Owls football

Injuries have given newcomer DeSean Holmes a chance to make an impact.

Florida Atlantic receiver DeSean Holmes was always expected to have an immediate impact once he arrived last spring.

It just didn’t figure to be this fast.

Because of injuries, Holmes has been given more opportunity to prove himself the first three days of training camp. On Sunday, the Owls were without receivers Jovon Durante, Willie Wright, Pico Harrison and DeAndre McNeal because of undisclosed injuries.

Holmes, a junior-college transfer, said the additional reps have helped him to learn the offensive tendencies quicker.

“It helped me a lot, to learn every scheme of the offense, the way the tight ends go and the running backs,” Holmes said. “More opportunities to show what I can do.”

The receiving unit was already among the question marks in training camp. The Owls need to find replacements for Kamrin Solomon and Kalib Woods, who graduated.

“There’s still a lot to be said because there’s not a lot of production,” FAU coach Lane Kiffin said. “Willie and DeAndre had some of that at the beginning of the year but outside of that, there really isn’t any returning production. … We’ve got some work to do.”

This is supposed to be the time for Kiffin to evaluate the unit. Instead, it’s been tough because the lack of bodies.

“The problem is a lot of those guys aren’t practicing,” Kiffin said. “There were four of them [Sunday] in black jerseys, which is difficult to evaluate when four of your guys that are supposed to be in your first couple units aren’t out there. … And it wears the other guys down.”

Kiffin has resorted to some experimentation. He moved the 5-foot-10, 180-pound Holmes from slot to outside so they could get a better look at him.

“He’s really built more for inside but we’ve got outside issues with a lot of those guys down,” Kiffin said. “He could play both.”

Holmes and Kiffin aren’t strangers. Kiffin offered Holmes a scholarship to USC when he was a high school sophomore.

“It was actually the offensive coordinator who called me and gave me the offer,” Holmes said. “I was walking to my last class of the day. It was pretty cool. I went to a camp fair and I met him probably like three or four times.

After Kiffin was fired, Holmes de-committed and had stops at San Diego State, Division I-AA Southern Utah and College of Canyons Junior College in California.

Kiffin said the prior relationship had nothing to do with FAU going after Holmes a second time. Last year Holmes, who was a three-star recruit coming out of high school, caught 52 passes for 912 yards and seven touchdowns in 11 games. He had offers from UCLA, Houston and Utah before choosing to play for Kiffin.

“He’s smooth,” Kiffin said. “He’s fast. We obviously watched him play in junior college and saw a good player.”

So far, Holmes hasn’t had any complaints about FAU. He’s been impressed by the staff, especially wide receivers coach Gary Harrell.

“Great coaches, coaches who played in Power Five conferences,” Holmes said. “They can bring anything to the table as well as going somewhere else.”