| 8/16/2024 | Football BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic football team used their week’s final practice to simulate as many special teams/last-second plays as possible. It was an up-tempo practice that worked the mental ability side of practice as it did the physical. Players continue to work up and down the depth chart knowing that Saturday will be their second and final preseason scrimmage. VIDEO RECAP QUOTABLE Offensive Coordinator/QB Coach Charlie Frye On how the offense is progressing through fall camp “I’m excited for the guys. Two weeks in, they have been working really hard. You can tell this is a group that has come together and one that cares about one another. From my experience, that has been the most successful offenses I have been a part of: the comradery, the maturity in the room, the leadership, holding guys accountable, all of those things that create that culture are showing up.” On how the quarterback room is coming together “Quarterback rooms have always been special because one guy is out there at a time, so it’s the support from the room. It’s the conversations in the room of how did they see this play, talking through to finding answers so they feel like they all have the answers. They’re taking notes and learning from each other. When guys do that, that creates a bond. Creating bonds is when you face adversity, when things are hard, you go through things like that together, that creates the bond. There’s no harder position to play than what these guys are asked to do in all sports. The respect they have for each other and the room and culture that they have created is very impressive to me.” On what he’s looking for from the quarterbacks in Saturday’s scrimmage “I’d like to see an increase of the tempo at which they’re playing, getting up to the line, the command of communicating to their offensive line, their running backs, their tight ends, making guys sure that they’re in the same spot. That’s the most important thing, and then what happens after the snap, we can talk about that in the meeting. And then the post-snap; whatever happened, flush that and then how do you go out and start the next drive.” On depth in the receiver room “When you look at the target and catch ratio across the board in that room, it’s near even. The guys are doing a good job of spreading the ball, going through their progressions, and letting the defense dictate where the ball is going instead of just forcing the ball to one guy. The depth in that room is really good, and that’s a tight-knit group too. That unit is doing things together, so when one guy gets tired, the next guy is up. That can help because if [the defense] is not subbing their corner, you have fresh legs out there.” Redshirt Junior QB Cam Fancher On the offense’s progression through fall camp “The biggest thing is just playing more confident. Guys are not thinking as much, just being able to play fast and just really react to what they’re seeing. I think that just came with the time and the reps of seeing what to do, the coaches telling us how to do it, and correcting it if we make mistakes, because we aren’t perfect, and that’s what the practice and the fall camp and the spring and what all of this is for: to make ourselves better and improve for the ultimate goal of what’s coming up in the season.” On the drive to win in the locker room “All of the guys in the locker room are trying to win and are trying to take the direction towards winning. Just having the conversations outside the field of what they have seen on the field and how we can improve to be better, I feel like all of the guys in the room are trying to head towards that goal.” On how the defense challenges him “Having the great defense that we have only makes the offense better every day. When you’re going against good competition every day, it’s just going to elevate your game and make you have to go even harder. Definitely having a great D-line pushing our O-line, a great linebacker crew pushing our running backs, and our O-line, and our secondary pushing our skill guys on the perimeter; when the ball’s in the air, they have to be on their A-game. Having a complete defensive group definitely pushes the offense to be better.” On getting a new offense to work together “Outside looking in, you would think it would be very difficult, but the guys that [Hagerty Family Head Football Coach Tom Herman] and the guys that the recruiting staff has brought in, they did a good job of bringing guys in that had the right mindset of trying to go forward and trying to win and taking it in the right direction. Nothing but props to them for bringing in the right guys into this building and locker room. They’re just trying to win and do whatever they can to win.” On staying on task during the grind of camp “We just have to be where our feet are. Right now, it’s coming to the end of camp, but we’re still in camp, so we have to take it one day at a time. We just finished our last Friday practice and are going into our last scrimmage Saturday heading into the game-week type practice. Just being where your feet are, not looking ahead, not looking behind, and just trying to improve every day, trying to go 1-0 every day, that’s the mindset.” On what he’s looking for out of the scrimmage “Taking it one play at a time. Each play is its own life, and I am just doing my job and executing the play to the best of my ability and knowing my job is to make the play successful at the end of the day.” Redshirt Junior QB Tyriq Starks On how the offense is coming along “We have made impressive strides throughout the off-season and then in fall camp. All of the guys really look to get better and stack days on top of days, so they always come in looking to learn something new and looking to correct a former mistake they made in practice previously. As long as we keep doing that, we’ll be in a good spot come season time.” On always looking to improve “I’m still not comfortable in the position that I’m in. I’m still looking to get better and I still look to be better than yesterday.” On where he feels he has improved the most in the fall “Getting us into the right situation. Sometimes the defense can throw curveballs at us and it might look funky, but I worked hard to put us in the right situation to get the most productivity out of the play.” On how he looks to improve “If I make a mistake in practice, I sit on it for a while, and once practice is over, I immediately go to the film room and just try to figure out what it was that I missed and what key reads I could look at to let me know that this look