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BOCA RATON – The most important decision of this year’s FAU fall camp – the selection of the starting quarterback – won’t be made by first-year offensive coordinator Charlie Weis.
That decision will come from the top: coach Lane Kiffin.
“It’s a tough thing that you have to do, but whatever’s best for the team is the thing that we’re going to have to go with, and that’s coach Kiffin’s decision – and whatever it is, I’ll, we’ll support it 100 percent and go with it,” Weis said.
With two weeks to go before FAU opens its season at Oklahoma, Chris Robison, Rafe Peavey and De’Andre Johnson are locked in a three-way battle to be the Owls’ signal caller.
Speaking to the media for the first time since the now 25-year-old became the youngest offensive coordinator in FBS history, Weis said the three didn’t create much separation during Saturday’s scrimmage, which was closed to the media.
His remarks came at FAU’s annual media day and echoed Kiffin’s statements from earlier in the day.
“Really, all three guys did some decent things,” Kiffin said of the quarterbacks’ Saturday performance.
The three quarterbacks received an even amount of snaps with the first team on Saturday. Robison had the first shot with the first team offense, followed by Peavey, then Johnson. Kiffin said the order was determined randomly.
Nearly all of the touchdowns on Saturday came on the ground. Chris Tooley intercepted Johnson in the end zone late in the scrimmage in a situational scenario where the offense needed to score.
Dating back to spring, Kiffin has constantly noted that he’s looking for a quarterback who takes care of the football.
“That would have been very costly,” Kiffin said.
With classes beginning for most players on Monday the all-football-all-day schedule that comprises fall camp is now over. FAU, however, won’t turn its attention completely to season-opening opponent Oklahoma immediately. The Owls will use Monday and Tuesday more as extended camp days, even having the defense get a jump start on preparation for Air Force’s option attack, which FAU will be tasked with stopping when the teams meet on the second Saturday of the season.
Florida Atlantic will begin Oklahoma game prep on Wednesday, but there’s no guarantee that Kiffin will select a starting quarterback by then.
“We would like to have a quarterback answer a long time ago,” Kiffin said.
Kiffin is no stranger to quarterback battles, pointing out that this is his sixth consecutive fall camp without a returning starter, dating back to his time as head coach at USC.
“We’ve had a lot of practice at it,” Kiffin said. “You’d like to have it answered early. It hasn’t answered itself. And you don’t want to be wrong because we’ve been wrong before, too.”
Last season was one of those times where Kiffin and company got it wrong. He and then-offensive coordinator Kendal Briles chose Daniel Parr as the Owls’ opening game starter in 2017. They switched to Jason Driskel for the fourth game of the season, and after losing that game to Buffalo, Driskel led FAU to 10 consecutive victories, its first Conference USA title and the Boca Bowl crown.
Parr transferred to Duquesne during the offseason. Driskel elected to forego his final year of eligibility and enter the work force.
Even with a new offensive coordinator and an unsettled quarterback position, Kiffin still believes the offense is ahead of where it was at this point last season.
“We have a better sense of what we’re doing and I think a lot better direction offensively of guys knowing what we’re doing because it’s Year Two,” Kiffin said.
He also took a moment to note how much better off the program as a whole is now than it was a year ago during his first media day as FAU head coach, using the amount of media in attendance on Sunday as a measuring stick.
“A year ago you weren’t here, Sports Illustrated wasn’t here,” Kiffin said in response to a question from a local newspaper columnist. “Now we have eight people here. We only had, like, four here last year. We’ve come a long ways. Hopefully our attendance will reflect that.”
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