After the offense struggled last season for FAU football, Zach Kittley and company have been charged with fixing that and a big part of the turnaround will start upfront with the offensive line. The Owls dealt with inconsistency at the o-line position last season, battling through a flurry of injuries and inconsistent QB play and this season they will look to bounce back with a mix of returners and newcomers.
Speaking of newcomers, Stephen Hamby heads over from Texas Tech to serve as the offensive line coach, last serving as the Red Raiders O-Line coach in 2023. Last season the line started with veteran coach Ed Warriner, however after he was let go assistant Kyle Chung took over and Hamby will look to provide stability at the position.
With the offense looking to run an up-tempo pass heavy attack, the o-line will have to be able to give them time to execute which will make spring and summer camp invaluable as the unit looks to adjust to the new offense. The good thing for FAU is that they have a boatload of returners including Alex Atcavage and Daughtry Richardson, both who can serve a significant role on the field, but also help make up for some of the lost leadership that Federico Maranges gave to this unit for years.
Below will be a look at returners & newcomers, as well as quotes from Stephen Hamby & Alex Atcavage.
Returners
Redshirt Senior- Woody Jean, 6’5 315
Redshirt Freshman- Maddox Marchbank, 6’3 300
Redshirt Junior- Ja’Kavion Nonar, 6’8 315
Redshirt Sophomore- Antonio Solano, 6’3 295
Redshirt Junior- Mike Unis, 6’6 300
Redshirt Junior- Okino King, 6’3 305
Redshirt Junior- Dylan Lloyd, 6’4 305
Redshirt Freshman- Braden Cunningham, 6’6 315
Grad Student- Scarlee Jean, 6’4 320
Redshirt Freshman- Robert Medici, 6’5 295
Redshirt Freshman- Ethan Proffitt, 6’5 315
Redshirt Sophomore- Brayden Ramey, 6’6 315
Grad student- Alex Atcavage, 6’5 300
Redshirt Sophomore- Ovie Dubre, 6’4 325
Redshirt freshman- Mauricio Hinds, 6’5 305
Redshirt Junior- Daughtry Richardson, 6’5 320
Redshirt Freshman- Keon Rohe, 6’7 300
Redshirt Sophomore- Chrisdasson Saint-Jean, 6’7 310
Outlook
The offensive line unit features a ton of returners and with multiple starting spots up for grabs, this spring and summer will be pivotal to figure out who will be the starting 5 come Maryland in week one.
Alex Atcavage, Scarlee Jean and Daughtry Richardson have a direct path to playing time as all 3 saw playing time last season and the veteran experience they provide will help this offense build chemistry early on. Both Jean and Richardson missed time with injuries this past season and if all 3 remain healthy in 2025 there is a solid chance the unit bounces back from their inconsistencies from a season ago.
As for players who could see their role expand in 2025, look for Keon Rohe, Braden Cunningham and Ja’Kavion Nonar all to compete for a potential starting tackle job this season. All 3 have the size to bully AAC defenders in the trenches and if their technique is sound by the end of fall camp, there’s a solid chance one of the three earns a starting role.
The returning group of offensive lineman provide a solid mix of both experience and potential, and if they stay clear of the injury bug there is a solid foundation to build on this season.
Newcomers
Freshman- Logan Husband, 6’4 250
Freshman- Rain Banick, 6’5 290
Transfer, Redshirt Sophomore- Madden Sanker 6’5 (no weight listed)
Transfer, Sophomore- Vincent Forney, 6’5 275
Freshman- Nikolas Turner, 6’8 273
Outlook
Not many additions this spring for the Owls offensive line, as with 18 returners Kittley and company opted for quality over quantity with new additions. Spring will be a valuable opportunity for those in the room to make a positive impression and earn playing time, as it’s very likely FAU adds more O-Lineman over the summer, but those who are there now can look to perform well enough to change that.
Out of the new additions, Louisville transfer Madden Sanker has the best chance to earn a starting role due to his raw talent and versatility. Sanker was a highly touted recruit out of high school and although he didn’t breakthrough playing time wise at Louisville last season, he honed in on his technique and against AAC lines if the technique is solid, he has the size to bully defenders.
It’s unknown what the freshman will bring to the table this early in spring, however at 6’8 Nikolas Turner has the size to be an AAC caliber tackle, while both Husband and Banick have the strength to potentially overpower interior defenders with the correct developmental work.
Quotes from FAU OL Coach Steven Hamby:
O-line outlook:
“Got three guys that played a lot of football, so you got Scarlee Jean, you’ve got Alex Atcavage, and then you also have doctor (Scarlee Jean), so three totally different personnel, totally different, like, one wants to be a doctor, the other one is a six year senior and then you got one that’s a redshirt Junior right now. And each of them, you would never put them in the same room together at all. And so them coming together, being able to communicate, has been awesome to see. We’ve got a baby, you know, Braden Cunningham, he’s doing some really good stuff up in the center position. And then you’ve got two, you got two very long tackles in Ja’Kavion Nonar and Keon Rohe who are showing big flashes of seeing the function of how it goes. And so like not to knock their strengths or weaknesses or anything right now, because we’re so early on in the stage of them learning, but they’re actually buying into what we’re asking them to do. And I think communication is actually about the biggest thing that we’re working through right now, I think they’re so used to, here’s the call we made. One call, we don’t have to say anything, whereas, I give the center free reign, because he only gets one call and then now we gotta go. So they gotta communicate a lot together. So there is no you can’t be muted in our offense. You gotta be on the same page, because there’s gonna be so many times defenses are gonna stand, they’re gonna move the fronts, they’re gonna change the fronts, and it’s gonna be on that center to identify where we’re going. And they’ve got all across the center. And so that’s where you’ll see me hone in on my center. And that’s maybe a bias being a center, you know previously, but he’s got to control the unit. So there’s a lot of weight on the center’s shoulders, because the tackles are so hard,” Hamby said.
