Even with a bye week on their football schedule, the Florida Atlantic Owls are still addressing the media.
During their weekly media availability, head coach Tom Herman, offensive lineman Alex Atcavage, and defensive lineman Jayden Wheeler answered a variety of questions surrounding last week’s game and the upcoming bye week.
At this point, you know the drill. And if you are new here, follow along to learn what was said at the October 1st edition of the FAU Owls Media Availability.
Tom Herman quotes
To start off his press conference, Tom Herman offered his “thoughts and prayers” to those affected by Hurricane Helene. The Florida Atlantic head coach said that around 40-50 football players were affected and that they will have from “Thursday afternoon until Sunday” off so they can help their families.
“Just wanted to start off by sending our thoughts and prayers. I know that feels hollow, but to all the Floridians, Georgians, really, all the Americans affected by the recent hurricane. I know it’s impacted our state, obviously, but quite a few members of our team, not just Floridians but a lot of Georgians on our team, were impacted. And so we’re doing the best we can. The bye week couldn’t come at a better time for a lot of our guys than an opportunity to go home.
As you just heard Jaden Wheeler say, his family got hit pretty hard, and he’s going to spend a couple of days back home helping out as much as he can. So this puts into perspective what the game that we play on Saturday, hopefully for everybody, is. What these 18 to 22-year-old kids do every Saturday is really, really fun to watch, but it’s not life and death. It’s not flooding; it’s not hurricanes, it’s not natural disasters, that’s real-life stuff. And it’ll be nice for our guys to feel like they have a chance to go home and help. ”
Herman also discussed the bye week for Florida Atlantic and his feelings about sending his football team home for an extended period.
“I mean, it’s spring break, Fourth of July, bye weekends. Those are probably head coaches’ biggest nerve-wracking times because you do want your guys to relax and get away, but you want to make sure they’re staying around positive influences. You want to make sure they are getting rest. When I talk to them before they leave on Thursday, I’ll tell them not to go to the county fair with their girlfriend or the mall with their mom. We need to stay off our feet. Rest, relax, and enjoy the time away from the game, but let’s make sure we come back fresh.”
In terms of injuries, Herman said that quarterback Cameron Fancher only has a thumb sprain and will try to throw in the coming days “if he continues to progress.” He also spoke about the other injuries for the Owls heading into the bye week.
“Wendol Philord went through practice and was not diagnosed with a concussion, so he didn’t have to go into the five-day protocol or anything like that. Jayden Williams did not practice, but he is scheduled to return in the week of North Texas. Chris Tooley did not practice today but is also on track for next week. Daughtry Richardson, right now, it’s not necessarily the pain. It’s the cast around his hand right now that’s limiting his ability to grab and control people. So, I think we can get a new cast on that thing at the end of the week. Zeke Moore went through what they call controlled contact today. I think if that went well and had no residuals with that stinger, then he should be cleared.”
Herman also gave an update on Jayshon Platt, who he said was “thankfully” the only Owl to redshirt this season.
“We, in fact, had to vote as head coaches on a proposal to get rid of red shirts, and obviously, all of us coaches are in favor of that. So I think here, even in Jayshon’s career, you’ll see guys play five years and not have to worry about it. So I wish he wasn’t put in that position. I wish redshirting didn’t exist, and you could just play as many snaps as you went to for five years. But it’s coming. And to answer your question, nobody’s even expressed any thought about it.”
Regarding the quarterback situation, Herman said that he “does not know yet” if he will fully utilize a two-quarterback system.
“Kasen [Weisman] is certainly a good athlete. I don’t know if he’s a Michael Johnson-type athlete to merit a package like that. But I couldn’t have scripted it better for him to come in. He started his college career with an inauspicious start, but he settled down just like the team did. I think it was a great script for the team, because we wanted to start doing things our own way there in the second quarter. We wanted to panic when we got hit in the mouth with a little bit of adversity. At halftime, everybody kind of took a deep breath, and I thought Kasen himself played remarkably well in the second half.
You could feel it. I wasn’t worried, but it was kind of fun as a dad to watch some of this unfold because you could feel the tension at halftime. It was good for the offense to come out and not punt again the rest of the day. They ended with points on all the other drives and turned the ball over. I thought he played probably exactly the way I thought he would, which is really, really nervous and trying to do too much early and then, much like the rest of the team, realize, okay, that’s not working really well. Let me try my coach’s way and see if that works, and he played great in the second half,” Herman said.
Herman, when asked about buy-in, spoke about how it changed from the UConn week into the Wagner week.
“I don’t want to over-dramatize it, but there was a shift. We were embarrassed in Connecticut. At least one, if not two, sides of our team could kind of hold their head a little bit high in the first few weeks. But we got taken behind the woodshed in all facets, head coach included. And so I think, unfortunately, we’ve got a lot of guys on our team who keep touching the damn stove. My two-year-old has to get burned one time, and they stop touching the stove. And so, you want to celebrate the progress, right? Look at the last game that we won against FIU; we really only played two good quarters. You could say, okay, progress, we started fast! We played a hell of a first quarter and a great second half. But now we’re three out of four, right? We were two out of four. Now we’re three out of four,” said Herman.
“The moral of the story is the guys got punched in the mouth against UConn, not by Clemson. Which was the only kind of time I ever felt really physically overmatched since we’ve been here, and I think they knew that too. But I didn’t think a comparable team would embarrass us like that. And I don’t think they did either. I think they thought their way was just enough to get by doing it, and maybe they thought that FIU was the standard. But there’s no offense to our brothers down the road, but it is not. We aren’t either right now, but we’re striving to be. I think, unfortunately, they touched the stove again in Connecticut, got burned, and said I remember what this feels like. This feels awful. This really burns. I better go back and do all the things I’ve done before so I don’t touch the stove. There’s a renewed belief that doing your own crap doesn’t work.”
Alex Actavage quotes
The senior offensive lineman for Florida Atlantic spoke about the football team’s overall effort against Wagner last weekend.
“After a week like UConn, where we got hit in the mouth, we were challenged as a unit to be more physical. I think everybody bought into the game plan. Everybody was clicking. The backs were making great cuts, and seeing the holes. But we tried to put it on our backs. It was time for us to grow up and take it into our own hands.”
He added that he has never seen buy-in from a team as “quick” from the UConn week into the Wagner week.
Actavage also spoke a little bit about North Texas, saying that they do “similar stuff” to UConn and that they will need their A-Game against a “big, physical, well-coached” team.
Jayden Wheeler quotes
Wheeler said during his media availability that he loves seeing the younger players “make plays and have fun” on the field, specifically referring to the Wagner game as a key example.
The Florida Atlantic defensive lineman also spoke about bouncing back after the UConn loss and his message to the football team.
“We had to respond. That was the message. You get 400-plus yards rushing put on you. That’s tough. Eyes will go to the defensive line since that is the first line of defense. I told my guys that we have to respond and have to be dominant.”
