Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Skip navigation

OwlBytes: 2019 FAU Football Fall Camp - Scrimmage 1

Post



In an attempt to beat the rain, FAU Football announced early in the morning that Saturday's scrimmage had been moved up from 2:00 PM to 12:45 PM. This decision paid off as the team was able to hold a full  session without mother nature interfering.

Owlbytes

  • Defense Holding Their Own Causing turnovers are one of the main points of emphasis in the new Glenn Spencer led defense. Last season, the Owls ranked 113th in FBS with only 14 takeaways. Early in the scrimmage, former Atlantic High School standout S DaVon Brown had an interception in the red zone. Later on, junior CB Diashaun Moss intercepted sophomore QB Nick Tronti. Inside, senior DT Ray Ellis excelled today with two tackles in the backfield.

  • Terrell Owens Attends Scrimmage The father of newcomer WR Terique Owens, and former six-time Pro Bowler, could be seen chatting with players and coaches in warmups and on the sidelines.

  • RB BJ Emmons Tears It Up Today was a breakout camp performance from the former Under Armour High School All American. Emmons made a splash with a 51-yard touchdown run. As previously documented, RB Coach Kevin Smith`s running back room is retooled and loaded. Expect to see a heavy dose of Emmons during the season. “I`m never going to be satisfied. I know I still have a lot to learn. It`s a learning experience”, the humble running back told reporters after the scrimmage. His interview can be seen in entirety below.

  • Quarterback Update It appears as if QB`s Nick Tronti and Chris Robison are separating themselves from the rest of the competition. Robison had the best day. “We all know he is very arm talented; he made some really good throws.” Lane Kiffin said while assessing Robison`s performance. QB Nick Tronti had some good moments this afternoon, including a 22-yard pass to TE John Raine (photo above) and a 27-yard pass to WR Dante Cousart. QB Justin Agner was limited today, as he has been under the weather the past few days. Don`t expect to hear a starter named for a while.

  • QB Numbers Our Shane Marinell's unofficial tally included the following: Chris Robison 6-of-10, for 154 yards and 2 TDs. Nick Tronti 4-of-11, for 57 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs. Reserves Agner, Posey, and Wessel all had drives with mixed results. The trio each bring something different to the table individually, with Posey's running threat looking the most impressive.

  • Play of The Day About halfway through the scrimmage, senior DT Noah Jefferson intercepted a pass from QB Nick Tronti and nearly returned it for a touchdown. The 6-5, 300 lbs Jefferson, who spent time as a USC Trojan before arriving in Boca Raton, has the size and power combination for the next level.


Video Play

RB BJ Emmons speaks to the media following today's scrimmage.



Coach Kiffin's press conference can be viewed here: 2019 FALL CAMP: Scrimmage 1 - Lane Kiffin - FAU Owl's Nest


Scrimmage Retweet

Our team's in scrimmage tweet re-play can be found here: 2019 FALL CAMP: Scrimmage Thread 8-10-19 - FAU Owl's Nest

After a physically demanding day of action in the Florida heat, the Owls will have a day off tomorrow before returning to the Oxley practice fields Monday morning.
Back to the top

Post

OK, SO OTHERS WHO WERE THERE, TELL US WHO WERE NOT WHAT YA SAW, GOOD OR BAD. POST INFO AND YOUR OPINION!!!
Back to the top

Post

GeorgiaOwl said

OK, SO OTHERS WHO WERE THERE, TELL US WHO WERE NOT WHAT YA SAW, GOOD OR BAD. POST INFO AND YOUR OPINION!!!
Posted On: Aug 11th 2019, 3:32 PM #387532

A lot of little details that would take forever for me to right out.

We are recording another podcast soon.
Back to the top

Post

An honest observation?  :Laughing:

I'm not an insider so I'll call it like I see it. As much as I'm optimistic about the receivers, given rave reviews for guys like Mitchell and Merrell, and Cole, there's still some serious problems. And the reason it upsets me is because I really don't think Robison should be blamed for anything last year. The mistakes he made were not freshmen mistakes. The majority of the time the receivers didn't get open. And when they did, they would drop a lot of passes anyways. It's time for a clean slate at wr, and it ain't happening. I love how everyone's raving about Mitchell, but can we really count on him staying healthy when the actual games start? Or Merrell, is he going to be legit when say UCF comes to town? Should we bank on Tavaris Harrison? I'd like to see a lot of new faces there. And the problems with the Center are real. It upsets me when people bring up a player's parents and how supportive they are. Or how the players look up to him. That is not good. You can't have guys looking up to below average players. It's a very bad sign.
Back to the top

Post

GeorgiaOwl said

OK, SO OTHERS WHO WERE THERE, TELL US WHO WERE NOT WHAT YA SAW, GOOD OR BAD. POST INFO AND YOUR OPINION!!!
Posted On: Aug 11th 2019, 3:32 PM #387532

I saw Terrell Owens giving pointers to Harrison Bryant - showing Bryant moves to get off the line of scrimmage and away from his defender.

