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December 22, 2015

2015 Bowl Week…Daily Recap, Dec. 22

TODAY'S WEATHER St.Petersburg, FL: Hi: 79ºF Lo: 68ºF Partly Sunny Storrs, CT: Hi: 56ºF Lo: 41ºF Rain Showers Huntington, WV: Hi: 65ºF Lo: 53ºF Party Cloudy Team Arrivals Marshall Arrival Marshall University was greeted by fans donning kelly green and white as the team arrived in sunny St. Petersburg with temperatures in the low 80s. The Thundering Herd will be practicing Wednesday from 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Quotes Doc Holliday Head Coach, Marshall University "Anytime you get the opportunity to come to sunshine Florida, they're excited about getting here. They've done a great job. I like what this team is all about. There's great leadership on this team. They've done a great job with preparation so far. They just got to do a good job to continue." On what they are looking forward to most about being back in Florida "Our kids are excited. Most of these kids have not been here. We have a couple of guys on this team that were here with us before, but they're all excited about being here and getting ready to go." Chase Litton Quarterback, Marshall University On being in Florida "I'd take this place over anywhere, but I just enjoy being here and you can tell that everyone is excited to be in Florida for Christmas, but you can also tell they want us to win this game. We're here and we're excited." On getting to work and being home in FL "I'm here to win a game, we're all here to win ten (games), and we know that this is probably the best defense we've played all year. You know we're excited to compete against them and go win a game." Team Events All Children's Hospital Visit Honorary Game Chairman, Mike Alstott, was joined by team captains and mascots from UConn and Marshall at All Children's Hospital today. Patients, along with their families, were greeted by the players and mascots who signed autographs and passed out special gifts. Quotes Taj Letman Free Safety, Marshall University "We have the captains out here today just trying to put a smile on these kid's faces. Christmas is my favorite holiday, so to bring presents to them and uplift their spirits really means a lot to me." Julian Campenni Defensive Tackle, UConn "It's special to us that we get to hang out with these kids for a little bit, they make our day. We sang "Let it Go" from Frozen so hopefully that helped spread some holiday cheer. We are also passing out hats in hopes that we get a few future Huskies and they enjoy watching us play on Saturday." Mike Alstott Honorary Game Chairman "I think it's important for the student athletes to understand that they are role models and they make a huge difference. I really want them to realize that it's important to stay humble and there is another side to life and how satisfying it is to help some of these families who are at a down point. These guys really put smiles on these kid's faces and that's the most important part." Fill the Bowl Marshall and UConn filled the Renaissance Vinoy grand ballroom with high energy to see which team could pack the most meal bags the fastest. Fill the Bowl is presented by Achieva Credit Union in conjunction with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay and Boys & Girls Clubs of The Suncoast to pack bags of weekend meals for children in need. Feeding America Tampa Bay provided pallets of unsorted food for the players to pack into the bags. The teams were separated into defensive and offensive groups to pack bags. Both teams provided amazing teamwork to make Fill the Bowl another success. UConn's offense packed the most bags fastest. Combined, the Marshall and UConn players packed over 10,000 bags. Quotes Chase Litton Quarterback, Marshall University On coming back to Florida "I haven't practiced in Florida since high school. It's pretty neat to have the whole squad down here and doing stuff with the families and kids. It's all for a good cause but we know why we're here and it's to play a game." On the novelty of Fill the Bowl "It helps out families and people that I may have encountered in my life. To hear about Hillsborough County and Pasco County...I grew there. We got to help the families out." Chelsey Wilson Marketing Communications, Achieva Credit Union On why this event is so important "This event is really important to our community because we all know kids can't learn well if they have an empty stomach so Achieva is really invested in the education of our local community and this event is just a natural fit to make sure our kids are able to learn well." On event expectations "This is my first year coming to Fill the Bowl and I had no idea what to expect but the energy was amazing, the players are so invested in making sure this is successful and it was just awesome to watch." Brett Dulaney Executive Director of St. Petersburg Bowl On today's event compared to last year's "It was pretty similar, both teams were both competitive both want to win right. They understand what they are doing for the community is a good thing and I think they're just happy to be here so it was good for our community day." On why this event kicks off Bowl Week "We start off with this charity bowl event right here we pack all of these bags of food. It kind of gets the nervous energy of all the players out so that they can actually concentrate on the game during the week, so that's why we try to do it first."