Deacons Talk It Out Among Themselves
Back during football season, some of my media brethern got all excited when they learned of a players’ only meeting called by Riley Skinner, John Russell and some of the other seniors. I wasn’t fazed.
“Have you ever had a season when you didn’t have a players’ only meeting?’’ I asked Jim Grobe later.
He said he had not.
So I would be among the last people to make too much out of a pow wow the Deacons had at Joel Coliseum after Thursday’s practice. Senior David Weaver said Ish Smith was so stung by the loss against North Carolina that he had been trying to gather the troops, but that there were too many conflicts of schedules.
“And (Thursday) it was like `We’re all here, so let’s just meet.’ ‘’ Weaver explained. “We just wanted to get everything out in the open and make sure that everybody’s on a straight path. We’re just trying to turn things around and any beefs or tits or tats that anybody has we wanted to get those out in the open and make sure we can concentrate and get this win and make us feel a lot better here at the end.’‘
L.D. Williams said no voices were raised and no challenges were issued.
“It wasn’t anything like us bashing each other or guys pointing fingers,’’ Williams said. “It was just like `Where is this team right now? Where are you individually? How are you feeling?’ And it was good. Ish, he sat us down and asked `Where is the confidence that I saw a few months ago? Where is the confidence that was here last month? Where is that? Do you lack confidence?’
“We lost at Florida State not because we didn’t play, we lost because we didn’t play with confidence. A lot of the turnovers we had were out of being scared to make a play. I told the guys (Thursday) that `We’ve been playing this game since we were little kids and we’ve all made plays. That’s why we’re here right now. For us not to be doing it right now is unacceptable.’ ‘’
Coach Dino Gaudio said before today’s practice that he hadn’t heard of the session. But he was far from disappointed.
“I think that’s good,’’ Gaudio said. “I think that’s showing leadership. I think it means more sometimes when those guys talk than when the coach talks.’‘.