DALLAS – Just a day after the 2023 CUSA Football Kickoff event in Arlington, Texas, a trio of Conference USA programs opened fall camp on Wednesday – FIU, Jacksonville State and New Mexico State. These are three of the five CUSA teams opening the 2023 college football season on Saturday, Aug. 26, in Week 0, with two more – Louisiana Tech and UTEP, scheduled to open their camps Thursday.
Conference USA’s five teams kick off play in three of the seven FBS games in Week 0, all nationally televised, highlighted by a pair of league contests. Jacksonville State is slated to host UTEP at 4:30 p.m. CT on CBS Sports Network, New Mexico State will host UMass at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN and FIU travels to Louisiana Tech for an 8 p.m. CT kickoff, also on CBS Sports Network.
FIU battled south Florida storms and practice no. 1 experienced a delay, however, the Panthers were able to complete their first practice of fall camp, albeit a bit later than expected on a wet Wednesday. The Panthers are entering their second season under head coach Mike MacIntyre, and FIU went 4-8 in 2022, after winning just one game in its past 16 prior to MacIntyre’s appointment.
“We got delayed by all the lightning and the storms we’re having right now in the Miami area,” MacIntyre said following practice. “But our guys are used to that, so we got delayed a little bit and came out a bit later. I thought the focus was there, I thought the energy was there and I was excited about what I saw today.”Jacksonville State is one of four new programs in CUSA, and the Gamecocks got their fall camp rolling on a warm day in Jacksonville, Alabama. The Gamecocks enter 2023 following a 9-2 season during a transition year in FCS in head coach Rich Rodriguez’s first season at Jax State. QB Zion Williams is back with the Gamecocks as well, receiving an additional year of eligibility due to injury. Rodriguez shared his thoughts on receiving that news.
“Oh, he’s a great young man,” Rodriguez said following the day’s practice. “I mean Hell, he’s a man, he’s not a kid. He really wanted to play and he’s been injured most of his career, and even last year he had moments where he couldn’t go and really be his true self. So we’re excited with him and Te’Sean [Smoot] and Logan [Smothers], we’ve got a pretty good battle at quarterback and I know we’ve got some good experience with Zion. I’m expecting big things out of him.”New Mexico State, like Jax State, is new to CUSA in 2023. The Aggies, like the other two teams who opened camp on Wednesday, do so with a head coach in his second season at the helm of the program. Jerry Kill led the Aggies to a 7-6 season and a Quick Lane Bowl championship in 2022 and the team is poised to compete during its first season in its new league.
“I’m excited about the season,” Kill said on Tuesday at his CUSA Football Kickoff press conference. “Like I said, I’ve been through all this – the Tuesday and Wednesday night games, I’ve been doing it for 40 years and I’m excited about this team. I’m usually the one that goes ‘I don’t know how we’ll be,’ and all that, but I think this team’s got a lot of opportunities. You still have got to go play and win. We’ve got great coaches in this league, now there’s not a coach in here that can’t coach. So I look forward to it. It’s very competitive, so we’ll just have to see. I’m cautiously optimistic of where we’re at in our program right now. We’re taking baby steps, but we’ve got high goals.”Stay tuned to ConferenceUSA.com as the remaining six programs kick off fall camp in the next week, including Louisiana Tech and UTEP on Thursday.
