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Dawsey brings intensity to FSU receivers

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 29, 2009

TALLAHASSEE - Before Lawrence Dawsey talks X's and O's with his receivers, he brings up ABCs.

"We do grade check and class checks every day before the meetings," Florida State WR Bert Reed said. "And there are consequences after the meeting."

A receivers group that is making noise on an offense ranked second in the ACC in passing yardage has been seemingly quiet off the field. That was hardly the case last fall and part of the 2009 offseason. Much of the credit for the change is given to Dawsey, the former FSU and Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver who began two-a-day practices by handing players a book he wrote titled "Twenty-nine routes to discipline."

Players said it includes sayings, Scripture and examples of what it means to be disciplined. Reed said that Dawsey was demanding of his players a year ago, his second on the FSU staff, but is even more so now.

"I have seen a lot of difference," Reed said. "... He wants it done the first time.

"This year he's on our side but he's making sure we're representing something bigger than us. He always took the softer approach of not yelling at the players. But I sometimes feel like we do need to be yelled at. We do have hard heads. He's really riding us and making sure we're the receiver group that he wants us to be."

PARADE ROUTE: The last time Mickey and Diane Andrews rode together in a parade was in their hometown of Ozark, Ala., during the mid-1960s.

The folks in town had come out in full force for Mickey Andrews Day.

Andrews had just completed an athletic career at Alabama, where he played on the 1961 and 1964 national championship football teams. It was a big deal.

Diane and Mickey Andrews feel the same way about this Friday's homecoming parade. The two will serve as grand marshals.

"Florida State is so special for us," Diane Andrews said. "We have friends from one end of this state to the other. It just means everything. It's really important to us."

Steve Ellis

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