Tom Herman took to the podium Monday afternoon for the first time since his squads drubbing of FIU in the Shula Bowl 38-20 and he touched on a variety of topics, praising the FAU fanbase for weathering the Storm against FIU, an update on injuries, his thoughts on UConn and much more in a nearly 20 minute press conference to kick off the week.
Herman mentioned the talent of UConn and with respect to FIU noted that this week will bring a new challenge to the Owls and its one he’ll want to see his team rise up for and improve upon their success against FIU. Herman also provided a bit of reasoning for the passing game struggles in Fancher’s injury update, noting that there are some passes which Cam has missed due to a finger injury, but it is something they are rehabbing and hope improves day by day.
Overall, Herman sounds rejuvenated following his first W of the 2024 campaign and this week will give his Owls another chance to improve and show that the first 2 losses were a product of new-ness, rather than a reflection of what they are capable of.
Opening statement from Tom Herman
“I would certainly like to thank our fans for staying through, I think it was an hour and 42 minute weather delay to make sure that we were very well represented at home during the Shula Bowl, It was really fun to see their crowd as well, the FIU fans that did come and stuck around through that weather delay. I’m sure Coach McIntyre feels the same way. You know, want to thank the fans that that weathered that storm.”
“Pun intended, and really, really happy to come away with a win. It’s our first win in damn near calendar year, and against a good football team. Got a lot of respect for Coach McIntyre and what he’s building down there. They’ve got a really good quarterback and a much improved defense, and so I think those guys will make some noise in that conference, and more than the win, I think I was proudest of our response to adversity, and we did everything you could think of early in that game to try to lose it. And we went three straight, three and outs. We gave a cheap touchdown on defense, we had a block punt, and we found a way to settle ourselves down. Because, I mean, it had all the feelings and making the last two games from a frustration level, and something clicked in our guys, and they found the confidence necessary to just go back to their training and trust what they’ve been coached to do in times like that. And the second and third quarter was about a good a football, collectively, on the different phases, different sides of the ball, as we played since I’ve been here.”
“Now, we got to learn when you’re up 38 to 7, you have to be able to finish people out and you know, but that last drive by the offense, they got their butts in gear. I think we ended with a double digit play drive and kneeling the football, or at least getting the first down to end the game. And so overall, really pleased. But also know that as improved as FIU is, UConn is going to be even more formidable. Coach Mora has done a heck of a job. They got a big time quarterback and receiver. They’ve got a big tailback. Their offensive line is probably as good that we’ve seen on film at this level. I know they’re independent. They used to be in the conference at least last time I was in it, and so it certainly rivals any offensive line in the American Conference right now. And so, they’re pretty multiple, to say the least on defense, they come from the Rocky Long School of 335, kind of bring people from everywhere, Blitzing safeties, free safeties sometimes, they look like they’re playing linebackers, then other times they are 30 yards deep in the post, you know. And so it’s, it’s a tough defense to kind of wrap your your hands around and and we’re playing on the road, so we’ve got a tough challenge ahead of us, but we grew a lot, not only in the lead up and preparation into the FIU game, during the FIU game, and I think if, if we make the same kind of growth this week, heading into the UConn game, we’re going to give them a heck of a game.”
General Injury update
“Daedae Hill did suffer a high ankle sprain, so he he did not practice today and will be a game time decision. We’re going to try our best to get him ready, hopefully jogging around by Thursday or Friday, And you know, he’s a vet. He’s a guy that got a ton of mental reps today at practice, so we’re going to do our best to get him ready. And then Jarvis Johnson, our young freshman linebacker tore his LCL, and actually surgery on that here pretty soon to repair that, so he’ll miss the rest of the season. But other than that, we’re a little banged up. FIU is a physical team, we’ve played three really, really physical games in a row, and we got to take a deep breath and go prepare for another one that may be the most physical of the bunch.”
Player by player Injury update
Scarlee Jean:
“Scarlee is working back into practice this week, very timely, with Daughtry breaking his hand in pregame warm up, another thing we had to respond to and overcome, So I think it’s too early to say if he’ll play in the game… but we’re going to try to get him ready. He took reps against the scout team today, tomorrow, the plan is for him to take reps with the defense, and we need to talk about it a little bit more, because this type of defense may not be the best way to get your feet wet, coming from NAIA football. And next thing you know, it looks like they got 14 guys on the field. So we’ll talk about it. But we need him. We need his body. We need him healthy. We need his his ability. So it’ll be nice to hopefully, if he it looks like, if he’s stays on this trend, he’ll he’ll play for us.”
