Bobby Bowden is a saint.

Sure, people around Tallahassee have thought so for years -- but I don't mean it that way. You know that saying, "Make time for friends and excuses for others"? Bowden makes time for friends and others.

The coach obviously has tons of preparation to do for the 'Noles season opener, just six weeks away against Duke.

Fine, tons is stretching it -- he's gotta make sure at least 11 of his guys don't miss the flight to Durham. But the man is busy, just the same.

Still, he agrees to spend the whole morning with us for a photo shoot of his office overlooking one of the end zones at Doak Campbell Stadium. The photographers are still setting up when coach Bowden walks in. "Do I have to shave for this?" he jokes, running his hands over his already-smooth chin.

The fotog then asks him to change from his dress shirt into an FSU polo for the photo, so Bowden heads to his private bathroom and does.

"You want me to change into shorts?" he asks helpfully. "I don't have great legs, you know."

We take enough pictures to fill a scrapbook, and still Bowden is joking and tossing out his trademark high-frequency chuckle. The generators powering the lights make the room a little toasty, but the coach is as cool as ever.

Towards the end, Bowden starts to get antsy. But hell, so do I -- we've been shooting for over an hour.

We're just about to pack up when the doorway disappears. When I look over, D-lineman Darnell Dockett is standing in it, waiting to get his coach's attention.

"Hey, how ya doin', Darnell?" coach asks, his Southern drawl ringing out over the hiss of the klieg lights.

Then, a more pressing question. "How's your weight?"

"Two eighty six," Dockett boasts with a smile. He looks like he's swelling with pride when he says this, but then I realize he's just permanently swollen from spending his entire summer in the weight room.

Dockett is a beast, up 25 pounds of visible muscle from last season's playing weight -- the wifebeater he's wearing is hatin' life right now. Since I'm done asking Bowden about his office and see this as a way to get out of packing up heavy photo equipment, I duck out and talk to Dockett in the lobby.

"I want a picture first," Dockett says.

"Come again?"

"I don't do interviews unless you run a picture of me. Didn't they tell you about my contract?" His smile is almost as wide as his shoulders.

Of course, I can't promise things like that. If that's really how Dockett wants to do things, I'll just take my interview elsewhere.

Eventually, Dockett agreed to the interview. But you've gotta remind me to talk to our photo editor when I get back -- we need a shot of Dock. Hey, like I said, the kid put on 25 pounds of muscle this summer.

I'm just watching my back.

E-mail Andy Latack at andrew.latack@espnmag.com.