Postcards from Jacksonville: Day 3 At The Gator Bowl
12/28/2003 7:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 28, 2003
Fast Fact of the Day: Maryland has never lost in the Gator Bowl with a 2-0-1 record beating Florida (13-0) in 1975, and Missouri (20-7) in 1950 along with a 20-20 tie against Georgia in 1948.
By Jason Yellin
Maryland Athletic Media Relations
JACKSONVILLE
-- A day of fun and games for the Terps began a little later as Sunday's wake-up call came at 9 a.m. Breakfast was served from 9 to 10 a.m., and that was followed by positional meetings at 10:15.While the dress squad had their meetings, the scout team left early for Jacksonville University for weight-lifting. The dress squad headed off for JU for practice at 11 a.m.
While the buses were pulling up the annual game between the team managers and the video staff was taking place. The managers continued their dominance with a 28-0 win.
The players headed out to the field telling stories of their fun in Jacksonville. One of the highlights came as tight end Derek Miller lifted a live lobster out of a tank - as part of a game similar to the one with a claw that moves up and down while you try to retrieve a stuffed animal at a fair -- at the Jacksonville Landing a night earlier. It was pretty remarkable as the salesperson at the Sunglass Hut across the way from the tank said she had just seen two lobsters pulled in her three years at the stand.
Team practice began with some more fun as punter Adam Podlesh booted balls away for the offensive linemen to catch. Stephon Heyer made a nice catch before the full squad hit the field for the start of some special teams situations.
Practice continued with positional drills conducted by the assistant coaches under the watchful eye of coach Ralph Friedgen.
It was a pleasant 68 dgrees when practice started with a lot of cloud cover by the time it finished.
The team's annual jersey switch continued as offensive lineman Eric Dumas and running back Josh Allen traded with Dumas donning No. 33 and Allen in No. 75. Bruce Perry continued in No. 6.
Practice wrapped up around 2:15 p.m. and the media met the players. Popular interviews were with Allen, Domonique Foxworth and Kyle Schmitt. Coach Friedgen spoke for about 10 minutes and said the team was healthy and that only Rich Parson missed practice with a migraine headache, but would be fine tomorrow.
After practice, the fun and games began as the Terps hit the theme park Adventure Landing.
The Terps were greeted by the gator, Sydney, the bowl's mascot. Once they walked through the main entrance the team saw some live alligators which could be fed. The players were more interested in the game inside and quickly hit the token machines for the video games.
Specialists Nick Novak and Dan Ennis went the soccer games, Andrew Smith, C.J. Feldheim, Derek Miller, Jeff Duagn and Lou Lombardo were among the Terps that had also had a blast on the video games.
Outside, others headed to the go-karts for racing. Steve Suter and Dan Melendez were paired up in the first cart. Rob Abriamiri, C.J. Brooks also had fun racing around the track.
Perhaps the heaviest cart ever may have been composed of 250-pound linebacker Tim Cesa and 300-pound lineman Garrick Clig, who ganged up on many of the teammates with a double-cart
Over on the mini golf course, Ray Custis, Lamar Bryant, Andrew Smith, Marcus Winbush and Randy Starks were among the top marksmen as they made their way around the course.
Back inside laser tag was also a popular choice of many players.
The Terps spent close to two hours having a grand time at Adventure Landing.
The team got back to the hotel around 5:30 p.m. and headed straight to get their second installment of per diem. The team had dinner on their own and headed out for the night.