Daughtry Richardson:
“He is not out, the way that they have to club his hand to make him safe to play, he’s having a tough time with it, we’re hoping that on game day they can put him, I think on Thursday actually, they’re going to try a smaller cast so that, instead of a club, so maybe he has use of a couple fingers. He just can’t play offensive line without your fingers, so we’re gonna try a new cast out on Thursday, and if that helps, and he can perform his duties at an adequate level, then he’ll be ready to go. The only thing that’s holding him back right now he’s cleared to play. It’s a broken hand, but you have to protect that hand, as with any broken bone, so kind of hard to play offensive line, so we’re going to try our best to have him ready, but it’ll be all dependent on whether he can really function with that hand.”
Cam Fancher:
“He hurt his finger again, this goes back, I think he got stepped on in the Michigan State game, he’s been dealing with it, treating it. I mean, this is something that probably going to be bothering him until the bye week, and we can rest it, you know, completely for a good week. But he’s good, I mean, it is throwing hands, you know, there are some throws that you see, It’s like, he kind of looks at me like (Shaking finger), I’m like, Okay, I got it, you know, and so you deal with it, but he’s managing it.”
Herman on Fancher seeing an increased rushing workload
“Yeah, I think, you know, he’s, he’s the type of guy where, you’re asking him to make a lot of decisions, even in the run game. You know, run plays are not plays off for quarterbacks in this offense. And so I think we can help him. He can help himself by making better decisions in the run game, but yeah, when he when he made right decisions, and he got out in the open field, when we called quarterback draw, when he looked like the guy we we saw on video, for sure.”
Thoughts on Zuberi Mobley leading FAU in RB snaps vs FIU and plan going forward
“Those two guys are co-starters. We have one run back and two bodies, and I think they both like it that way, I know we do as well, as that’s a as violent a position as there is in our sport. And so, yeah, I mean, there’s this never by design, like we don’t ever say, hey, we want this week Zu to get 60% and this week CJ to get 40. You know, it’s just who’s tired, who’s fresh, who’s seeing it well, you know, all that stuff, and they’re they’re great.”
Herman on if the run struggles in the first 2 games were a fluke
“No, Army is a really good football team, and we struggled to run against Michigan State, who’s a really good defense, and FIU has good defense. And this is again, but when you jump into the American Conference, you jump in right in the deep end and right, wrong or indifferent, those are the games we’re supposed to win now that we’re in this conference, and I know that maybe our resources are much more on par with FIU than maybe USF, but we got to go beat Army and USF and those guys every week. And so again, a very good FIU team, but we’ve got a big test this week, I think this for the run game question, this will be a a much bigger test for us.”
Herman on his team understanding FIU was an important Win, but not getting too happy
“I hope we’re not that immature, you know, I don’t think we are. All you do is come to work and turn on the UConn film, it’s probably the best answer, because if they don’t jolt you into oh, ‘we better be on our P’s and Q’s this week,’ I told our team, every time you win, you make the next week more important, you up the ante, you up the stakes. And that means your level of preparation needs to up as well and increase and do it better, more of it, greater attention to detail, so on and so forth. So we understand that, you know, we got a taste of what Conference football in the American Conference is going to look like against Army, and this will be another test of a, you know, you dump UConn back into our conference, and this team that I see on film, it top four or five team for sure.”
Herman on if there will be any drop-off at CB if Daedae Hill is out
“Yes, and that is no knock on Mike Antoine, that’s no knock on Cam Goggins, that’s no knock on whoever else would fill in there, But Daedae is having a heck of a really year since the off season, and so to be very blunt, yeah, there will be drop off. But that’s why one guy’s a starter and plays 70 snaps and one guy’s not and plays 10. So we hope to limit that drop off, if you’re going to have a guy get hurt, you’d rather them get hurt at the end of the game and in a win and now you have the week to get the guy ready. It’s when your starter goes down, play four, and now you gotta play a kid that’s gotten half the reps all game. That’s hard, but those guys will get all the reps this week, so we don’t feel like the drop off will be like it would be if you just threw them in the game and said, hey, go play the game.”
Herman on if any young players stood out against FIU
“Eric Brantley and Gavench Marcellin for sure, those guys play hard, really, really hard. Gemari Sands is a fun guy to be around, and I love his intensity, and he’s he’s got a lot of speed and twitch, he’s a tough dude. We have to get him going the right direction, not jumping off sides on punt block. But, you know, some of those guys stand out to me, and will continue too. Lawrence Johnson, got some quality reps and played well, lots of stuff he can work on, so yeah, there were some guys that stood out and it was fun to see some of those young guys get out and play some football.”
Final Thoughts
FAU will have a tough battle on their hands this week, but following a momentum shifting win in the Shula Bowl, the Owls will look to come out with fire early, something that even against FIU they were unable to do, however now with a run-game that is clicking, hopefully the Owls can lean on that early and find success as a whole.
Fancher’s finger injury is something to monitor and see if the passing game improves as his finger does, or if the offense becomes hampered by their signal callers struggles to hit certain passes due to his finger.
Overall, the Owls now have success on the offensive side of the ball to build on, and following a bounce back performance from their defense, FAU will be heading into UConn with momentum and will be looking to take a victory back to Boca.