What he looks for from the OL in the spring
I think 100% you gotta identify who your best five are, the difference is, I go into who are my best six and seven, you know? I mean, like, who’s my running someone off the sideline, the center helmet came off. Or can I move one guy over and put in the guard real quick? You know? I mean, stuff like that, so that someone is actually fresh in the game when you get a job, kind of depth of it, it’s kind of, you gotta see who your who your dynamic six man is on the interior, who your dynamic six man is on at the tackle position, and then kind of identify who, what your actual depth looks like. And so right now we have depth analysis, we’re going in a situation where there’s a lot of development we’re having, this is springtime, so I harp on development, development during springtime, opposed to who’s the starter right now, because we’ll be able to shuffle, I can shuffle guys around and put them out of position just to make them uncomfortable, make them understand, you know. Oh, you know, you’re having a day in the park and you want to get mad at your center, like, I’m all going to put you at center. Let’s see how you fare with it. And so that’s kind of where spring ball is developmental. I don’t think anybody in their fifth or sixth year as player is like, I cannot wait for spring ball. I don’t think that’s ever happened. So right now it’s more about this is like true energy that I need to have with pads on. And that’s where it really can carry over the summer. They can start doing those drills, and then we get really, really good,” Hamby said.
Where he sees new pieces
“So with Madden, I’m trying to, see exactly where he fits, and he’s had some center mobility. So I am trying to declare if he is a true center or not be open. I was able to get a little guard action with him today. I can move him. I can move him, first off, from left to center to right, you know, because he’s kind of, he came from Louisville and kind of played both of those positions. Vince is still, he’s got, he’s got very awesome athletic ability. He’s still is like a puppy, and so we’re still just getting him going. And kind of just referring to portal. That was kind of one of those periods where we had to assess what we actually had in the room. And then kind of go from there. And so that’s where, that’s where this whole everybody will be different in their approach coming in the spring. But right now, we’re in a situation where I like our depth, I like what we have going. We have to get stronger. And obviously we just gotta run the plays and understand that we’re not gonna, it’s not just gonna be a clap and butcher the sideline. We gotta be ready to run. And you can’t be 380 pounds and do that. So that’s where, that’s where we’re getting a lot of the guys in shape. And then we’re, we’re moving into our offense, and everybody’s becoming an FAU kid instead of a portal kid,” Hamby said.
Quotes from Alex Atcavage
On continuity on the line
“So Daughtry Richardson, he was here last year, played with him a bunch, and he decided to come back a few days before me. And it was easy to, give him a call and say, hey Daughtry, like, let’s do this thing. And then I knew that we had a young kid with Braden Cunningham that I became really close with. And so just bringing all the guys together, like, I haven’t seen the group, the younger guy group, I haven’t seen them being that close in my years of being here, like they’re all so close. All they do, they do everything together. They hang out in the dorm together. They go eat together. And so I think that that’s going to be the one thing that brings us to the next level this year is that everybody in the OL room this year truly loves each other,” Atcavage said.
Thoughts on the offense and where he fits
“So the immediate meeting that we had with Coach Kit, I kind of told him what I was comfortable with and obviously he’s got this tag on his offense and his Air-Raid offense. Well initially, because I didn’t know much about it kind of I was like, Oh, it’s a lot of passing and whatnot. But he told me, he goes, Hey. He goes, You come back. I want you to play right guard. I want daughtry to play the right tackle. He goes, and we want to get you guys comfortable in the position that you guys are going to probably play with us. We don’t want to be flipping everybody around and making everybody’s head because at the end of the day, we did a lot of that last year, and not, negatively talking about that, because it’s great to have versatility, like, that’s one of the best things that you can have. But when you’re consistently switching the lineup, switching what position you’re playing, you do go out there and play tentative. So the biggest thing was, let’s get comfortable. Like Coach Hamby said with Madden, he had a little bit of left guard today, but we’re in practice four, and it was his first time taking left guard reps. So he’s had four days. We’ve had some walkthroughs to get comfortable at center, and then now we can kind of, hey, we’re going to swing up to left guard, and he has to have to command the entire offensive line. So their biggest thing was, let’s get everybody comfortable in their position that we think that they can play and then we’ll go from there,” Atcavage said.
What changes for the OL in a Kittley offense
“There’s some technique things that are much different with pass protection. The biggest thing with Coach Hamby is he doesn’t want us to be passive in the pass pro. He wants us to be aggressive. And with my years being here, this is the first time I’ve ever had confidence in my punch, my one on ones and our team periods, that you can see the difference in how the pocket looks, that the pockets not running by the quarterback. And so Caden has the ability to either he has to kind of drift right, or he can try to drift left, and then he can hit that pass. So I just think that the technique on the pass protection was kind of the biggest thing that he was like, Hey, this is what I want to do, so I think that that’s helped us out a lot, because in team period, you’ll see, we’ve been doing a good job the first group with protecting the quarterback,” Atcavage said.