BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic University’s football team returned to the practice fields on Tuesday morning for a physical practice that worked in length on red zone and a four-minute drill.
With the spring holiday weekend upon the Owls, FAU is scheduled to scrimmage on Thursday and will practice primarily individual work on Friday night. The team will then have Saturday and Sunday to spend with family.
QUOTABLE
Wide Receivers’ Coach David Beaty
On Spring Practice Thus Far
“It is good to be here, first of all. What a wonderful place it is. It is absolutely paradise every day. Working here is kind of like a dream. I didn’t know it was this pretty. I have flown in and out of here. I was very pleased when I got here to see the type of talent that we see in the receiver room. We definitely have guys that can play at a high level. We have a lot of different types of talent too, which I think is going to be helpful for us. I think those guys are hungry. I think that they want to do the right things. They are trying hard to listen, learn and apply the things that coach is trying to instill in them that can make them great. There are several of them that are trying to emerge right now. They are all new to me, so it is like I told them ‘It is what I see, not what I hear. People can tell me how you are as a player, but the great thing is, all of them have a clean slate. A lot of times, guys will rise to the top that didn’t rise to the top before as a result of that.’ I’m super excited to work with the group.”
On having a group that has experience
“I think the thing that I always say is there is one thing that we can’t give them and that is experience. They have to go get it. You only get that by earning the right to get on the field. We have several guys that have played significant minutes and played in a real Division I football games. That is definitely a bonus because you have to go get that, we can’t give it to them, you can’t talk to them about it. I was talking to Drew Tate, who was here today. A great college football player. He is working in the CFL, and I just came from the USFL. Several of our guys, [OC/QB Coach] Charlie Frye was in the NFL, just getting our guys to understand what it takes to make it at that level. You can’t do that when you are done with college. You have to prepare now, to be able to play at that level. If we can get them ready to play on Sunday, then I think we can have them ready to play on Saturday. We are trying to work one level up when it comes to preparing their mind and being a pro, so to speak, and taking care of their body, their mind, and everything that goes along with the soul which goes with our culture. I’m really fired up about the guys because they are drinking it in and I think they are excited about where we are headed.”
How much emphasis do you put on blocking?
“Long runs and touchdown runs are born from scoring blocks from wide receivers. They do not happen without that. It is kind of the dirty work and we take a lot of pride in doing the dirty work. We do not keep up with receptions in our room. We will let the world keep up with those tallies, that is what we are supposed to do. We keep up with our body billboard. Every week, we are going to measure the amount of body blows we put on guys. We are going to measure the amount of knockdowns that we have and we talk about bringing those guys into our stream. We liken it to a heavy weight fight, when you are putting body blows on a guy in the first, second and third rounds, it doesn’t look like it is being very effective, but when we are there every play and that defensive back is trying to fit, we are trying to steal his focus in the 12th round so that we can knock him out. We want him to not be thinking about his gap, but to be thinking about us because we are going to be there every play. Not everybody plays like that, but that is the style that we are going to play with. Like I said, we put a lot of emphasis on run after the catch, which is something that you do after the thing that we know you are going to do, catch the ball, being tough guys, staying in bounds and getting extra yards, and then the big thing is knockdowns and body blows, how much are we putting hands on the defensive backs and how much are we stealing their focus.”
How important is using spring practice to instill the culture that you guys want them to be done?
“It is everything. It is creating that consistency in our program of what is expected and continue to not let that standard to drop on our end as coaches and on their end as players. That is the challenge for us. To challenge them and to continue to raise the standard every day and make sure they meet that standard because that standard is what brings championships to this place. Our basketball team is living proof of that. The standard, you could see it in the way that they played game in and game out. If you have ever followed Coach [Tom] Herman’s teams, the standard is there. It is a consistent looking team. I lined up against them many, many, years. I have coached with Tom. I have coached against him and man it is a tough standard to try to meet because they raise that bar so high and their guys meet it. You will get what you expect. You get what you coach and Tom does such a good job with that. One of the greatest offensive minds in the game, but I don’t think people understand what a great culture guy, this guys is because he understands without that the rest of that stuff doesn’t matter. It is just plays. It has to do with how you do it not what you do.”
SPRING GAME
The “Spring Game” is scheduled for Saturday, April 15 at 12 p.m. at FAU stadium.
THE 2023 SCHEDULE
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Note: Broadcast outlets and kick-off times will be announced later this Spring. All games can be heard on Fox Sports 640 AM South Florida.
TICKETS
Fans can purchase tickets for the 2023 season, the first in the American Conference, by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS or by going online HERE. For more ticket information click HERE.
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