Florida Atlantic football got off to an early start Saturday afternoon, kicking off practice at high noon and working out for two and a half hours in the midday heat.

“Twelve a’ clock on a Saturday afternoon is a pretty hot time of the day,” Head Coach Howard Schnellenberger said after practice. “But, it was a hot and that’s good because it got us up a good sweat.”

With the Owls first game of the season less than a week away, preparations for UAB were in full swing today. Coaches went over plays and schemes from Friday’s scrimmage, and spent most of the time working in 11-on-11 drills against scout team units.

“This was our first day out there, and everybody was new,” Schnellenberger said of the scout team and its look. “It’s difficult to replicate fifth-year seniors running their own offense up there in Birmingham.”

The Owl’s defense got a lot of plays in practice against the scout team offense, which was led by freshman quarterback Stephen Curtis. The athletic quarterback did the best he could to imitate a speedy UAB spread attack, which features a lot of quarterback runs and option plays.

Offensively, running backs coach David Serna was working on getting the ball to the slew of ball carriers that have formulated in the FAU backfield. Alfred Morris, Willie Floyd, Jeff Blanchard, Xavier Stinson, David Muniz and Tony Moore all got carries with the first and second team offense, and showed how much depth the team has at running back and fullback positions.

With Morris already named a preseason candidate for the Doak Walker Award, it appears that he won’t be the only player running the ball for the FAU offense.

“We’ve always tried to get as many guys as many carries as we can to keep them fresh, and that’s why it has always been so hard to get guys over 1,000 yards in this offense,” Serna said of the running back situation.

When asked if anyone was moving up the depth chart, Serna spoke highly of true freshman fullback Tony Moore. “Tony Moore, the freshman, has really looked good, he’s still learning what to do but he has proved that he can be a capable backup in some situations.”

All of this should be good news for FAU fans, as the depth at running back will be a lot more different than last years.

“The years like this are the exception, last year was the rule. Usually we’ve gone into a season with at the max four guys that can play and we can win with. Last year was typical, but this year is a little bit like 07’, where we had a bunch of kids and we were able to stay healthy,” Serna said.

Quick Hits

“I’ve been to Birmingham, Alabama at one o’clock, four o’clock and at seven o’clock and during all the games we played there when I was a youngster, it was very hot.”

- Schnellenberger speaking of the afternoon’s heat and the effect it will have on the first game.

“Were going to play it by ear, we still would like to redshirt him, but if we can’t, we have no problem taking it off him because we know he can contribute.”

- Serna on the chance Moore will see some time in the season opener.

“He has been here for long time training, almost like an astronaut, now he gets his first voyage.”

- Schnellenberger on Muniz and the upcoming season.

LB Michael Lockley who sat out part of yesterday and today is out with a "nick" according to Schnellenberger. WR DeAndre Richardson, who had his shin iced down, has a “real nick.”

FAU will continue its prep work for UAB with practice Sunday at 3 p.m.

Photos from today