Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Emmons on target for return
Kiffin expects RB to be back in action Saturday vs. UTSA
BOCA RATON — Florida Atlantic coach Lane Kiffin said he anticipates redshirt junior running back BJ Emmons will return to the field against UTSA on Saturday.
“Good,” Kiffin said about how Emmons has looked in practice the past couple of days. “I actually anticipate him playing in this game.”
Emmons, an Alabama transfer, broke his ankle during the first quarter of the Owls’ season-opening loss to Ohio State on Aug. 31. He picked up 1 yard on his lone carry and lost 2 yards on his only catch against the Buckeyes.
Emmons teased his return about a month ago, posting an Instagram video of him running on the team’s practice fields on Oct. 28. On Monday, he posted on Instagram “God is truly amazing.. I’m bacc GAME WEEK!” with the geotag
being UTSA.
“It’s really great to be out there with the team, get to move around and push myself,” Emmons said. “Just find a way to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. I’m still dealing with the pain and everything, but I love it. I love football so that’s the reason I’m practicing the way I am now.
“I’m in pain, but what else would I rather be doing? I’m here for the moment. I’m gonna be where my feet are. I gotta push through it.”
Emmons was the fifth-ranked running back in the ESPN 300 Class of 2016 rankings. He rushed for 173 yards on 35 attempts (4.9 yards per attempt) during his true freshman season with the Crimson Tide in 2016 before suffering a similar injury that season that required two surgeries.
Emmons transferred to Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College for the 2017 season before reuniting with Kiffin, who was his offensive coordinator at Alabama in 2016, when he transferred to FAU in 2018. He’ll see a doctor on Thursday before the Owls travel for their game against the Roadrunners.
“He looked great,” said starting quarterback Chris Robison, a Mesquite, Texas, native who anticipates about 60 people he knows will attend the game. “I wish we had him for the whole year, which I’m sure a lot of people did, but having him this last stretch of games is really good for us.”
Emmons said he also expects to have family members attend the game. He has cousins and aunts on his mom’s side of the family who live in the San Antonio and Dallas areas.
“I’ve been motivated,” Emmons said. “I’m self-motivated. It’s just good to play in front of a crowd of people I know the most and they’ve just been with me since I’ve been going through the injury. I feel good. It means something to me.”