First Week of Camp Complete for the FAU Owls Football
Photo by: FAU Sports
By: Stephanie Fonseca
Amidst the typical bipolar Florida weather, FAU football completed their first week of their preseason practice camp this past Friday.
FAU held their first preseason practice on a sunny Florida morning of August 5. For the first week of preseason, they practiced without pads and separated the team by offense and defense and colored jerseys. The offense and special teams wore red, as the defense wore white and the quarterbacks wore their green jerseys.
The first few preseason practices brought a lot of enthusiasm and good competition between the offense and the defense. The defense kept their focus and gave the offense and the alternating quarterbacks Driskel and Parr some trouble when defensive backs Shelton Lewis and Ocie Rose both caught interceptions off of tip offs.
FAU’s offense was known in the past for their ability to run the ball, however in the pursuit of becoming a more well rounded team, on media day Offensive Coordinator Travis Trickett explained that they have been throwing the ball a lot more. In the face of changing the way they play Tricket also said, “As far as install has gone, we have thrown a lot at them. They have done it. It is going well.”
In retrospect to the previous seasons, Head Coach Charlie Partridge explained how this preseason has been different. “The guys [are] holding each other accountable and some position groups [continue] to improve from the spring,” said Head Coach Partridge on media day.
It’s been three years since Head Coach Charlie Partridge came down to South Florida and brought upon the change that FAU Football needed. Although the past two years were rebuilding years, they were extremely promising. The FAU Owls were giving big name football colleges such as the University of Miami and University of Florida some trouble, but failed to close out games as strong as they started them.
FAU put themselves on the map and with a new season, comes lessons learned and a more unified team. Defensive Coordinator Roc Bellantoni, has been is proud of the team first culture that they have been building and how unified they have come to be. “We have a great group of assistants on the sideline keeping those guys together, keeping their minds in it, and helping each other to be a selfless person. Helping your buddy, who is out on the field, get through it is helping all of them get through it. I’m really proud of that. I didn’t know that [ the players were celebrating on the sidelines for play on the field]. I’m so entrenched in practice, I didn’t know, but I’m glad to hear they are bonding together and celebrating for one another,” said Coach Roc.
On Aug. 10 the Owls had their first full pad practice and head into their second week of preseason camp.
Despite the tropical depression passing through South Florida, the FAU Owls are optimistic and have their sights set on their home season opener against Southern Illinois on Sept 3 at 6 p.m.
