Oct. 14, 2002

Charleston, SC - Straw-hatted, bow-tied vendors hawk boiled peanuts in bushel baskets, and fans have to mind where their cars are parked when the tide rolls in.

It's not the big time of college football, but for several area players, The Citadel is proving to be just the right size.

While Florida State put a scare into the No. 1 team in the land and Oklahoma and Texas duked it out in a bodacious border war Saturday, the Division I-AA Bulldogs rolled past East Tennessee State 26-7 at 55-year-old Johnson Haygood Stadium, where the bones of Confederate soldiers lie underneath the turf in the north end zone.

James "Tyke" Greene, a 2000 graduate of Carolina Forest High School, recorded seven tackles and deflected a pass from his middle linebacker position as part of a Bulldog defense that held the Buccaneers to 134 total yards as The Citadel (2-4, 1-2) earned its first Southern Conference victory of the season.

"I was just ready to try to get my chance to play," said Greene, who saw limited action in 2001, recording 42 tackles in 10 games.

So far this season, Greene has tallied 30 stops in six games, but his biggest adjustment didn't come on the football field. At the military college, freshmen, or "knobs," are at the beck and call of upperclassmen, and have to perform any number of menial tasks, including pushups by the non-playing knobs - whostand up the entire game - after each Bulldog score.

"The school is nothing like I imagined," he said. "That was a big surprise to me ... just the yelling and racing [around] and getting up early in the morning. My body wasn't used to it. But coming to play football, that lets me relieve stress and maintain focus. ... Football kept me happy."

The sport is also providing solace to James Wilson, a former North Myrtle Beach running back in the midst of his freshman crucible.

"Getting up early, having to deal with people yelling at you all the time - if you're not used to it, it'll be a shock to you, to have to deal with all that, and to have to be shined up and looking your best, every day, all day," said Wilson, who rushed for 1,725 yards and 23 touchdowns in his senior season at NMB.

Wilson's escape is the gridiron. "That's what we live for," he said. "We just can't wait till we get to practice out on the football field."

Wilson is having to bide his time, though, as he's redshirting this season. It's a position Justin Woodberry, ex-Mullins quarterback-turned-wide receiver, found himself in last year, and he's still awaiting playing time from his No. 3 slot on the depth chart.

"Every player wants to get more time," said Woodberry, named the 2000 Sun News Toast of the Coast offensive player of the year after throwing for 2,487 yards and 26 touchdowns. "[But] we got a lot of good receivers, and I believe my time will come."

Woodberry, too, struggled to adjust to life at The Citadel during his first year.

"It was nothing like I expected. I expected it to be more physical, but it was more of a mental game," he said. "But any football player can get through it. If you can play football, you can get through a knob first year."

Once on the field, Woodberry said, class distinctions disappear, as per Citadel coach Ellis Johnson's directive.

"He emphasizes that we treat all players with mutual respect," Woodberry said. "There's no knob system in the locker room."

That doesn't stop his Grand Strand buddies from reminding him of his secondary status, Wilson said.

"Being an upperclassman around here, you get a lot of privileges, and they try to use it to the fullest," Wilson said.

Despite the teasing and the occasional hardships, Wilson believes he's on the right path.

"Like they say, the road less traveled," he said. "That's the road that I'm trying to travel now, and take it step by step, day by day. That's the only thing you can do."

East Tennessee 7 0 0 0- 7

Citadel 7 10 9 0-26

First Quarter

Cit-Broughton 12 run (Zobel kick), 10:00.

ETSU-Varner 2 run (Godfrey kick), 0:33.

Second Quarter

Cit-FG Zobel 38, 7:50.

Cit-Broughton 2 run (Zobel kick), 2:12.

Third Quarter

Cit-FG Zobel 37, 6:58.

Cit-Klein 1 run (pass failed), 1:20.

A-17,627.

ETSU Cit

First downs 14 18

Rushes-yards 43-81 42-221

Passing 53 113

Comp-Att-Int 7-14-0 10-22-0

Return Yards 27 74

Punts-Avg. 8-48.6 3-54.7

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-1

Penalties-Yards 5-54 7-81

Time of Possession 31:21 24:42

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-East Tennessee, Varner 14-60, Carter 6-20, Spearman 5-10, Gamble 5-3, Sander 13-(minus 12). Citadel, Broughton 19-99, Mahoney 19-70, Zobel 1-43, Klein 3-9.

PASSING-East Tennessee, Sanders 5-11-0-35, Gamble 2-3-0-18. Citadel, Klein 10-22-0-113.

RECEIVING-East Tennessee, Nuckoll 3-25, Gamble 2-8, Moore 1-14, Varner 1-6. Citadel, Johnson 5-85, Mahoney 2-9, Healy 1-11, Pough 1-6, Armstrong 1-2.

INFO:

The Citadel26

E. Tennessee State7