FAU counting on receivers to step up
BOCA RATON — Florida Atlantic’s football team hopes play-making receivers come in all shapes and sizes. In the bulky D’Anfernee McGriff or the lanky Tavaris “Pico” Harrison, the diminutive Willie Wright or the chiseled DeAndre McNeal, the Owls are counting on someone stepping up.
The FAU receiving corps took a hit in the offseason with the losses of Kalib Woods and Kamrin Solomon. Woods was charged with two counts of felony battery in June and suspended indefinitely by the program. Solomon was also removed from the roster, but has not been arrested.
Both were projected starters for the Owls under new coach Lane Kiffin, but are doubtful to figure into FAU’s plans this season. Instead, the Owls will look toward newcomers such as McGriff, Wright and McNeal, along with returnees such as Harrison, Bobby Mitchell and Henry Bussey III.
“It’s a goal for me, but it’s a goal for the whole entire corps,” Harrison said. “We got to step up, everybody, all around the depth chart. We just got to step up. We ain’t got those guys no more, we got to be those guys. We got to be the key to the offense.”
Through the first four practices of preseason camp, Harrison and Mitchell have been the starters on the outside, while Bussey has started in the slot. The trio combined for 42 catches, 573 yards and three touchdowns. Woods himself had 68 receptions for 934 yards in 2016.
While Harrison (6-foot-3, 187 pounds) and Mitchell (6-foot-2, 190 pounds) have begun the season atop the depth chart, they’ll have to ward off challenges from both McNeal and McGriff.
McNeal is the former Texas Longhorn that was cleared to practice for the first time on Saturday morning. At 6-foot-1 and 236 pounds, McNeal is a physical presence on the outside, often with at least 30 or 40 pounds on the cornerback covering him.
He spent last season at Fullerton College (Calif.) after transferring from Texas, where he was suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules. McNeal declined to specify what happened in Austin, instead saying that he’s moved on.
“I’ve learned from my mistakes and everything,” McNeal said. “I’m just moving forward and making it positive right here at FAU.”
Kiffin said McNeal has potential to be a “really elite player” with the Owls, and it helps that he already knows the playbook. While at Texas, McNeal played for offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert, who ran the same offense Kendal Briles currently does in Boca Raton.
“There’s still little stuff I got to brush up on,” McNeal said. “It’s been a like year since I ran it, but it’s coming along. When I played in this offense, I was a slot so now I’m outside. It’s kind of beneficial for me because I can play inside and outside.”
McNeal didn’t even consider FAU as a landing spot until the month before he signed with the Owls. Before January, McNeal was set on UCLA. But then Kiffin and Briles reached out. He couldn’t ignore them.
“Names like that, you can’t just say ‘I’m not interested,’” McNeal said. “I really took a big chance with it and I just see myself being very, very positive here in Conference USA and at FAU.”
McGriff signed with Florida out of high school but couldn’t qualify academically. So he attended Jirah Preparatory Academy and Iowa Western Community College before landing in Boca Raton. He’s listed at 6-foot-1 and 216 pounds, but appears heavier than that.
Wright, meanwhile, is the smallest player on the Owls roster at just 5-foot-8 and 155 pounds. Kiffin has raved early on about his ability in the slot.
mdefranks@ sun-sentinel.com; On Twitter @MDeFranks.