Murray State University Athletics
Pannunzio addresses media on players' day off from practice
8/29/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
On the Murray State Racers' day off from fall practice, head coach Joe Pannunzio answered some questions about his team and how fall practice has gone so far at the weekly press conference.
PANNUNZIO ON THE RACERS' SEASON OPENER AGAINST MISSISSIPPI STATE (Sept. 3): "This is a big test for us. Many of our players are from there, and Mississippi State plays in one of the best leagues in the Southeastern Conference. I have a history in the SEC when I was at Ole Miss and Auburn, so it does give this game a different feeling for me and the players. Mississippi State has several players who are NFL prospects, so I know we will have our work cut out for us."
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START: "In these kinds of games, you can't take yourself out of the game early. I'm concerned with Ken Topps. He's inexperienced, and hopefully, we can get him settled in and he can perform."
ON PREPARING FOR THE ATMOSPHERE AT MISSISSIPPI STATE: "We've had cowbells ringing at practice a bunch of days so the players will get used to it. I know there will be a big crowd on Saturday, and we're excited to play in front of a big crowd. All our kids from Mississippi will enjoy going back home."
ON GETTING THROUGH PRACTICE WITH NO MAJOR INJURIES: "This is the first time we've gone through camp without any major injuries. We kept injury prevention in the front of our minds, and we were still able to get them ready for the season to come. Nick Turner would have played Saturday at the scrimmage if it had been a real game. I've held him out just to make sure he's ready to go."
ON THE WEATHER AND HURRICANE KATRINA: "Yesterday (Sunday), we got rained out. I'm not going to mess with lightning and we don't have an indoor facility like a lot of bigger schools. We will go to the Carr Health Building when the hurricane gets here. Hopefully, by then, when the bad weather passes, we can get outside again."
CAMP NOTES: The schedule for replays of the Racers' football games this season has been released by MSU TV-11 and is as follows:
Sept. 3 at Mississippi State: replayed Sept. 6, 10 p.m.
Sept. 17 vs. Indiana State (home): Sept. 17, 10 p.m.
Sept. 24 at Illinois State: replayed Sept. 26, 10 p.m.
Oct. 1 at Tennessee Tech: replayed Oct. 1, 10 p.m.
Oct. 8 vs. Jacksonville State (home): replayed Oct. 8, 10 p.m.
Oct. 15 at Samford: replayed Oct. 17, 10 p.m.
Oct. 22 vs. Eastern Illinois (home): replayed Oct. 22, 10 p.m.
Oct. 29 at Southeast Missouri: replayed Oct. 29, 10 p.m.
Nov. 5 vs. Eastern Kentucky (home): replayed Nov. 5, 10 p.m.
Nov. 12 vs. Austin Peay home): replayed Nov. 12, 10 p.m.
Nov. 17 at Tennessee-Martin: replayed Nov. 18, 10 p.m.
