With no rain to be found Wednesday afternoon, Florida Atlantic took to the practice fields its first full padded practice of the fall season.
Putting on the pad’s means one thing - the first chance to go full contact and hit a player for the first in a long period of time.

“The more you hit the more physical you got to be. You got to hit or be hit,” senior linebacker Michael Lockley said walking off the field. “You never where you want to be, you can always get better."

Practiced started off with the old-fashion Oklahoma drill, where players had to tackle a ball carrier and take on a blocker.

“We had a really spirited Oklahoma Drill, and the kid’s really competed", Head Coach Howard Schnellenberger said. "The offense  moved as they should, and they should be able to score most of the time, and they did. The defense really pressed them to get it in, but I thought it was really enthusiastic and kind of an indication  of how committed these guys are to be as good as they can be as quickly as they can."

Once the squad got into team drills, the offense gave the ball away after quarterback Jeff Van Camp took a shot down field and was intercepted by Tarvoris Hill. The offense did find a way to respond, and scored on a screen pass to Willie Floyd, who looked good all day in the full contact environment.

A VanCamp to Jean toss accounted for the other score, and was again off the coverage of Tavious Polo.

“It was a little screen, It was pretty much open, the line protected and did everything the right way, which made it easy for me to turn around and catch the ball,” Floyd said of the play. “Once you get in the open field, then the speed takes over and you just run.”

Hearing that the line and blocking looked good from one of the running backs should be somewhat of a relief, as another offensive lineman was hobbled on crutches today. Senior Ryan Houston was on the sidelines and had a brace on his left ankle.

“The injury bug continues to hit us, we had another player that strained his ankle, and the good thing is that he and (Jimmie) Colley look like they will be ready to play in the game,” Schnellenberger said of the offensive line injuries.


Injury Update:

C Jordan Sessa is indefinite with a knee sprain.

C Jimmie Colley is day to day with a knee strain.

C Ryan Houston suffered a knee strain.

Xavier Stinson was on the field and participating, but not in pads.

Avery Holley was not in pads.


The team is set to have their first three-a-day of the fall camp Thursday and will practice at 8:00-9:15 a.m., 10:30-noon, and again from 4:30-6:00 p.m.

David Hinds and Tony Rodriguez get ready.

Lester Jean and Jeff VanCamp have a chat just before Jean scores one of the offenses scores of the day.

Coach Schnellenberger has a chat with Brentely Harstad about his coverage scheme.

He has had to lay into guys at times, but Coach Van likes what he is seeing from his defense so far this camp.

David Kooi waits for Jeff Blanchard to turn the corner for one of his completions on the afternoon.

The center position took another hit today; Coach said two of the three should be ready come game time.

The team does look much better in last years game pants for the practices! Nice pictures form the practice, thanks for posting them! Lester Jean just seems to have matured and is playing like a man among boys!

Delt did very well his first day flying solo!

FAU said

Hey, I recognize that defense from last year.