Preparing for Air Force

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic University’s football team continues to adjust for every situation and have become very good at reading the situation and making a change. This year alone, the Owls have prepared for an SEC opponent, an FCS opponent, an option opponent, and now a triple option opponent.

How do you learn to adjust? You practice like every other thing in life, and the South Florida weather plays a big part of getting use to change. On Tuesday, as players were scurrying from meetings to dress for practice, the nearly black skies opened with a downpour of rain. The thunder and lightning were so close it shifted the players into another gear as they sought shelter. Once the threat of lightning was then gone, the rain continued, forcing FAU to move practice to the turf fields a quarter mile away from the football facility, where it was completed in its entirety.

On Wednesday, the morning began with clear skies and a scripted practice. The Owls moved through their drills, with dark clouds in the distance, 86-degree weather and 74% humidity.

Change will be called for once again when FAU travels to USAF Academy, Colorado to face Air Force at 8 p.m. on Saturday. There, the Owls will hope to take advantage of no humidity and air temperatures in the low 70’s. This week’s game will air on Fox Sports 2, in the second meeting between the two schools. The first was a 33-27 FAU win in Boca Raton in 2018.
COORDINATOR’S CORNER

Defensive Coordinator and safeties coach Mike Stoops:
On last game’s victory and looking forward to this week:
“I thought overall we played a much cleaner game defensively on all levels of our defense. I thought our defensive line was more disruptive [and] I thought our linebackers and secondary really covered well and played the run well. I thought it was our most complete game as a defense and we showed some improvement throughout the first three weeks. Going to Air Force this week will be another big challenge in a little different way. Defending the run in a triple option is always a tough assignment. These guys can play a lot of different styles when you have good athletes. You [FAU] have smart guys in the secondary that gives us a great opportunity to defend a lot of multiple offenses and I think in this era of football, you have to be able to do that and have that versatility. We’re going to have to switch gears a little bit in defending the triple option, which takes great discipline across the board. Not just in the secondary, but across the front, the linebackers, everybody doing their job, everybody understanding their technique. They have to play the ball inside-out, from the dive to the quarterback to the pitch, and those are always tough assignments when you play a team that’s as disciplined and has done this as long as Air Force has done it. Again, it’s a great opportunity for us to show the versatility in our defense.”

On the Air Force offense compared to Georgia Southern:
“There are option similarities, but how they go about it is much different. These guys [Air Force] always have a fullback in a 3-spot position. Georgia Southern created a lot of different ways. It’s kind of a zone/read-option type of deal. This is more of a veer downhill option game with the fullback being a big part of what they do on every down. You have to be really conscious of the fullback and play the ball inside-out and they’re good enough to get the ball to the perimeter and they’ve thrown the ball more this year than they have some years prior. When you play these guys, there’s no hiding. We’re going to have to tackle extremely well. Our perimeter guys, our corners, are gonna have to be violent in tackling and holding containment of the ball and keeping the ball leveraged outside-in so we can get to it. It’s going to be a challenge in every level of our defense. We’re just gonna have to play well and use our athleticism to help us.”

Offensive Coordinator and QB coach Michael Johnson:
On taking advantages of opportunities for the offense:
“We had five to seven opportunities for big plays in that game and we didn’t make them … and those are going to be crucial going forward. I thought the execution of those plays were good, but we didn’t make the throw or the catch for whatever reason. That’s where we just got to keep working on the fine details of those plays and then when you have those opportunities in big games, you’re gonna have to make those plays.”

On the play action pass:
“It all starts with how well we run the ball. That’s where we focus our attention is making sure that we can run the ball effectively, because if we can’t, those play action passes aren’t going to be open. That’s what we focus on. We want to run the ball first and then we want to have a good play action off of those runs to get big opportunities down the field. We feel good about our skill athletes and we know that we are going to have an advantage in some games with how well they run. We just have to make sure that we can run the ball effectively so we can set all of that up.”

