FAU football will conclude spring football with the 2022 Spring Game this Saturday, April 9 at 6 p.m.
Defensive coordinator Todd Orlando will serve as head coach of the White Team, while defensive line coach Kevin Patrick will lead the Red Team.
Both coaches selected their squads through a three-round draft where 18 players were drafted to each team and the remaining players were split into teams by position.
With the first overall pick in the draft, Orlando selected graduate offensive lineman, Brendan Bordner, who recently transferred from Rutgers University, to lead the White Team. Patrick also opted to strengthen his offensive line early in the draft as he selected redshirt senior offensive lineman Chaz Neal with the second overall pick.
“I really like splitting the teams up and getting our guys to play with different teammates and seeing who can execute even when they’re not playing with someone that they’re accustomed to playing with all of the time,” said head coach Willie Taggart. “Our guys love it, they get competitive and excited about it, same with the coaches.”
Here’s what to look out for on Saturday:
What does the offense look like under Brent Dearmon?
Lack of production on offense was the Owls’ downfall in several of their losses last season. A new offensive coordinator in Brent Dearmon and new additions through the transfer portal gives the opportunity to fix that.
In addition to Bordner, sophomore running back Marvin Scott III announced in December he would be transferring to FAU from the University of Nebraska. With the departure of running backs James Charles to the NFL Draft and Malcolm Davidson to the transfer portal, Scott will be competing for carries with redshirt junior running back Johnny Ford, who led the team in rushing yards last season.
Along with some new faces, the offense will be adopting a new scheme under Dearmon. In one season as offensive coordinator at Middle Tennessee State, he led an offense that averaged 30 pints and 362 yards per game.
Despite the changes to the offense, there will be some consistency in the fact that they’ll be retaining starting quarterback N’Kosi Perry and wide receiver LaJohntay Wester, who led the team in receiving yards last season as a true freshman.
Who is going to step up in the secondary?
The defensive back room was not an area of concern in the 2021 season, however, that room looks a lot different now than it did then.
The cornerbacks saw the departure of Zyon Gilbert, who led all FAU cornerbacks in tackles last season, as he announced he was declaring for the NFL Draft in December.
Romain Mungin is expected to take on the role of “CB1” after a productive past season, finishing with 31 tackles and two interceptions. However, outside of Mungin, there are concerns about a lack of experience.
Some have sophomore cornerback Jayden Williams as the favorite to earn the spot opposite of Mungin because of solid flashes of talent last season, but keep an eye out for names like true freshman Jahbari Hill and redshirt sophomore Glover Cook to compete for the spot.
Both have big frames, each measuring in at 6-foot-1, that would complement well with Mungin, who only comes in at five-foot-nine. But both are also held back by inexperience as Hill has yet to take a snap in college and Glover only played in a single game last season.
While the safeties will be losing Jordan Helm, who led the team in tackles last season, as he made the transition from safety to graduate assistant coach this spring, they will be retaining Teja Young, who led the team in interceptions with three.
How well does a brand new linebacker room fit in?
The front seven on defense is another unit that saw a fair amount of change this offseason as they lost standout linebacker Caliph Brice, who also declared for the NFL Draft.
However, talent at the linebacker position should not be an issue with the addition of three solid options through the transfer portal: Morven Joseph, transfer from the University of Tennessee, and Jaleel McRae, transfer from Florida State, both former four-star recruits, as well as Jamie Pettway, who transferred from the University of Missouri.
All three will be looking to make up for the loss of Brice’s production, who accounted for 58 total tackles last season despite missing more than half of the season due to injury.
The defensive line is at least one unit who will be retaining their key contributors with redshirt junior defensive end Jaylen Joyner and sophomore defensive tackle Evan Anderson both returning for the 2022 season.
Joyner led the team in sacks and finished with 36 total tackles. Meanwhile, Anderson finished with 42 tackles. Both gave opposing offensive lines problems all last season, and both are set to continue the same trend this year with added depth at linebacker.