might be coming so I can get us in a better situation. I definitely sit on it, go after practice, and correct it.” Redshirt Freshman QB Kasen Weisman On his experience at Florida Atlantic “This is a way different playbook than what I’m used to. It’s going really well. I’m about 14 days in, so it’s going a lot better than I thought it would go so far.” On when he felt comfortable in the offense “Probably a little before the scrimmage last week. This is only my 14th day in the system, so this has been a huge change for me. Probably last week, it hit me, and it started to make sense.” Junior DB Daedae Hill On what is clicking for him this fall “I’m going to always come in and compete every day. I just see the culture and what they want as a whole team and as an individual player myself, too. I just try to come every day and give the coaches what they want, every little detail. I just try to be better every day.” On embracing the one-on-one challenge “I know it’s a challenge out there on the island and I know I have the mindset to go out there and compete every day. Whether I get caught on or scored on, it’s next play, next rep, 1-0. I’m just a competitor and ready to compete with anybody who lines up in front of me.” On proving to the coaches what he’s capable of “The coaches knew what I was capable of when I first got here, but they just wanted to get every little thing out of me. I just try to come and give them what we want every single day. I just try come out and attack everything, be intentional, and just make the plays that come to me and do my job.” On being named to the College Football Freaks List and his commitment to the weight room “I’m not too big of a corner, so I have to be physical, show that I can come and make these tackling plays and be a complete corner. I just attack the weight room and go hard. Even on my off days, I’ll go get some work in. I’ll go to the rec center and get some extra work in.” On playmaking “You can’t try to go out there and be a superhero and go make the plays and just look at the QB and freeball out there. You have to read the keys and do your job every single play. If you don’t read one little key in one little spot, something major can happen, and it can be a disaster. Every play, you just have to lock in, read your keys, and do what you have to do every play and the ball will find you.” On how the defensive front seven helps the secondary “Everybody is a unit. We’re working together. We have to hug a D-lineman because they’re the ones who cause that pressure for us to confuse the QB. Once everybody is working together, it’s just going to click. Everybody out there is doing their job. You can’t be one individual doing one certain thing. You have to go out there and work as a team and we’re going to get things done. We have some playmakers. If everyone does their job every play, we’re going to dominate for sure because we have some really good players.” HIGHLIGHTS The Owls touched on nearly every conceivable situation the special teams units could faceThose not participating, like quarterbacks and lineman, worked on their individual skills and techniques COMPLETE SCHEDULE Click HERE. TOUCHDOWN IN THE TROPICS Get ready for a night of tropical elegance at “Touchdown in the Tropics” to support the upcoming Florida Atlantic University football season and its student-athletes. Join us at the Schmidt Family Complex on FAU’s campus on August 22, 2024, from 6-9 p.m. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Indulge in amazing food, enjoy live music, and hear from Hagerty Family Head Football Coach Tom Herman. This tropical casual affair promises a fun and unforgettable evening as we kick off the season in paradise with your hometown team. All proceeds from this event directly benefit our FAU football student-athletes. For more information, click HERE. For questions, please contact Griffin Kinney at griffin@thelinku.com or call 740-816-7353. ON SOCIAL Learning from the best@criscarter80 @john7_g #TriCountyTakeover#WinningInParadise pic.twitter.com/sCLTWMmrtg– Florida Atlantic Football (@FAUFootball) August 14, 2024 MILITARY APPRECIATION DAY Florida Atlantic’s football home opener is set for Saturday, Sept. 7, at FAU Stadium versus Army West Point. The Owls will celebrate Military Appreciation Day as the Black Knights come to Boca Raton. For more information, click HERE. SEASON TICKETS 2024 season tickets are available for as low as $75. To purchase season tickets, click HERE. Recent alumni and Florida Atlantic faculty/staff can access discounted season tickets as low as $50. To learn more, submit your info HERE or visit HERE to make a purchase today. VIP group experiences with discounted tickets are available now, including pre- and post-game field access, halftime team tunnels, fundraising opportunities, and more. If you have a group of 15 or more who are interested, sign up HERE. FAU Alumni and Community Engagement will host two away events. The first is October 19th, when the Owls travel to San Antonio to face host UTSA. The second will be before the November 16th game versus Temple in Philadelphia. For more information, email alumni.affairs@fau.edu. INSIDE THE OWLS BURROW Inside the Owls Burrow enters its ninth season. The show will re-air on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. The show originates on Bally Sports Florida but can also be viewed on fausports.com and YouTube. Host, producer, and longtime South Florida broadcaster Frank Forte will again provide Florida Atlantic fans with an in-depth look at Owl Football. Following the conclusion of the 2024 football season, Forte will delve into all things FAU Athletics. Forte will sit down one-on-one with Hagerty Family Head Football Coach Tom Herman each week this fall. Additionally, this week Forte will profile FAU quarterback Cam Fancher. He will also look at the newest Owl freshmen getting outfitted and moving into their dorms, including parents as they send their sons on to the next chapter of their lives. Forte will look back at the top summer conditioning performers in the Owls’ preparation for the 2024 season opener. BROADCAST Television outlets are listed on the schedule page. Wire-to-wire radio coverage will air on Fox Sports South Florida 640 AM. Ken LaVicka and FAU alum Chris Newbold will have the call, while Mike Mreczko will host the pre and post-game with added on-field coverage by FAU and long-time South Florida television personality Frank Forte. To listen live, click HERE. FOLLOW THE TEAM Stay informed by reading FAUSports.com or through football’s Twitter and Instagram accounts @FAUFootball. |
