‘This offense is screaming for a leader’: Taggart wants more consistent QB play
FAU is still figuring out who’s going to be the starting quarterback when it starts its 20th season at Georgia Southern Sept. 19.
Coach Willie Taggart said Saturday evening that all four quarterbacks vying for the starting job struggled during the second scrimmage of fall camp, adding “this offense is screaming for a leader.”
Last weekend in FAU’s first scrimmage, Taggart said it was redshirt freshman Javion Posey whose play stood out the most from among the quarterbacks.
Taggart said redshirt junior Nick Tronti helped turn things around in the second half of the scrimmage after the Owls’ defense dominated the first half with a “bend-but-don’t-break mentality” by doing a “great job” of keeping the offense out of the end zone.
“I always tell our guys it is all about dealing with adversity,” Taggart said. “You are going to get a lot of it throughout the game and that is what I’m looking for, how guys respond when things aren’t going well. When those things happen at practice, for me, I sit back and watch because you learn a lot.
“You learn who the leaders on your team are. Who is going to go over and talk and inspire the football team or the side of the ball to get going, and you look for those things throughout the scrimmage. Who is going to respond? Who is going to be that leader? Who is going to step up when things aren’t going and get the guys to keep it going? It was good to see some guys step up and actually do that and see our offense bounce back.”
On one drive, Tronti rushed for 15 yards before handing off the ball to redshirt freshman running back Kelvin Dean for another 10 yards, according to a release by FAU. Tronti finished the drive with a 47-yard touchdown pass to redshirt junior tight end Logan Peterson.
Tronti led the offense to another score on the next drive, which was capped off with a 58-yard touchdown run by redshirt senior running back James Charles.
Several drives later, Tronti
scrambled out of the pocket and connected with graduate transfer tight end Michael Irvin in the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown.
Freshman Willie Taggart Jr. led the offense to its final scoring drive of Saturday’s scrimmage, which ended with a field goal by redshirt junior kicker Vladimir Rivas.
Taggart said the team will need to see more consistency from its quarterbacks before it names a starter. With their performances in the past two scrimmages, it appears Posey and Tronti are the front-runners for the starting job. Redshirt junior Justin Agner is also competing for the starting role.
“Some guys earned themselves more reps, which is good because we’ve been sharing reps,” Taggart said. “They knew after this scrimmage that a lot of those reps were going to be cut back because we need to start honing in on Georgia Southern. This week will be big in who we’ll start the season off with.
Who wins the starting role may come down to who displays the leadership qualities on the field Taggart and his coaching staff are
looking for.
He mentioned wide receiver TJ Chase — a graduate transfer from Clemson — as someone who’s shown leadership on the offensive end, but said, “I don’t think you’ll get the result you want from if your quarterback can’t lead.”
“You need your quarterback leading the offense,” Taggart said. “We need one of those guys to step up and be that leader. To be honest with you, I think guys are waiting to see who’s going to step up and be that guy.
“I told them our offense is screaming at them, ‘please, one of you guys, step up and just lead.’ We have some guys who can do it, they just got to do it. Everyone leads in their own way. I just think it’s hard to play quarterback and be a quiet leader. You have to say something. Especially when things aren’t going well, you can’t just sit over there and you definitely can’t have your teammates coming to you telling you ‘ come on, it’s going to be all right.’ That’s not what you expect.”
Roster update
Taggart told reporters that red
shirt freshman cornerback La’Darius Henry and redshirt sophomore wide receiver Cordel Littlejohn have opted out of the season. They’re the second and third Owls to opt out after senior safety Quran Hafiz announced his decision to not play in early August.
Taggart added that he hasn’t heard whether redshirt sophomore wide receiver D’Marcus Adams or redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Malcolm Lamar, both transfers from Florida State, will be eligible for the season.
He called the situation frustrating because Adams and Lamar joined the team in January.
“I look at all of the other guys who’ve gotten eligible around the country, I think they’ll have a good chance,” Taggart said. “They’ve been here since January and we still haven’t found out, so I don’t think that’s good news. Some of these guys transferred and found out quickly. I don’t see any reason why these guys can’t be eligible. It’s starting to get frustrating because they’ve been here and we should’ve known something by now.”