NCAA Football Preview – Florida Atlantic Owls

The coaching duties have been handed over to first-year head coach Charlie Partridge, who served as a defensive lineman at Drake from 1992-95. Before coming over to man the helm at FAU, he served as the assistant head coach and defensive line coach at Arkansas, and was the associate head coach at Wisconsin prior to that.

The Owls dropped their first two contests during the season in 2013 to Miami and East Carolina, respectively, before they put one up in the win column – 28-10 over South Florida. Later in the season, FAU was defeated in a tough battle with Marshall, 24-23, in what was the first meeting between the two sides. The Owls fell 45-10 to Auburn the following week, and then went on a four-game winning streak to end the season and finish at .500.

Florida Atlantic was 3-2 at home last season, and 3-4 on the road. Quarterback Jaquez Johnson led an offense that averaged 384.6 yards per game and recorded 317 first downs on the year compared to 267 for opponents. The Owls finished fourth in the East Division behind Middle Tennessee, East Carolina (no longer in C-USA) and Marshall.

2014 ANALYSIS:

OFFENSE: The offense will once again revolve around the quarterback Johnson, who returns for his junior season as the team’s most prolific weapon. Johnson, who was named the C-USA Newcomer of the Year in 2013, is a dual-threat quarterback who registered 1,876 passing yards and 12 passing touchdowns, and also racked up 772 rushing yards with 10 more scores in 2013.

“Things are good,” said Brian Wright, FAU’s assistant head coach and offensive coordinator. “It is nice to work with experienced quarterbacks.”

Johnson is one of six returning offensive starters for the Owls this season. He retains some receiving promise in senior wideout William Dukes, who tied for the team lead with six touchdown receptions a year ago. He’s joined by tight end Alex Deleon, who had just seven catches last year. Johnson will miss the services of pass catchers Daniel McKinney (615 receiving yards) and Nexon Dorvilus, who also had six receiving scores.

A majority of the offensive line returns in right tackle Braden Lyons and right guard Dillon DeBoer, along with left guard Isaac Edwards (who is suspended for the first three games of the season). There is expected to be some shifting of positions up front before the start of the season.

Aside from Johnson, who rushed the ball 179 times in 2013, the carries will likely fall to Jay Warren, who had 71 last season with two rushing touchdowns. He’ll replace Jonathan Wallace and his 119 carries.

DEFENSE: Like the offense, FAU’s defense returns six starters for the 2014 season, most notably the leading tackler from a year ago (linebacker Andrae Kirk) and senior cornerback D’Joun Smith.

Kirk topped the Owls with 84 tackles in 2013 and added 1.5 tackles for loss and a half-sack to his stat line. He’s expected to get the start at middle linebacker, with redshirt freshman Nate Ozdemir waiting in the wings.

Smith was a stud corner for FAU in his junior season, recording a team-high 13 pass breakups and seven interceptions (ranked second nationally) with one sack and two forced fumbles. He returns as a senior and will be a focal point of the defensive secondary along with strong safety Damian Parms. Parms was second on the squad with 78 total tackles and added six pass breakups and an interception to his resume.

Up front, the Owls will rely on junior defensive tackles Brandin Bryant and Trevon Coley to stuff the opponents’ run game. Both are juniors who started in 2013 and showed excellent potential. Bryant secured 51 tackles and six sacks from up the middle, while Coley chipped in with 37 tackles and 2.5 sacks.

The Owls have key pieces defensively that will allow newcomers to learn and grow, all while the team maintains a successful defense.

SPECIAL TEAMS: If there’s one thing to be slightly concerned about going into the 2014 season for the Owls, it’s the special teams unit. Both Mitch Anderson (kicker) and Sean Kelly (punter) are no longer on the FAU roster, so the team has some replacing to do. Freshman kicker Landon Scheer expects to handle the kicking duties, while redshirt freshman Dalton Schomp appears to be the frontrunner for the punting job.

OUTLOOK: Partridge has no solo head coaching experience in his career, but his pedigree indicates he’ll have plenty of success managing FAU in the upcoming season after he spent quality time with some of the best programs in the country prior to his arrival in Boca Raton.

“I’m anxious to see (the atmosphere at FAU Stadium) on gameday,” Partridge said. “I’m excited to get big crowds here.”

He takes over the team with an already established quarterback on the depth chart, along with some key playmakers defensively. As a former defensive lineman, Partridge knows a thing or two about how to scheme and create plays on defense. With veteran returners like Smith, Kirk and Bryant, he should be chomping at the bit for his team to take the field and see what the players can do.

The Owls start the season off with two excruciatingly difficult matchups on the road. FAU will head to Nebraska the first week, then will have to face Nick Saban and the mighty Crimson Tide in week two.

Three of the team’s first four games are on the road against non-conference opponents. If the Owls can come away with a 2-2 record heading into conference play, they should feel happy.

Partridge has the tools to make a run in the conference this season, and will try to improve on an FAU team that struggled early on a year ago.

Categorized in: NCAA Football