, we will break it down as to who we feel will play in games for us and who will service our team on the scout squads."
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WWCU-FM, Power 90dot5 in Cullowhee - the Flagship Station of the Catamount Sports Network - will broadcast its season premiere of "In the Litterbox" live from the porch of the Jordan Phillips Field House. The fourth season of the interactive sports talk and interview show will air from 4:30 pm until 5:30 pm ahead of the scrimmage and can be heard live online at www.WWCUFM.com.
Following the practice, members of the Catamount football team and WCU Cheerleading so quads will be on-hand to sign autographs and mingle with fans on the field.
"It is very important for our team to interact with our students, faculty, staff and our community (at `Meet the Cats,') and for our student body to see and meet our players. We tried to establish ourselves in the spring with community service and outreach, and that is going to carry over, and this is a great opportunity for us to interact," concluded Wagner.
Western Carolina opens the 2008 season in less than two weeks on Thursday, Aug. 28 at 7:00 pm as the Catamounts host Shorter College at E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field.
