Practice Notes & Observations for 08/15/13

FAU ranked 114th in the country last season in red zone conversions, making them one of the worst teams in the final third of the field. The Owl's failed to score near the goal line, and often left empty handed.

Offensive coordinator Brian Wright is hoping to turn those numbers around this season, and has been focusing on different scenarios in practice. Thursday morning, the team spent a block of periods working from the opponent's 25-yard and followed that up with a two-minute drill.

"We have been doing a lot of third downs, red zone and two-minute drills the past few days. We're just trying to put as much pressure as we can on the offense with different blitzes and schemes," Wright said.

With Melvin German and Jaquez Johnson under center, the offense looked crisp while working against the clock. German was able to gain yardage on a designed scramble and followed the play up with a zip to Jenson Stoshak for a touchdown.

Wright was pleased with the efforts from his offense, but is also hoping to practice another situation in the coming weeks. Last season FAU struggled to maintain a lead late in games, and Wright wants to change that with his "four-minute" drill – which stems from moving the ball in-between the tackles.

"It's a scenario that we didn't do very well last year on offense, so we need to run that," Wright said.

The Owls are set to practice Friday morning before scrimmaging on Saturday.


He said it: "I'm looking for us to play physical, smart, offensive football and to take care of the football. I want to see us be a tough offense." - Wright on what he is looking for in Saturday's scrimmage.


Practice Observations:

- The defense revealed a dime package during the team session, which featured three safeties in Damian Parms, Jeremy McKnight and Winfred Strickland. Linebacker Andre Kirk was in the middle of the defense, along with end Martin Wright, who rushed off the edge.

- Wide receiver William Dukes (pictured above) has been working heavily on his blocking. Jermey Glinton and Lucky Whitehead also lined up with the first team offense and complimented Dukes and Daniel McKinney.

- Tight end Darion Howard, flashed his potential in the receiving game late in practice. Howard caught two balls from German that went for first downs and was able to get out-of-bounds to stop the clock.

- Freshman safety Tyler Henderson continued the trend of freshman working with the two-deep as he saw reps with the second team.

- Defensive end Cory Henry returned from injury and was a full-go in practice. Linebacker Randell Johnson was not dressed for the third consecutive day.