Owls' secondary leads way
By Marcus Nelson

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

BOCA RATON ? To no one's surprise, Florida Atlantic's defense dominated the first full-contact scrimmage Saturday.

Part of the reason the Owls' offense managed just four touchdowns in 116 plays is FAU's inexperience on that side of the ball.

However, a contributing factor is FAU's secondary, which has three players starting this spring who will be seniors in the fall.

The Owls' standouts on defense are helping their teammates on the other side of the ball.

"We have a lot of younger guys on offense and they haven't picked up the intensity level yet," cornerback Quincy Skinner said. "We're on defense, but we'll go over and talk to the guys on offense. We'll show them moves and stuff in how to beat us. On Saturdays, we won't be playing against them."

The advantage the defense has could have been even more pronounced, but its best player, cornerback Willie Hughley, is out for the spring with a pelvis fracture.

"The secondary should be way ahead," Owls coach Howard Schnellenberger said. "It's the most experienced group we've got. If we had Willie back there, we'd be just about the same as last year."

Two starters from last year's secondary ?Cameron Rodgers and Jerrell Terry ? have graduated, but their replacements have game experience.

Acevedo,Pindell and Amaya will be the main focus of the DB's. I really like Pindell. He can make plays and is a true FS height. Hughley and Gordon are the returners at CB and Skinner have the game experience.
That group should be OK.

the "under" should be hot pick for this years owls. Last year threw vegas for the biggest loop. We were +22, +7.5 +7.5 and won every game then covered another game all season. I lost the house on the new mexico state game.