On the importance of starting fast against Air Force:
“It is (important) because you’re not going to have as many opportunities. You have to maximize your opportunities on each possession because they do control the ball a lot. We thought we were going to have the same situation against Georgia Southern and we had 32 minutes of possession in that game, but it all starts with us executing on first down, putting ourselves in manageable third down situations and then we have to complete drives. Even against [University of] Florida, we started and moved the ball down the field and then we had a self-inflicted wound, one or two, and then it kind of shortened our drive, but we have to continue that execution throughout that drive and make sure we put points on the board early.”

On Kelvin Dean’s breakout game:
“First of all, I’ll start with our running back room. I’m excited about our running back room as a group. We have four or five guys that we can put into the game at any time and execute. Kelvin Dean, he got into the game last week and he played well. He’s a talented young guy, he’s got a lot of ability and his opportunity came up last week and he made the most of it. When you do those types of things then you get more opportunities going forward. I’m excited about the room and the group as a whole because I feel like we have talented backs that can go in at any time and get the job done for us.”
PLAYERS’ VIEW

Freshman Defensive Lineman Jaden Wheeler
On becoming a starter in his freshman season:
“Just taking coaching and asking a lot of vet[eran] players things to learn more about the game of football at the college level because obviously it’s a lot faster. You get a lot of different schemes, [so I’m] just really tapping into my playbook and asking questions, taking notes. It really helped me out a lot, breaking into the starting lineup and then, of course, producing because you’ve got to produce to be in the starting lineup. In the beginning of fall camp, it was a little rough because it was a new experience. My body’s being pushed to that point, but I feel like it definitely made me stronger. That’s probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done from a football standpoint, so I just pushed through and prevailed.”

On his teammates helping him get through fall camp:
“Evan (Anderson) definitely pushed me through the day. Jalen Joyner, he’s somebody that I had looked up to before I got here, because I grayshirted, so I used to just watch him on film and then he took me under his wing, I’m his little brother, that’s my big brother. On the D-line, we all have a big brother and a little brother, so he just took me under his wing, and I listened to what he had to say and took advantage of it.”

On facing a triple option offense like Air Force:
“The D-line always starts and finishes the play. So we just need to get a surge and stop the dive, stop the run. The front seven is gonna be the key to the game. We stop the dive, they’re gonna have to do something else.”

Redshirt Freshman Running Back Kelvin Dean:
On his breakout performance against Fordham:
“All week I’ve been talking to Coach (Taggart) and he said: ‘just have a good week for me this week, you’re gonna get an opportunity.’ Earlier in the game, I got in and I missed a read and I was down on it, and he came up to me and said: ‘keep your head up’ and I said ‘okay.’ Later on, he said ‘the fourth quarter’s yours’ and I said: ‘let’s make it happen.’ I have to make the best of my opportunity, finally got down there and scored for the first time in my career. It felt good and seeing my parents smile and be happy warmed my heart.”

On scoring his first college touchdown:
“I dreamed about it, but in my high school I scored a lot of long touchdowns. Maybe my next one can be like that, and I can really get hyped with my teammates and my crowd. I was kind of tired and it was a long drive, but I was definitely happy and when I got to the sideline my teammates cheered me on.”

On the running back room:
“What people don’t know is that me and Larry [McCammon III] are super tight. Seeing him go out there and make a play, I gotta match his energy. Johnny [Ford], he’s the new guy, so when I see him make a play, I go ‘okay, he just got here, let’s match his energy too’ so it’s a competition thing, but at the same time we’re all brothers, so we’ve got love for each other. Malcolm [Davidson], he makes it happen. He gets out there, he turns the switch on, and he just makes it go. When I see those guys get out there it excites me, so when I get in (I) gotta keep it going.”

On running backs coach Chris Perkins:
“Coach Perk is smart. He opened up my eyes to the game. I can see it from a quarterback’s standpoint. Even before the play I can look and say ‘this hole right here is going to be open’ because he explains the defense to us. We’re reading safeties and cornerbacks and linebackers and [defensive] ends before the play even starts. He puts that confidence in you before you get the ball, and when you get the ball, you do what you do. He lets us open up our game and play how we play. Everybody’s comfortable in our roles.”
SPEEDSTERS