BOCA RATON – As rain and cloudy skies kicked off fall camp for the Florida Atlantic Owls, the team hoped to get rid of the “rain” that dampered last season’s hype.

After a strong 2017 in which the Owls won 11 games, a Conference USA title and a Boca Raton Bowl victory, head coach Lane Kiffin and his team entered 2018 with media hype and expectations to repeat the same success.

The Owls, however, failed to do such and finished a disappointing campaign by winning just five games and failing to qualify for a bowl game for the fourth time in five seasons and the first one under Kiffin.

One disappointment from last season was the quarterback play, where new starter Chris Robison earned the job out of camp.

As a unit, the Owls finished 52nd in passing yards, throwing for just 244 yards a game.

Robison, a transfer from Oklahoma, made his first college appearance last season by throwing for 12 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

As a result, he never fully earned the starting job.

“I had some pretty good games, but all in all, I was not locked in as I should’ve been,” Robison said.

One of the bright spots to the 2018 season was tight end Harrison Bryant, who caught 45 passes for 664 yards and four touchdowns. As a result of his efforts, Bryant earned first-team All-Conference USA honors.

Bryant, however, was not afraid to discuss the deficiencies the team had at avoiding the hype that surrounded the program.

“I feel like we definitely fell into that ‘rat poison’ or what Coach Kiffin calls it,” Bryant said. “It definitely was in some people’s heads, and that caused us not to play at the level that we could have played at.”

On the defensive side of the ball, the Owls were at a disadvantage early.

During a practice before FAU’s loss to Marshall in late October, star linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair tore his ACL, forcing the senior to miss the remainder of the season.

The loss put a defense looking to continue a strong 2017 at a disadvantage, and it showed.

Against Marshall, the defense allowed 233 rushing yards as the Thundering Herd scored 31 points en route to a blowout victory.

Going in 2019, Kiffin stressed that the team would not talk about the past every day and turn their focus to Ohio State, who the Owls play to open up the season.

“We’ve stressed that we need to learn from the past, but not sit and talk about the past every day,” Kiffin said. “You have the offseason to look at it and to discuss with the players before practice and in team meetings.”

Although the Owls will be forced to replace running backs Devin Singletary and Kerrith Whyte, who both declared early for the NFL Draft, the Owls hope a strong offensive line that returns three starters can do the trick.

“As an offensive line, we have to be the best we can be, so we can give our running backs the room they need to compete and ball out,” said senior tackle Brandon Walton. “We also have to be there for them and uplift those boys.”

At quarterback, the Owls return Robison and begin a quarterback race featuring Robison and two transfers in Nick Tronti (Indiana) and Justin Agner (Fort Scott CC). During camp, the three split first-team duties.

“First day of practice, we’re all even. Nothing else really matters right now,” Robison said. “Whoever is the best throughout camp will start the first week.”

New defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer and the defense is tasked with replacing Al-Shaair, who is in the NFL now with the San Francisco 49ers. Team leaders Akileis Leroy and Rashad Smith are poised to carry the torch with a strong defensive line to help support the linebackers.

“It’s exciting and it’s a workload. I’m glad to have both… It’s great playing alongside Rashad because he’s very vocal in ways. He’s a great leader,” Leroy said.

As a unit, Leroy had a fitting name for the defense, calling them “The MOB”.

“You don’t mess with us,” Leroy said. “It’s aggressive, we use [the defense’s identity] very aggressively. It’s a mob. If you aren’t meeting those standards, it’s next man up.”

While fall camp will not solve all the questions surrounding the Owls, the energy at the opening of camp proved one thing: this is not last year’s Owls.