I mean, let that soak in for a minute…a NFL Hall of Famer and multiple-time Pro Bowl selection was giving our TE with huge NFL potential pointers.

Can you imagine the meltdown on this board if TO gives our players post TD dance pointers?

Also saw quite a few turnovers.  Fumbles, strips, interceptions - typical for the defense to be ahead of the offense at this point.  Seemed to be more sloppy play driven then defensive scheme oriented from my seats.

BJ Emmons had some nice moves yesterday.  Shoulder drops, head fakes, etc.  He's going to be a beast.

Really hoping to see John Mitchell break out this season.  Need someone to become that prototypical X receiver.

As a general observation, the players seemed bigger and more athletic than the FAU players I've seen since 2011.  That could be recruiting by Kiffin and/or conditioning by Love or me just being crazy.

Back to the top

Post

jgf2017 said

An honest observation?  :Laughing:

I'm not an insider so I'll call it like I see it. As much as I'm optimistic about the receivers, given rave reviews for guys like Mitchell and Merrell, and Cole, there's still some serious problems. And the reason it upsets me is because I really don't think Robison should be blamed for anything last year. The mistakes he made were not freshmen mistakes. The majority of the time the receivers didn't get open. And when they did, they would drop a lot of passes anyways. It's time for a clean slate at wr, and it ain't happening. I love how everyone's raving about Mitchell, but can we really count on him staying healthy when the actual games start? Or Merrell, is he going to be legit when say UCF comes to town? Should we bank on Tavaris Harrison? I'd like to see a lot of new faces there. And the problems with the Center are real. It upsets me when people bring up a player's parents and how supportive they are. Or how the players look up to him. That is not good. You can't have guys looking up to below average players. It's a very bad sign.
Posted On: Aug 11th 2019, 7:23 PM #387534

I telling you from what a lot of people tell me who know wayyyyy more than you or I, the starting center is not a concern.  
Trust me on this.

Chris made plenty of "Freshman'' mistakes- he threw the ball away twice on 4th downplays last year for example.

Lane has said repeatedly that he made many mental mistakes last year and Lane is a lot more honest than most coaches.

You have a tendency to see things in absolutes when in everything in football, in reality, it's a combination of 100 things.
Back to the top

Post

jgf2017 said

 And the problems with the Center are real. It upsets me when people bring up a player's parents and how supportive they are.
Posted On: Aug 11th 2019, 7:23 PM #387534
That reminds me, I also shook hands with the centers dad at the scrimmage yesterday.  True story, not picking at you.

I would say there were mostly parents and us diehards there - too hot for anyone else.

Did the AC get working in the pressbox Shane?
Back to the top

Post

Hoot_N_Holler said

jgf2017 said

 And the problems with the Center are real. It upsets me when people bring up a player's parents and how supportive they are.
Posted On: Aug 11th 2019, 7:23 PM #387534
That reminds me, I also shook hands with the centers dad at the scrimmage yesterday.  True story, not picking at you.

I would say there were mostly parents and us diehards there - too hot for anyone else.

Did the AC get working in the pressbox Shane?
Posted On: Aug 11th 2019, 8:03 PM #387537

No lol
Back to the top

Post

Ok fair enough. I was wrong most likely Robison did make some mistakes. What I’m trying to say is that if he had good receivers he could have thrown for 4,000 yards last year, mistakes included. That’s coming from someone who still thinks Tronti might be better. It just really upsets me when qb’s get blamed when they shouldn’t. It’s happened a lot to my favorite qb’s growing up. 
What I also want to say is that it’s not really a secret what our problems are. It’s not really complicated. I’ll say this. If I thought we had awesome receivers the Center wouldn’t matter. For all I know these receivers getting rave reviews will be awesome. Besides the positions I brought up, I actually think all the other positions are loaded with talent. We have Noah Jefferson who I heard had an int almost returned for a touchdown. In my opinion the player we missed the most last year and who cost us games by not having him was Taleni. Until Jefferson played late in the season we didn’t have a replacement 
Back to the top

Post

jgf2017 said

Ok fair enough. I was wrong most likely Robison did make some mistakes. What I’m trying to say is that if he had good receivers he could have thrown for 4,000 yards last year, mistakes included. That’s coming from someone who still thinks Tronti might be better. It just really upsets me when qb’s get blamed when they shouldn’t. It’s happened a lot to my favorite qb’s growing up. 
What I also want to say is that it’s not really a secret what our problems are. It’s not really complicated. I’ll say this. If I thought we had awesome receivers the Center wouldn’t matter. For all I know these receivers getting rave reviews will be awesome. Besides the positions I brought up, I actually think all the other positions are loaded with talent. We have Noah Jefferson who I heard had an int almost returned for a touchdown. In my opinion the player we missed the most last year and who cost us games by not having him was Taleni. Until Jefferson played late in the season we didn’t have a replacement 
Posted On: Aug 11th 2019, 8:20 PM #387539
Jefferson is currently on the 2nd unit if a deep dline we have.

Lane said something along the lines yesterday that there are days Jefferson frustrates the coaches and days he looks like he came from USC.
Back to the top
Control functions: