Transfer hopes to make a difference with Owls.

Jeremiah Taleni slipped on his new jersey and walked onto Florida Atlantic’s practice fields.

It was 90 degrees. The sky was blue. It all felt familiar.

“I couldn’t give up palm trees and coconuts,” Taleni said.

Taleni is used to those. He grew up in Kaneohe, Hawaii, where he began playing football in the eighth grade. A few years later, he accepted a scholarship to play at Pitt.

Everything went smoothly until last April. Entering his fifth season as a redshirt senior defensive tackle, Taleni was kicked off the team for violating undisclosed rules. Taleni wouldn’t specify what rules he broke.

“I had a long summer,” Taleni said.

Taleni soon transferred to FAU as a graduate student and was officially cleared to join the team Wednesday.

He’s looking forward to focusing solely on football.

“Pitt is known as one of the toughest teams in the ACC,” Taleni said. “So I can bring that physicality here.”

Last season, FAU ranked last in Conference USA in rushing defense, giving up 245.42 rushing yards per game. They also ranked ninth in sacks (23) and 10th in tackles for loss (65), an area coach Lane Kiffin hopes to see improve.

And while Taleni started just three games last season at Pitt, totaling 24 tackles and 5½ tackles for loss, Kiffin thinks he can help.

“I would hope he’d be an every-down player for us,” Kiffin said.

Taleni hopes so, too. He dropped to about 285 pounds from his 300-pound playing weight last season, Kiffin said, giving him more freedom to rely on his athleticism and less weight slowing him down on the field.

Taleni said his motivation to lose weight came from watching and learning under former Pitt defensive lineman and current St. Louis Ram Aaron Donald. Donald was a senior when Taleni was a freshman, and was significantly lighter than Taleni, who weighed 340 pounds at the time.

“As soon as I saw [Donald] go about his work, see how he approached every day in practice, his style of play, I wanted to change that,” Taleni said. “I wanted to follow in his footsteps.”

Four years later, Taleni has achieved his target weight. Now, he said, it’s just a matter of acclimating to FAU’s system.

“I’m still trying to get the calls down. But that’ll come in time,” Taleni said. “I ain’t worried about it.”

Taleni participated in light drills on Wednesday but won’t wear pads until Friday, Kiffin said.

And even though he couldn’t practice with the defense, Taleni liked what he saw from his new teammates — they were active and constantly moving, especially on the defensive line.

The next step, Taleni said, is finding out how he fits in.

“I’m still figuring that out,” he said. “Everyday I’m trying to figure out what I can do, what I can add to this defense.”

When he left Pitt, Taleni wanted to join a school that played a similar style of defense to make his transition as smooth as possible. Soon, he narrowed his choices to FAU, Arizona and Western Michigan.

Ultimately, the South Florida weather swayed him.

The other deciding factor?

“Lane Kiffin,” Taleni said. “I mean, a guy with his resume — he coached in the league, he coached at one of the top programs, several of the top programs in DI.

“To play under him, that’s an opportunity I couldn’t give up.”

“Pitt is known as one of the toughest teams in the ACC. So I can bring that physicality here.” Jeremiah Taleni, Pitt transfer