We have been down in Charlotte for three days now. Spending Christmas with my team and not family is not something we are use to, but I guess being a college football player, spending Christmas with 105 of your teammates is a good thing.

For those of you who think being a college football player is all glitz and glamour, let us give you a run down of our Christmas day. On Christmas morning we woke up at the crack of dawn and walked down to have breakfast with our teammates and Coach Edsall.

Following breakfast, we had a half hour of meetings. This is the time where I usually find a nice spot on the wall to gaze at and begin my day dreaming. We then headed on the bus and on our way to practice.

When fans come up to us their first question is usually “what’s your phone number?” but after we get passed that the second question is “what do you guys do while the team is practicing?” Well we have about 20 minutes of special teams at the start of practice. Then we are on our own. At this time we usually discuss the new events we have going on in our lives. Sporadically we will get a couple of cheap shots in on the lineman and some of the scout team players. We do have a couple of sitting ducks though that we usually fire away on. These targets include Chris our equipment manager and his staff and also Brian and John the trainers. We decided to leave Bob Howard “the head trainer” out of our burn session because he is, well old and we don’t know how much more he can take.

Our favorite target happens to be our very own freshman kicker David Teggert. Since our strength coach/therapist Coach (Drew) Wilson was working with the injured players today, we had no one to gossip with. Coach Wilson is usually the one we like to talk and discuss current events and our relationships, which he always has the perfect advice for us. Oh, and on a side note, Coach Edsall, being the gentleman that he is, kept the kickers and punters in mind by reserving us our own field we could practice on. Even thought it was two miles one way walking distance and through a tiny jungle it was well worth the schlep.

Upon making our two mile journey we were escorted by the high schools security guard. “Yes fans that’s when you know you made it big, is when you have your very own high school security guard escorts you here and there.” We were walking to the field when our body guard introduced us to the schools mascot, an adopted duck named Jeffrey that comes on command! At first when our body guard starting yelling “Jeffery… Jeffery” we started to get confused and a little scared but then this duck jumped in the water and peddled over to us and we were shocked.

All right Husky fans, I know this duck isn’t to entertaining for you but when you have been stuck in a hotel/ghost town it was the most amusing thing we have seen all week.

After practice we headed back to the hotel for Christmas dinner. We were enthralled with our surprise guest; yes the big man Santa himself. And yes the kick-squad did sit on Santa’s lap and had our picture taken. You’re never too old to schmooze the big guy into getting what you want. This year at the top of Tony’s list was a $25 gift certificate to MacDonald’s and for Desi a year supply of Herbal Essences Conditioner.

As for tonight we can’t wait, because we are heading to a NBA basketball game to watch the Bobcats take on the Wizards. Shout outs to Emeka and Caron! Tonight should be fun because wherever the kicks-quad goes the party comes with it.

For the many Husky fans who are making the trip down to Charlotte and the ones watching from the comforts of their living rooms, a bowl game is our Christmas gift to you all for all the support you have given us this year. 

Well, that’s about it Husky fans. We are looking forward to seeing all of you down here in Charlotte as we prepare to put on a show for you guys like you have never seen before. Stay tuned for new updates as we bring you all the excitement from Charlotte all week long!

Happy Holidays- From your boys, the kick-squad