Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Offensive line looking to cut back on overthinking, get back to basics
BOCA RATON — Florida Atlantic’s poor offensive start to the year shouldn’t be surprising.
The Owls opened their season with losses against Ohio State and UCF, two ranked teams that land in the top-20 in total defense.
But their offensive line wasn’t supposed to be the main cause of the team’s shortcomings.
The unit returned three starters and made redshirt sophomore Nick Weber a starter after being a lead reserve and a member of the offensive unit’s most improved list last season.
But that experience hasn’t stopped the front five from struggling to open up gaps for the running game or protect their quarterback.
The unit’s nine allowed sacks are the fourth-worst in the FBS. The Owls’ average yards per carry (2.0) is slightly better at fifthworst in the nation.
“We take a lot of the blame for [the offensive struggles] because we haven’t really established our
running game yet,” offensive lineman Junior Diaz said. “In order to be a successful offense, you gotta establish a running game and we haven’t done that yet.”
Even though the offensive line expected to be better than they have been, facing off against superior talent so far has allowed them to recognize what they need to fix.
“We lost two games against two good teams,” redshirt sophomore offensive lineman BJ Etienne said.
“You can’t tell me a better edge-rusher than Chase Young with Ohio State. Lost to UCF, but kind of good we got those things out of the way now. We can see our problems and get those things corrected.”
Multiple offensive linemen said overanalysis is one of the main problems they’ve been addressing in practice.
“I really feel like we’re overthinking a lot of things,” senior Brandon Walton said. “This week in practice, we need to go back to basics and go straight old-school line play. Just be more aggressive and be more dominant up front.”
The lineman owned up to not implementing their game plan. Etienne said they’re focusing on better execution while the coaches simplify their blocking strategies.
FAU coach Lane Kiffin has seen a difference as the team prepares for a matchup against Ball State on Saturday in Muncie, Ind.
“They practiced a lot better, a lot more physical, a lot tougher and hopefully we never play like that ever again here,” Kiffin said.
Offensive line beefs up:
FAU added some help on the front line in Colorado State’s Desmond Noel, who joined the team on Tuesday.
The 6-foot-4, 310-pound Cincinnati native is eligible to play this year. He started his collegiate career with the Ohio Bobcats and spent the last two seasons at Fort Scott C.C.
Noel committed to Colorado State in December 2018 before transferring to FAU.
Kiffin expects for Noel, who has two seasons left of eligibility, to contribute this year.
“We’re trying everything to get him up to pace,” Kiffin said. “He’s not going to play this week, but we’ll see if he can learn some stuff fast enough to play and help us.”
Noel can play center, but Kiffin said the team prefers him at left guard, the same position as Etienne.
With the offensive line’s struggles, Kiffin added he’s open to the possibility of a second-string lineman creating a six-man rotation with the starters in a similar role Weber was in last season.
“If guys don’t change how they’re playing, we’ll find someone to put in there,” Kiffin said. “It’s not a very deep position. A lot of attrition there — had two transfers we just signed this last six months and both guys left that were supposed to be pretty significant players.”