Boca Raton– The Florida Atlantic University football team began fall camp Thursday morning under the sweltering sun of south Florida’s typical August heat. The head football coach and several players spoke with the media following practice number one. With several new additions to the team, first year Owl head coach Tom Herman, placed his emphasis on effort and attention to detail as camp got underway. His players talked about the pace and intensity of practice, a definite change of culture for this new regime of Owl Football.
From a coaching perspective, Herman was open about not being able to give a full evaluation of his team based on not being in full pads. He quipped about the NCAA not making swimmers and divers begin practices without water. However, the mandated grace period before pads come on in football is long standing mandate of the NCAA. By his own admission, practicing in “shells” does allow for observation of a few things according to Herman; “effort and assignment.”
Getting this 2023 Owls team to play for championships is the detail that Herman and staff are setting out to focus on. To that end, the team’s nutrition budget has been doubled. Adare Quinn, who goes by “Addi” was hired in March of this year and received high praise from Herman for adding value to the program. Specifically, Quinn’s guidance has allowed players to maintain body weight but be leaner in body mass and that makes overall performance better. Quinn comes to FAU from the University of Maryland where she was a sports performance fellow during last year’s football season up till her relocation to Boca.
Attention to detail is a common refrain from the players we spoke to post practice. According to junior wide out Lajohntay Wester, details matter in the Owls program. Coach Herman, he says, will pull the team out of the locker room and put them in the visitors’ locker room if rules aren’t being followed or cleanliness isn’t up to par. The renewed emphasis to culture and how things are done under coach Herman and staff has led to some changes and player turnover. Several “defiant” players were asked to leave the program because they didn’t fit or wouldn’t comply with the new set of standards for the Owls Football program.
In addition, a 20-player leadership council (though it has no formal name) has been formed by Herman and head strength coach Joey Guarascio.
One of the first standards for winning is to “play great on defense”. So, when asked why he spent most of the media period with the defense, Herman acknowledged that he wanted to be intentional about making sure he didn’t divide the team. There are also more newcomers on defense overall, so that’s another reason Herman put more attention on that side of the ball earlier in camp practice one. As an offensive coach, he still wants this Owls team to finish in the top 25 on defense, a trait he said is common to every national championship since 2000 except a Cam Newton led Auburn team.
Concerning quarterbacks, Herman was relatively vague concerning the quarterback competition between assumed potential starters Daniel Richardson (Central Michigan transfer) and newcomer Casey Thompson (Nebraska transfer).
“I thought Casey did good for practice one, he wasn’t perfect by any stretch. We’re headed in the right direction in that room,” Herman said.
Ultimately Herman said what he wants in a quarterback is a guy who can “Protect the football, lead us down the field and score.”
OTHER NOTES:
TE, Elijah Brown, didn’t practice because of injury
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