BOCA RATON – In the FAU Owls return to FAU Stadium, head coach Lane Kiffin uttered overall “sloppiness” in their first scrimmage of fall practice.
“More penalties and more turnovers than what we have been doing in practice,” Kiffin said following the scrimmage. “That part is discouraging.”
While all three quarterbacks battling for the starting job took snaps with the first team offense, a majority of the snaps were taken by incumbent starter Chris Robison and Nick Tronti, showing a possible sign of separation in the quarterback battle.
“They both probably got ahead of Justin [Agner],” Kiffin said. “Justin had the bad interception to start the game, but he’s been really sick, struggled to eat for a few days now, throwing up, so kind of hard to evaluate him on that.”
Both Agner and Tronti threw interceptions on offense, with Tronti throwing two total. Senior safety Da’Von Brown had the interception on Justin Agner, while cornerback Dishaun Moss and defensive tackle Noah Jefferson had the interceptions on Tronti.
“I looked like a high school quarterback out there,” Tronti said about his performance during the scrimmage.
The running backs also had their fair share of turnovers.
Both Kelvin Dean and Tyrek Tisdale fumbled the football on drives, with Hosea Barnwell and Leighton McCarthy, who plays a hybrid linebacker and defensive linemen role, recovering the fumbles.
Here are three other things we learned from the first FAU scrimmage:
1. BJ Emmons breaks through
While the running back competition has not been as highly talked about, junior running back BJ Emmons may have separated himself from the rest after a strong performance in the scrimmage.
Emmons showed both speed and strength when asked to make plays. Early in the scrimmage, Emmons broke a few tackles to take a play down to the red zone, before being brought down just short of the endzone.
To end the scrimmage, Emmons took a screen pass from Robison 51 yards for a touchdown.
“I feel I did alright for how long I’ve been here, only eight months,” said Emmons, who joined FAU in January after taking the 2018 season off.
Emmons played his 2017 season at Hutchinson Community College (Kansas) after transferring from Alabama.
2. Defensive line causes trouble for offensive line
Filled with experience across the front seven, it was the defensive line that stood out throughout the scrimmage.
Regardless of who was on the offensive line, the defensive line seemed to camp in the backfield. Constant pressure forced the quarterbacks to make mistakes, allowing the defensive line to get their fair share of sacks and interceptions.
Jefferson finished the game with a surprise interception, while McCarthy recovered a fumble. The defensive line also played a major factor in the fumbles caused by the running backs.
Senior defensive tackle William Davis was credited with a sack, while the defense also stopped the offense on a fourth down run earlier in the scrimmage.
3. Offense brightest under Chris Robison
While the quarterback battle will continue into next week, and likely up until the Owls’ first game against Ohio State in Columbus, the offense simply looked better under Robison.
Robison unofficially finished the game completing 6 of his 10 attempted passes for 154 yards and two touchdowns. The first touchdown was a beautiful strike to Chris Herring in the middle of the field, marking the first touchdown of the game.
With the first team offense, Robison seemed to look comfortable and make few mistakes. He also seemed to know exactly where to place passes to allow for the most yards to be gained.
