Football Completes Phase One of Preseason Practice
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 17, 1998
WINSTON-SALEM N.C. -- The Wake Forest football team completed one phase of its preseason practice schedule here Monday, conducting its final two workouts before putting on full pads tomorrow (Tuesday).
Head coach Jim Caldwell says that his team is proceeding quickly through the initial stages of its 1998 preparations, quicker in fact than any Wake team in the sixth-year coach's tenure.
"The pace of our practices and the amount of work we've been able to accomplish are significantly ahead of previous years," Caldwell said Monday. "I attribute that to two factors -- the number of experienced players that we have returning, and the summer time work that our players did on their own to get ready for the season."
The Demon Deacons have an ACC-high number of starters (18) returning from a 1997 squad that finished with a 5-6 record, the best under Caldwell in five seasons.
The Deacs will work out twice Tuesday in full gear, once at 6:45 a.m. and again at 4:00 p.m.
"We will continue to emphasize fundamentals and drill work," Caldwell noted. "There will be some hitting, but we'll work into that gradually leading up to our first scrimmage session on Thursday."