Thursday, December 30 List of great players long at FSU
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS -- Peter Warrick may be the main man in Florida
State's corps of receivers, but the rest of that group has enough
talent to keep Virginia Tech's defense honest in their national
championship Sugar Bowl showdown.
"I've always liked the fact all year that Pete's got all the
attention," wide receivers' coach Jeff Bowden said Thursday. "I
hope they focus a lot on Pete because the offense doesn't revolve
just around him."
Ron Dugans, Marvin Minnis, Germaine Stringer and several other Seminoles are potential big play receivers for the Seminoles in
Tuesday night's game. Miami, Florida and Virginia can attest to
that.
Stringer caught six passes for 160 yards, including a 48-yard
touchdown, helping Florida State to wins over Miami and Wake Forest
when Warrick was suspended for the two games for his role in a
shopping mall scam.
"There are a lot of great players on this team," said Warrick,
who still caught 71 passes for 934 yards and eight touchdowns. "We
need that from the young guys. We need guys to step up and make the
plays."
With so much attention being focused on Warrick and Hokies
quarterback Michael Vick this week, Virginia Tech defensive
coordinator Bud Foster said both teams can't forget the talent
around those two.
"If people put too much attention on one guy, we've got the
other guys that can hurt people," he said. "It's kind of like
with Peter Warrick. If you put too much attention on him, they've
got a couple other receivers they can go to."
Besides the two games that Warrick missed, the Seminoles were
also without their other starting wideout, Laveranues Coles, who
was kicked off the team in midseason after the mall affair.
Minnis' 27-yard TD catch at Florida sealed the Seminoles' 30-23
victory at Gainesville, Fla. in November. He had two other
touchdown catches among his 19 catches.
"That was very important for me coming into a big game like
this," Minnis said. "That game was just like this game, same
atmosphere. It builds my confidence up so maybe I can do the same
thing."
Dugans, the biggest receiver in the group at 6-foot-2, has
always been a reliable target, catching 105 passes for 1,520 yards
and seven touchdowns in his career.
Dugans would have been the main man this season if Warrick had
gone pro after last year as most people anticipated.
"That was hard," said Dugans, who caught 43 passes for 644
yards this season after missing the first two games with an injury.
"Because I'm a competitor. But I've taken it pretty good because
when they give me the ball I just try and do what I can do with
it."
Bowden, who celebrated his 40th birthday Thursday, has had 10
different wide receivers catch passes during the season including
sophomore Talman Gardner, who returns to his hometown for the game.
"These guys can make plays," said Bowden, the youngest of
coach Bobby Bowden's four sons. "I don't think they can just focus
on Pete. If they want to, that's fine."
