DAILY REPORT:
TUESDAY, DEC. 29,
2008
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Defense in Liberty Bowl spotlight
By
Brian Bailey
|
WNCT-TV 9 Sports
Director Brian Bailey is on the
scene in Memphis bringing
daily coverage of bowl week to Bonesville's readers
and Channel 9's viewers. The week
climaxes Saturday with East
Carolina's Liberty Bowl
showdown with Arkansas. |
|
|
MEMPHIS — It was a busy
first day in Memphis for me and it started early.
East Carolina defensive
coordinator Greg Hudson and four of his stars on defense
were the guests of a Liberty Bowl press conference on
Tuesday.
Obviously, the question
on the mind of Pirate fans concerns Hudson and his job
status at East Carolina. Several Florida media outlets
have been reporting that Hudson will join Jimbo Fisher
at Florida State as linebacker's coach. Hudson has
maintained that nothing is official as of yet.
Hudson has a deep love
for his players and refuses to be distracted from his
last game with this special group of seniors. He was
adamant on Tuesday about his status at East Carolina.
"I don't want to take
anything away from this team and this bowl game," said
Hudson. "Anything else that needs to be said will be
said after this game," he added.
With that, Hudson and
the rest of the squad hit the practice field at the
University of Memphis. The Tigers have added a field
turf practice surface since last year, and that's where
the Pirates went to work.
Pirate head coach Skip
Holtz usually lets off the reigns the first couple of
nights on a bowl trip, before reeling the squad back in
as the game approaches. Holtz wants the squad to enjoy
the trip, but to also realize that the team is here to
do a job. A couple of the East Carolina players
struggled a little bit with the early wind sprints, but
Coach Holtz didn't seem at all concerned.
"We'll be ready," said
Holtz. "I certainly want the guys to have a good time
here in Memphis."
Wednesday morning some
of the Pirate players will visit the St. Jude's
Children's Hospital here in Memphis. That is always a
most emotional trip and I'll have pictures coming up
tomorrow.
Content:
Brian Bailey. ©2009 Bonesville.net and WNCT-TV 9. All
rights reserved. |