Florida Atlantic's QB battle remains close
What
FORT LAUDERDALE — did Lane Kiffiffin and the Florida Atlantic Owls learn after Saturday ’s sc r immage at Joseph Carter Park? Really nothing that they hadn’t seen through the team’s fifirst eight spring camp practices.
Though De’Andre Johnson and Chris Robison each had productive days, their quarterback battle continues without a true frontrunner in a race Kiffiffin has said he expects will continue until late August. The same players who have shined in the team’s limited positional battles — running back Gerald Hearns, wide receiver Jovon Durante, and defensive end Ernest Bagner, to name a few — all made plays to show Kiffiffin and coaches they can contribute this season.
“Right now, I feel 100 percent,” said Durante, who sat out last year after transferring from West Virginia in August. “I feel like I know everything, like I know what to do. … My capability is to do what I can do to play ball.”
Once again, Kiffin also came away impressed with how his players handled scrimmaging on the road. Saturday marked the Owls’
fifirst practice away from the Oxley Center this spring and the fifirst of three consecutive “road” Saturday practices. FAU will travel to Liberty City next Saturday and hold their annual spring game at FAU Stadium on April 21.
“For our kids, a change of scenery and a difffffffffffferent feel, I think kind of cuts up the rigors of spring football,” Kiffiffin said.
Johnson, Robison each continue to look more comfortable
There is a very real chance that the Owls’ current format of giving Johnson and Robison equal time with the
fifirst and second teams will continue into the summer. Johnson is building more strength following surgery last September for blood clots in his arm, while Robison is still creating chemistry with his receivers after sitting out last year.
“T h e r e ’s s o me f o r c e d things, but they did make s o me b i g t h i rd - d own o r
fourth- down plays to keep drives alive,” Kiffin said. “Good touchdown throws.”
Johnson found sopho - more Willie Wright deep for a touchdown for the second consecutive scrimmage and continued to make plays with his legs.
Robison led multiple scoring drives and has developed a nice rapport with Durante, continuing the bond they built last season on the scout team.
FLORIDA
RB Scarlett thankful to return to Gators
Running back Jordan Scarlett acknowledged that he considered declaring for the NFL draft, weighed his options and tried to feel out where he might have been picked.
But ultimately, he said, there was a lot pulling him
back to Florida.
“I just felt like I had a lot of unfifinished business here, and I owe my team a l ot from last year, so I decided to come back and give them all I’ve got,” he said Friday.
Scarlett was speaking to reporters for the fifirst time since he was suspended indefifinitely last August, ultimately wiping out his entire 2017 season, as one of nine players involved in credit card fraud.
Seven of those players, i ncl udi ng S c a rl e t t , were offffffffffffered pre- trial intervention that essentially amounted to probation and an opportunit y to avoid potential third-degree felony charges. Of the nine suspended players, fifififififive were eventually reinstated to the football program in January.
Florida Athletic Director Scott Stricklin worked with new Gators coach Dan Mullen to sort out the fifinal stage of that process, and Mullen met with the players and offered his recommendations on who he thought could be productive members of his program moving forward.
“I just told him I apologized. I was really sorry for what I did,” Scarlett said of his talk with Mullen. “The choice is his, but I was just ready for whatever decision he was going to give to me.”
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FLORIDA STATE
DE recruit impressed after unoffifficial visit
Welcome to the wild world of recruiting.
Before he made an unoffificial visit to Tallahassee on Friday, Florida State wasn’t in the top five for Tucker, Ga., defensive end Derrick McLendon.
The teams that did make his list were Florida, N.C. State, Georgia, Tennessee
and LSU.
Now, t h e Nol e s a r e i n there, too.
McLendon, a f our- s t ar prospect, raved about getting to know coach Willie Taggart, defensive ends coach Mark Snyder and everyone else with whom he came in contact.
“It was really good. Coach Snyder and Coach Taggart are great people,” McLendon said. “I can tell the atmosphere has changed, judging how the players react to the practice. I’ve been to a lot of places, and I haven’t seen a practice this amped up. Coach Willie has changed the atmosphere.”
“FSU is defifinitely up there (among schools he is considering), I won’t even lie to you. It felt real. It didn’t feel artifificial or that someone was putting on a show for
me. Felt like, no lie, I could possibly be a player here.”