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BOCA RATON – If Devin Singletary does play in Saturday’s FAU spring game, he won’t have to worry about making tacklers miss.
They won’t be allowed to tackle him in the first place.
Coach Lane Kiffin said on Tuesday that he will continue its practice of holding Singletary out of the tackling portion of the scrimmage.
Singletary, who led the nation with 32 rushing touchdowns last season on his way to earning Conference USA MVP honors, once again didn’t participate in contact drills on Tuesday.
He’s been dealing with a hamstring injury incurred during the Owls’ scrimmage at Fort Lauderdale’s Carter Park two Saturdays ago. Ironically, FAU held Singletary out of the tackling portion of that scrimmage, too, in an effort to prevent injury. The injury happened when Singletary was pushed out of bounds following a long run.
Singletary hasn’t participated in contact drills since and was held out of Saturday’s scrimmage at Hadley Park.
Kiffin said Singletary isn’t necessarily shelved for the remainder of spring practice, which concludes with the spring game. The coach will continue to lean on the advice of the training staff.
“Just like we would always, once he’s cleared, he’s cleared,” Kiffin said. “If he’s cleared, we’ll do some stuff with him, but we’re obviously, as you’ve seen, we don’t put him in when we’re live [tackling] anyway.”
FAU has one more practice before the spring game. The Owls will practice without pads on Thursday.
“That takes a little bit of the hitting off before the game,” Kiffin said.
Kiffin said the Owls have already installed almost everything they planned to this spring.
The Owls might add some trick plays in the coming days, but nothing major.
During the final practice and the spring game Kiffin and his staff are interested to see how the Owls execute what they’ve learned this spring.
“For the most part we want to see how they perform – not how they learn, how they perform once they already know the stuff,” Kiffin said.
SpringFling: Tuesday’s Practice Report
Making Plays: Tackle Robert Hawkins caught a pass that was deflected at the line of scrimmage by Ernest Bagner. …When wide receiver De’Andre McNeal is on his game, he’s hard to stop. During one of his best practices of the spring, McNeal caught a long touchdown from Chris Robison, getting behind two FAU defenders. He also snatched a touchdown pass away from linebacker Hosea Barnwell during seven-on-seven drills. …Slot receiver Ladante Harris enjoyed one of his better practices, wrestling the ball away from Korel Smith for a TD in seven-on-sevens. …Defensive end David Belvin forced a Silver Saunders fumble during the team run portion of practice. …Zyon Gilbert intercepted a Robison pass that sailed through the hands of John Raine during the seven-on-seven drill. …Andrew Soroh sacked Chris Robison on a play where the reserve linebacker raced into the backfield so quickly that he nearly took the snap. …Quran Hafiz took the ball away from McNeal for an interception during the full team scrimmage portion. …Standing on the sideline in street clothes, former FAU linebacker Cerge Sincere intercepted a pass that was batted away in the end zone.
Tracking the Depth Chart: With Jovon Durante absent, John Mitchell ran with the first team wide receivers, along with Willie Wright and De’Andre McNeal. Having Mitchell and McNeal on the field simultaneously gives FAU quarterbacks two big targets who can us their size to fend off defensive backs and take the ball away from them on jump balls.
QB Battle: De’Andre Johnson struggled with the wind on a gusty morning. Several of Johnson’s deep balls hung in the air, making for severe underthrows and easy pass breakups. Robison’s passes cut through the wind better, but he did try to force one pass without accounting for safety Zyon Gilbert, who dropped an easy interception.
Instant Message: “I just think that you’ve got to let them have fun and do things that are a little bit different, otherwise you get stale practices.” – Kiffin on why he let wide receiver Willie Wright play some quarterback on Tuesday
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