WAYNESBURG (Dec. 5) – Preparation for the football season takes place long before the opening of training camp in August and even before spring ball in April. For teams around the country to complete their almost year-round practices, they need a surface to play on in all types of weather, especially in the Northeast.

There may be no surface more popular due its durability and consistency than FieldTurf. Waynesburg University understood this and in the summer of 2006, it installed the latest FieldTurf Duraspine surface at John F. Wiley Stadium, which previously featured a natural grass playing surface.

The artificial surface played host to six games that season, the most since 2001, along with all the Yellow Jackets' football practices, both during training camp and throughout the season.

Since Waynesburg installed FieldTurf at Wiley Stadium, head coach Rick Shepas has showcased it to several teams around the area including Bethany (W.Va.) College, Fairmont State University, and even perennial Big East powerhouse West Virginia University.

In March of 2007, Shepas received a phone call from Mountaineers' head coach Rich Rodriguez asking permission to have some coaches and players look at the surface. Rodriguez, who knew Shepas from different coaching clinics, received word from FieldTurf about the new surface it completed for Waynesburg.

From there, Rodriguez brought pre-season All-American candidates and Heisman hopefuls Patrick White and Steve Slaton, along with speedy wide receiver Darius Reynaud and other players to Wiley Stadium. After running around the turf, the coaches and players said it was the best surface they had ever been around.

Following their time at Waynesburg, West Virginia installed its own FieldTurf Duraspine surface at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, W.Va.

In addition to the Mountaineers featuring a FieldTurf surface, BCS Top 10 programs such as Ohio State University, University of Missouri and University of Hawaii have installed it on their varsity fields. Several more programs feature a FieldTurf surface facility to deal with the heavy use associated with practices, such as University of Georgia and University of Southern California.