Julian Hayes' Texas Bowl Journal
Dec 24 | Football
Rutgers freshman wide receiver Julian Hayes chronicles the Scarlet Knights' trip to the Texas Bowl, reporting each day on the team's daily activities in Houston leading up the inaugural Texas Bowl vs. Kansas State on Dec. 28 at Reliant Stadium.
Our first full day in Texas got off to an early start with a 6:30 a.m. wake-up call and breakfast at 7 a.m. I was excited though so the early rise didn't bother me. After breakfast, we had some meetings and boarded the buses for the University of Houston and our first official practice in Houston. Even though we were in Houston, the coaches made it feel like home in the meetings and it was business as usual.
It was raining here in Houston so we practiced inside the University of Houston's indoor practice facility. It was good to get back on the field after a travel day.
I grabbed a quick shower at the practice facility and we had Domino's pizzas for lunch before heading to Reliant Stadium for the Texans-Colts game. The ride there was neat because we got to dodge all the traffic for the game with our police escort.
When we got to our seat, we saw Coach Schiano and the Kansas State coach taking part in the coin toss. It was cool to see. They showed us on the big jumbotron. A bunch of people came up to us and wished us good luck in the Texas Bowl and took pictures with us. Reliant Stadium is huge.
It is going to be exciting to play on this field in a couple days. The game was awesome - after the Colts tied it up with three minutes to go, the Texans came back and kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired.
When we got back to the hotel, we had another bowl gift waiting in our rooms. There was a back pack with the Texas Bowl and Rutgers logo on it on our beds. It is nice to walk into a different gift each day. The whole trip has been a great experience so far.
We had a special Christmas Eve dinner with the coaches and their families where we put a funny spin on the 12 days of Christmas, while bonding with the coaches' families.
After dinner, we had some time to relax and explore the city. The city is pretty quiet right now because of Christmas Eve, so we went back to the room and watched a movie.
It is going to be weird waking up tomorrow on Christmas without my family but I am with my second family and tomorrow is our first real practice with full pads in Houston, so it's time to get some rest.
Merry Christmas Eve Everyone!
-Julian #18
