Ahead of a pivotal football matchup with the Wagner Seahawks, the Florida Atlantic Owls spoke to the media once again.
In the weekly media availability for the FAU, head coach Tom Herman, wide receiver Omari Hayes, and defensive lineman Chris Jones spoke about their defeat to UConn and looking ahead to this week’s matchup.
Follow along as we recap what was, at least in the way Herman spoke, a press conference before a high-pressure game against Wagner.
Tom Herman quotes
In terms of injuries, Herman said that a few players got banged up in the midst of their blowout loss the UConn Huskies.
“Jayden Williams did get injured on the last drive, and I didn’t know that. He’s got a high-angle sprain, and we are hoping that because of its severity level, we should have him back for conference play. On the catch down the sideline against FIU, Joe Young landed awkwardly. He’s already had two knee surgeries, and he will have to have another one. He tore some cartilage but did not tear his ACL. Some cartilage in there needs to be repaired. So we’re down BJ(Alexander), EJ (Horton), and now Joe. I had six wideouts as starters, and all three of those were in that six. So we’re getting pretty thin at that position, unfortunately.”
Herman added that Jaden Wheeler was non-contact due to getting “punched in the ribs by an opposing player and bruised his kidney or liver.” He also said that Zeke Moore missed the game against UConn with “a stinger in practice that didn’t resolve itself in time for the doctors to feel good enough clearing him.”
Most surprisingly during the press conference, Herman announced that quarterback Kasen Weisman would be seeing an increased number of reps for Florida Atlantic in this week’s football game against Wagner. The head coach said that the Colorado transfer will play at a “scripted time” during the game and alluded to needing changes as a factor for the decision.
“I think you’ll see him play a scripted, not scripted plays, but at a scripted time in the game. Coach Frye has communicated that to both Cam [Fancher] and him. We haven’t settled on the mechanics of when and how. But I can’t look at this team and ask them to change and get rid of bad habits. I’ve got to make some changes too, and I’ve got to do things as the head coach to create some kind of meaningful change,” said Herman.
“And if that is Kasen’s play when he gets in, great. If that is him being there and Cam knowing and playing better because of it, even better. But like I said, this is about uncovering every stone to find the right buttons to push on this team. And you know, we’ve got two weeks to figure that out.”
Herman also praised Weisman’s development as a player since arriving in Boca Raton to play for the Owls.
“Since he’s gotten here, he’s gotten a lot more zip on the ball. I think he’ll play with more confidence now when he gets in. I think it’s pretty cool to see the growth we’ve seen from him, not just emotionally and maturity-wise but also physically.
The ball is coming off of his hands with more zip. Like I said, he’s playing with a little bit more confidence now than he had in terms of moving in the pocket, eyes, and the right place- that kind of stuff.
I think it’s just going to be a matter of, you know, whether he sees the game any differently or makes different decisions. He’s a good runner and a good passer. He’s not going to throw it through that wall, and he’s not going to run a 3.4, but he’s not a statue. He does everything really well. Let’s put it that way. I don’t know that he’s got one great tangible quality, but he’s got a lot of really good ones.”
As to why Tyriq Starks was not considered for the increased reps, Herman said that the quarterback is dealing with a pectoral injury.
“He hasn’t thrown the ball in a while. We could jog him out and get away with the run game, maybe a select number of passes, but he can’t open that up, so to speak. So much so that, and I think we’re getting an MRI today or tomorrow, just, you know, we’ve diagnosed it as a pec strain. We want to ensure that there’s nothing else going on besides just a pec strain that needs to heal.”
Herman, when asked about what he wants to see from the offense, said he wants his unit to “go back to the basics” overall.
“With every team, and certainly with a team with as many new faces as ours, there is a learning element to it. I think we definitely overestimated our capacity offensively. I tell our players all the time, in times of adversity, go back to your training and trust your training. Do exactly what you’re trained to do, and have confidence in that.
And so we’re in a pretty adverse situation right now, offensively. Like anything in life, let’s go back to exactly what we know, and let’s become a master of a couple trades and not a jack of all trades and master of none.”
The Florida Atlantic head coach also spoke about the urgency the football team is facing at this point of the season.
“We haven’t overturned every stone just yet. There’s always another one to overturn. We’re obsessed with figuring out this team because I think we’ve got good guys. We’ve got really good players. But I think it speaks holistically, too.
