8/15/2025 | Football
BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic football completed a Friday tune-up practice prior to the team’s second fall camp scrimmage scheduled for Saturday.
Full team work was the focus for the day as the Owls move towards the season opener scheduled for noon, Saturday, Aug. 30 versus Maryland in College Park.
Following the Owls Saturday morning work, they will take part in the 2025 Duffy’s Fan Fest at Flagler Credit Union Stadium. For complete details of the Saturday evening event click HERE.
VIDEO RECAP
PRACTICE NOTABLES
- The offensive linemen opened a hole for sophomore RB Kaden Shields-Dutton who then slipped past the defense’s second level and sped past the third level for what would have been a long run and score.
- Sophomore CB Cameron Goggins lost his shoe but didn’t lose focus on his receiver to break up a pass.
- The day came to an end with the Owls working on no time left lateral work that ended with junior LB Khmari Johnson collecting the INT to end the drive.
QUOTABLE
Offensive Line Coach Stephen Hamby
On his relationship with Hagerty Family Head Football Coach Zach Kittley
“At a certain point, after 13 years of knowing somebody, you take for granted that you are family, you don’t even really talk about your family. We’re new here and we’re trying to get them to understand that they are now our family. With him, we know exactly what each other is thinking. If he wants to run something new, I’m not going to sit there and have to dissect 30 different variables, whereas if somebody has never worked with him, they would want to do that. He knows what hurts us. He knows what doesn’t hurt us. He’s in tune with what we’re doing on the o-line, so it’s an easy transition for me…That’s more of the quality of life of just knowing who you’re working with and how easy it is to work with them.”
On the run game
“There’s plenty of times where we are going to have to hold on and make sure that this ball is going to take a little bit. The quarterback has so many options. The biggest thing is we have to establish a run game, because otherwise they’ll just drop eight. That’s where we are not really the true Air Raid, there is such a run game infused in it and the different formations that we can do, and that’s where the defensive coordinator has to understand the personnel.”
On the importance of depth and development
“That’s everything. I would say 99% of teams do not make it all the way through with their five [starters]. That’s kind of the stigma in the o-line room. Everybody knows that something happens, somebody gets nicked up. The development piece is the biggest piece because we’re still developing in the first five. This is so new to them that there is something that they’re learning every single day. We haven’t mastered anything in my head, we still have to continue to grow and when we go, we go. There’s no ‘we’re going to take a play, look towards the sideline and slow this thing down,’ we’re going at the pace that we’re going at all times.”
On Scarlee Jean and Braden Cunningham
“With Scarlee, we were able to get an extra year out of him. It was awesome to see him come back. He is honestly a voice of reason on the line. He has played a ton of ball. He understands what I’m saying. The majority of things that I do in the room is more show and tell and then he’s one of the ones where we can play an imaginary game and he can see it in his head. Scarlee has done a phenomenal job, Braden the same too…Braden has been coming along phenomenally. He’s light years ahead of kids his age just from technique standpoint and he has to get stronger too while he’s doing this process, but he has been phenomenal this entire fall camp.”
Graduate OL Scarlee Jean
On the development of Braden Cunningham
“Cunningham is pretty spot on when it comes to all of his calls and what he’s doing. Center is probably the hardest position on the offensive line. We just try to make sure he doesn’t beat himself too much. He knows what he’s doing when he comes on the field. It’s just the little things, stuff like that we always try to pick him up or tell him to do certain things the right way, and he takes it all perfectly fine. He’s really good at picking up stuff from all of the guys on the line.”
On the speed of the offense
“It is a lot of fun…Over here, it’s tempo, tempo, tempo every play. We get a big play, next play is tempo. It definitely was a lot when I first got here to catch up to, but I have gotten accustomed to it now.”
On deciding to return for a sixth year
“It was really Coach Hamby when he talked to me. I was pretty settled after last season, I was coming off an injury and talked to my parents about it. But then Coach Hamby called me three days after Christmas and he said ‘you could do it, you shouldn’t want to end your football career the way it ended last year with an injury.’ It made me realize that I really didn’t want to end it like that. So I really do appreciate Coach Hamby for giving me that wake-up call, because I know if I wasn’t playing football right now, I would have been miserable. I know I would have missed it…I’m blessed to still be able to play football for this sixth year. This means a lot for me, just for me to be able to actually get what I wanted out of football.”
On switching from tackle to guard
“When I first moved to guard, I didn’t really like it that much. I liked the finesse of tackle, I liked the mind games of tackle, but I think I have grown to realize that I’m probably a lot better at guard than I was at tackle, at least at this level…I appreciate Coach Hamby for opening my eyes because I did not want to play guard, but now I love it to death.”
Redshirt Freshman OL Braden Cunningham
On having early success in fall camp
“I give it a lot to the guards that are right next to me and all of the people around me. Alex (Atcavage) and Scarlee (Jean), they’ve helped me a lot, two sixth-year guys. They believe in me, they trust me and that gives me so much confidence. I also give a lot of credit to Fed [former Owl center Federico Maranges]. Fed helped me out so much when he was here, just teaching me the ways and walking me through everything step-by-step. If I had any questions, I could go ask him and he’d answer them as best as he could.”
On adjusting to Kittley’s up-tempo offense
“It’s very exciting. Just seeing how this offense works and how explosive it is, you love playing in offenses like that. Scoring points, it’s a lot of fun. I love the offense.”
On being relatively new at the center position
“My handle on it is good. The spring helped me a lot. With Coach Hamby, we would have sitdown meetings. He would walk me through everything, so now it’s just getting the calls out quick so we can roll and move the ball. I have a good grasp of it, I think.”
On the process of being the center
“I think some of it now is second nature. The snap has to be second nature, you don’t think too much about the snap, you’re worried more about the calls and getting to your spot where you need to be. It took time, for sure.”
PHOTO GALLERY
Gallery: (8-8-2025) Preseason Football Practice #8
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