BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic University’s football team finds itself among the nation’s top-20 in several key categories, including No. 4 in red zone defense, No. 14 in passing yards allowed, and No. 11 in passing efficiency defense, but one goal has been repetitively mentioned throughout the 2021 preseason and that goal is three turnovers per game.
Through two games, the Owls have recorded three interceptions, by: Diashun Moss (UF), Teja Young (UF) and Korel Smith (GS). When you add those to Jordan Helm’s fumble recovery versus Georgia Southern, the Owls are just two off their lofty goal.
Three turnovers will be especially key this weekend when the Owls play host to Fordham at 6 p.m. this Saturday at FAU Stadium. Fordham is averaging 258.5 passing yards per game, while Tim DeMorat, the Rams’ starting quarterback, is 44-78-3 on the year and the squad has secured the ball well.
COORDINATOR’S CORNER
Defensive Coordinator and Safeties Coach Mike Stoops
On the defense last week and moving into this week:
“Going back to the Georgia Southern game, I was really pleased with our efforts and our execution. Once we settled down, got a little bit acclimated to the speed of the game, I thought our guys’ reactions and positions on the football was much better. Didn’t play great early, but gained confidence as the game went on and that was good to see. And to have our offense be able to score gave our players more confidence as the game goes on, so when you play complementary football, that always helps each other. I thought our offense controlled the game from late in the second quarter to the rest of the way through and controlled the clock and did a nice job making some big plays. We just kind of fed off each other and that’s how good teams play, and I’m pleased with our effort, and our execution was pretty good all night. I thought we contained the ball the way we wanted to. We prepared for what we saw and that’s always good so I though our players were very well prepared and I thought we started executing and getting to our spots better as the game went on.”
On adjustments the defense made:
“We had a couple of missed alignments and assignments early on. We didn’t execute a particular stunt the way we wanted to. When you play that (sort of offense), it’s hard to simulate anything close to that speed and really, the execution that they do so well. It’s a very concise offense that they’ve been running for a long time. We settled down and played well. We gave them the silly 3rd-and-15 quarterback counter play in the second drive that should have never happened, so we should have been off the field in that situation as well. So that was just our lack of execution, and that’s some things we have to clean up going forward.”
On getting after Fordham’s QB:
He’s an excellent thrower of the football. I think this is his third year starting. I like the way he throws the football. He’s very accurate, he’ll look you off and go the other way. He does a lot of good things. He handles the football. Their Run-Pass Option reads are very good and he’s able to get out of a run play and throw it to his receiver. They do an excellent job spreading the field. It’s a little of that Art Briles Spread from sideline-to-sideline type of offense where they read the box a lot to see if you’re in a heavy run defense and they’ll pull the ball and throw it. Then their passing game will stretch it from sideline to sideline. You have to cover a lot of field space when you play a team like this but then you’ll still have to be able to protect against the run. I think the run has done an excellent job bouncing the football to the perimeter and that’s where we’ll have to be able to control the run game to get them into some obvious situations where you can try to heat them up some on 3rd-and-long situations.”
Senior Safety Diashun Moss:
On earning a starting spot in camp and expectations for this weekend:
“Camp started off well. Me being a fifth-year senior, the biggest thing I wanted to do was to stay locked in mentally, in my conduct and my behavior. [To] show the standard of FAU for the younger guys. Coming into this game, we just want to be locked in. We want to be disciplined in our assignment, alignment and just play sound football.”
On pressure of being a veteran on the team as a fifth-year player:
“I think pressure is all dependent on how you look at it. Your mentality is, ‘are you able to handle it’ or ‘are you anxious about it.’ I think that all depends on how you look at the situation that’s presented before you. But it’s not too much pressure for me, no.”
On playing a pass-heavy team like Fordham:
“Us as DB’s, we want that competition. We want that opportunity to go out and get interceptions and force turnovers. That’s probably the biggest part, being a playmaker. We want to make plays.”
On his interception against Florida:
“I think that was an amazing opportunity to play in an atmosphere like that. Getting my first start and that was definitely very awesome. Being able to start off the turnover chain in Florida is great and I just hope to continue to keep that ball rolling and keep the momentum coming for not only me but my other corners as well and the defense as a whole.”
Redshirt Senior Nickelback Korel Smith
On this season and expectations for this weekend:
“This season is going good so far with a lot of competition. Competition brings out the best in everybody. Good defensive scheme this year with Coach [Mike] Stoops coming along…We’re trying to go 1-0 this week. Fordham, they have a good quarterback and a good offense, so we have to just play our defense and just do us and play FAU defense.”
On improvements he wants to make:
“I want to improve on coverage. I want to be tighter on my coverage. I feel like sometimes I get loose, so just staying tighter on the man down the field.”
On the defense’s four takeaways:
“We take pride in getting takeaways. Every game we try to get three takeaways. It’ll put us in good shape to win games if we do that. Win the turnover margin. So, this week we’re going to try to do the same thing. Get our three takeaways, at the least, hopefully we get more, and try to hold up to the standard.”
On his versatility:
“I like playing nickel. I get to cover, I get to be in the run fit, I get to blitz. I’m all over the field and I love that. I enjoy doing that. I like to help the team as much as I can.”
On improvements he wants the whole defense to make:
“I would like us to swarm the ball more. Like a ‘Sea of Red.’ We used to say that back in the day. Get back to that. All 11 hats to the ball tagging off on the running back or whoever has the ball, and it’ll cause turnovers too once we do that because we can strip the ball more, we can do certain things like that. So just the whole defense getting to the ball.”
SPEEDSTERS
There were three repeat offenders on Wednesday and a total of five players surpassed the 20 mph mark. Wide receivers TJ Chase, Willie Wright and Je’Quan Burton recorded the magic number twice while fellow receivers Javion Posey and D’Marcus Adams sounded the horns once each.
2021 SEASON
2021 single-game tickets are available now. To experience “Football in Paradise,” Click HERE or call 1-866-FAU-OWLS.