We have to ask ourselves, as a program, what have they been doing at UConn for three years? I want to know why their offensive line is pushing us around. This administration that’s won 10s of national championships, you know.
I got my personnel guy, and we’re going to go over there 2-deep on Thursday and figure out what transfers they signed. Were we recruiting that same transfer? What did their collective pay? And so we’ve got to find out because that’s a very, very good barometer.
What are they spending on player acquisition and retainment? What are they doing in their strength and development department? Because we’ve got to speed this thing up in a hurry if we want to look like, play like, act like UConn, and so we’re this is, this is a deep dive into everything that we do.”
Regarding the defense, Herman spoke about their struggles against the run and how they can rebound going forward.
“This one was more disturbing, certainly, because these are the kind of plays and things we’re going to see weekly. There might be concern for the season’s outcome if I knew we didn’t have it in us. Or, you know, we may never get this thing figured out.
I know there’s no doubt in myself, and I don’t think there’s any doubt in that locker room as a whole, especially on that side of the ball. So we know we got to play better. We got pushed around, and we didn’t tackle well. And that is a recipe for a long night on the football field for a defense. As coaches, we must examine when and if that happens again, how do we best stop the bleeding.”
Herman heaped praise on Cris Carter and the role he has played within the Florida Atlantic football program.
“He does everything. I mean, he’s great for our wideouts, you know, especially now that anybody out there can coach. So he can give them nuggets of coaching. But it’s way, way, way more than that.
On a personal level, he’s got a few at-risk guys, if you will, that he’s kind of put his arms around. And then really, as a team, they know that when they go to him, they’re going to get reality. Now it may hit them square in the freaking forehead in the way that he delivers that reality, but it’s also fresh. He can talk to them in ways that we can’t, but I think they can be more open with him in ways that they can’t with us because he doesn’t control playing time,” said Herman.
“It’s been a really, really good marriage of his expertise, his personality. It’s just his love for winning the game. I respect the hell out of Chris Carter for a lot of reasons, and one of them is that we’re in love with the same thing. He loves football. He absolutely loves it. And the second thing is he loves making a difference in young men’s lives.
So we’ve got two pretty important things in common, and he’s really good. He was really good at football, but he might be even better at mentoring young men because he’s got a way of getting it out of some guys, some things that maybe I know I wouldn’t be able to get out of them.”
Regarding their matchup against the Wagner Seahawks, Herman said they are an opponent that should not be overlooked.
“This is a good team. I’ve been impressed with their defense, especially number 45, their nickel linebacker. He’s very active. They blitz him, and they drop him in coverage. They do a lot with him. And they’ve got a really talented receiver as well who has a decided advantage in targets compared to the next guy on their team. So we’ve got to know where he is.
They’re a zone run team, so we’ve got to stop inside and outside zone. If you’re watching the UConn film, that’s probably all you will run. And then, you know, offensively, we’ve got to make sure we understand where 45 is and what that means in their different blitzes and coverages. So there’s a lot to prepare for,” said Herman.
“I know our fans may not have heard of Wagner, but we’re not good enough to beat Boca Middle School with our C game. We’re going to need to go out and play really, really well and take another step. I think the most important thing is to come out of this with a really good taste in our mouths, having played our best.”
Omari Hayes quotes
During his media availability, Florida Atlantic wide receiver Hayes said that the football team is working to “be more consistent.”
“With the struggles that we have had, we are working on being more consistent. We are working on the things that we are already good at and building on them. The coaches really simplified the game plan and really made it easier. We will go out there and execute the plays in the game plan.”
When asked about the more simple game plan, Hayes said that it would “slow down the game” and allow the offense to play “faster” overall.
Chris Jones quotes
During his media availability, the defensive lineman spoke about correcting and improving the run defense after the loss to UConn.
“I feel like we all understand the task at hand. We gotta get better at what we do. It’s not more about the opponent; it’s all about us. Whatever call we are running, we need to do that to the best of our ability. Our best game will beat anybody. That’s how I feel.”
Florida Atlantic will play a must-win football game on Saturday night. With a solid game plan and a week of practice, they should be in a great position to notch another victory against an FCS opponent. But if they come out flat once again, it will be Defcon 1 for the Owls before they even reach conference play.
