| 8/20/2025 | Football BOCA RATON, Fla. – “Mock Game Week” continued for Florida Atlantic football with the Owls moving through game scenarios and working with the with scout teams for the second time. As the team continues its effort to establish its identity, the neck-and-neck battle between offense and defense continues, with neither getting the best of the other on a consistent basis. COACH SCHWANZ MIC’D UPQUOTABLE Tight Ends Coach Jajuan Dulaney On returning to his alma mater Maryland for the opening game “It’s definitely an honor to go back and play against the alma mater. Mike Locksley was somebody who recruited me. I got the opportunity to play for him, so it’s going to feel good walking back into the stadium, getting back there. I haven’t been back there since I graduated. Ultimately, at the end of the day, it’s all about us. We’re trying to win a game and we’re trying to keep it as such.” On overhauling the tight end room “We added Mike Kirch from Thomas More this past portal cycle back in May. He has come in, played a lot of football, has a lot of production, a lot of catches, a lot of yardage, has seen a lot. I always tell people it doesn’t necessarily matter the level of competition. You still have to play a lot of football. The biggest thing you have to get accustomed to once you do transfer if you’re a guy that comes from DII is the speed of the game. There’s a little bit stronger players, a little bit faster players, but once you get acclimated I think you’ll be fine. It took Mike a little bit of time to get used to that and get adjusted to it. I think he handled it like a professional. He really attacked it. He understood his weaknesses, he understood where he needed to get better at to be able to be competitive at this level. I’m proud to see where he’s at versus where he has come from, that has been great. As far as the other two, we have Reid Mikeska and Martavious Collins. They were the ones that came in during the December portal when we first got here. To see their maturation process has been good. Reid was a guy that didn’t really get to play much back in the spring due to injury, but he got healthy over the summer, working on some mental toughness things, working to get bigger, stronger, faster all of those things. Just the small details, that is something that I preach amongst the group as a whole anyway: you have to be able to master the small details before you can get out there and be successful in anything. That’s taking care of your body. YThat’s being in the training room, taking care of your nutrition, what are you doing in strength and conditioning, and how are you picking up the offense, how are you studying that? Reid is somebody that has started to get better with that. Same thing with Martavious. He is a guy that came with me from UTEP and was in a small role there. It was good to see him come and get adjusted to everything. He’s still learning, he’s still young…he’s a young sophomore and I’m excited about his future and what he can bring to the table moving forward. Then we have the three freshmen: Tamez Young, Brock Kuhl, and Billy Lyons. They have all been coming in and trying to work at it and to get better every single day. Their biggest thing is just buying into the culture and we’ll see how things go from there.” On getting the team to buy into the culture “Ultimately you just have to give the guys something to believe in. Players naturally look for something to hang onto, look for something to associate themselves with. One of my previous places, Austin Peay University, we won a conference championship and every day I’m preaching that the small details are what got us there. We firmly believe that when you focus on the small details, everything else will take care of itself. You really have to buy into that process. That’s something that I try to preach to the guys every single day: discipline, toughness, and execution. That’s what we believe in as a unit, and we try to focus on those things. I firmly believe that when you worry about the little things and truly buy into the process. Everything else will take care of itself.”Ends/Rush Coach Brandon Lacy On unleashing an aggressive defense “Right now, we call ourselves the ‘black ops’ because we’re the no-name group that nobody knows about. We have a lot of guys that have either played a little bit but have been in backup roles and some guys that haven’t played. All we can do is attack and take everything on with aggression. One of the first things we talk about in our core values is fanatical effort, and the second part is us being the most physical team. Those two aspects are what we believe in and our core values are all about attacking.”On Deshaun Batiste and Josh Roberts “I’ll start with Deshaun. I recruited Deshaun out of high school. We offered him a scholarship and were planning on signing him but it got filled up before we could sign him and he went to another school. Luckily when he got into the portal, we were able to get him back and get him over here. [He’s] a great addition to our team, brings a lot of athleticism…He gives us a big, athletic guy that can not only play on the edge but can play on the inside. He comes from a great background where he has been a humble person that has won everywhere he has been. I’m glad we have him here. Josh Roberts, from the young kid that was here in the spring to the young man we have now, it’s night and day. This is also a kid that at 8 and 9 o’clock at night is out there on the field working bags, punching the sled, sending me videos. He’s what you talk about in terms of a guy that has worked himself into a college football player.” On the importance of a rotation “We’re a hockey substitution [line.] Two things that we say is ‘we all we got, we all we need’ and then we say ‘we too deep.’ Basically, we’re about three or four deep and that’s the way we’re going to rotate it: we’re going to keep guys fresh. I like to say we’re kind of like the Avengers: we all have different superpowers right now. Some is strength, some is speed, some is knowledge, some is technology, some is good at diagnosing plays. Collectively, we can be like the Avengers and be a great group that works together to defend our team and defend our unit. That’s the way we’re hockey subbing guys. We’ll mix and match guys to fit their personalities and abilities so that way we can go out there and play.”Senior Tight End Michael Kirch On adjusting to Florida Atlantic “Us tight ends as a whole are a really close group. All six of us are close friends and hang out outside of football as well…the team as a whole, the o-line is helping us out, receivers are helping us out, quarterbacks are helping us out, that’s how you have to play team football. Everybody buys into the program, everybody helps each other out, and that’s the only way you can succeed.” On the most thing about the offense “The offense in general is fast-paced, high-flying, throwing deep, still being able to run power football, it’s a fun football. Coach Kitt [Hagerty Family Head Football Coach Zach Kittley] is almost crazy the way he calls plays because you don’t know if it will work and then the next thing you know we have a 70-yard touchdown. This offense is just fun to be around, fun to play in, and the teammates as well make it even more fun.” On transitioning to DI football “My time at Thomas More was awesome…It just got to the point where I wanted to see how good I really could be and go against the best in the world…It’s a token for me to be able to say in 20 years that I was able to play with some of the best there is.” On the tight end’s role in Kittley’s offense “There are so much that we as tight ends have to do. You have to be able to block in-line, in the run game, pass pro, block out wide, and then you have to run almost every route in the route tree: short ones, deep ones, red zone we have to be able to dominate. I would say this is a very tight end friendly offense and in all positions it’s a very friendly offense.”Junior Defensive End Deshaun Batiste On deciding to come to Florida Atlantic “[Coach Lacy] recruited me out of high school…After I hit the portal, Coach Lacy called me saying he’s looking for a guy. I said ‘let’s do it, Coach.” On the culture of Florida Atlantic “The work ethic here is phenomenal from the strength staff all the way up to the head coach. Everyone is on board, on deck, and ready to win. That’s what I’m like.”On his strengths as a defensive end “I’m a pretty solid pass rusher. I’m good at any aspect of it, but there’s only room to improve in your game.” On staying in shape to keep up with up-tempo offenses “It has definitely been a challenge because teams in a conference, they’re tempo, but they kind of slow down. Dealing with Coach Kittley, he always has his foot on the gas. It has been kind of a challenge, but it’s coming around. I’m ready for it, I’m in shape. I don’t think we’ll face anybody that moves as fast us, but you definitely need to be in shape dealing with the offense we have.” Redshirt Sophomore TE Reid Mikeska On being ready to face another defense “I’m definitely excited to play Maryland just to get a different look because we go against our guys every day. It’s a great competition, but it’s always fun to go hit somebody on a different team.” On his relationship with the offensive line “Working with the o-line, it’s the first time I have ever had to communicate with them like this and make certain calls, so that has been great…blocking with that o-line and getting on the same page with them has definitely been fun. I think the whole room has gotten a lot better at it.” On adjusting to the speed of the offense “Definitely a little adjustment at first, but Coach Kitt’s offense is great and I think it will really hurt the opponents we play more than us.”Freshman EDGE Josh Roberts On his biggest adjustment to college football “I would say the playbook and slowing the game down. When I first got here in the spring, it was upbeat, upbeat, especially with Coach Kittley’s offense. My head was a little scrambled when I first got here. But over the summer, just working, getting in the playbook, extra work at night, it made me slow the game down to where I can go out and play fast now.” On putting in the extra work “That is something I have always done throughout high school. I have always been the hardest worker, that’s what I pride myself on. I know I can do the extra things do get better, so why wouldn’t I go out there and do what I need to do to put myself in the position that I want to be in.” PHOTO GALLERY Gallery: (8-19-2025) Preseason Football Practice #16 CELEBRATING 25 YEARS Click HERE for 25 Years Celebration Content. COMPLETE 2025 SCHEDULE Click HERE. SEASON TICKETS To purchase season tickets, click HERE. GROUPS OF ALL AGES To purchase group tickets, click HERE. TAILGATE INFORMATION Florida Atlantic Alumni & Community Engagement is hosting tailgates for the Maryland, FIU, South Florida, and Navy road games. All home game tailgates will be at the Marleen and Harold Forkas Alumni Center. For more information on these opportunities, email carlsone@fau.edu. FOLLOW THE TEAM Stay informed by reading FAUSports.com or through football’s Twitter and Instagram accounts @FAUFootball. |
