Day 3 of FAU fall camp commenced on Friday afternoon, with Owls Offensive Coordinator Charlie Frye addressing the media and providing his opinion on the Owls’ offensive development this offseason. Frye believes that the work that FAU put in during the offseason has paid dividends, especially the time that was optional, where a majority of Owls players still showed up and got extra reps.
“I think our kids have really put in a lot of work in summer, especially the month of July. They were responsible for running OTAs running the player led stuff, you can tell that there was a lot of work done, because you’re right there’s there’s a lot of new faces, so one of the keys to success in this game is gelling together, like the camaraderie, getting to know your brother and a lot of that has taken place in the summer. So, you know, we were able to hit the ground running at a pretty good clip on the first day,” Frye said.
In our second position primer, we take a look at the WR position, one that debuts a new array of talent, alongside a group of returners, all of which will be competing for the starting roles.
Wide Receivers
Returners:
#3 Jayshon Platt – 6’1 195 LBS JR
#4 BJ Alexander – 6’3 198 LBS 6th year Senior
#10 Omari Hayes – 5’9 170 LBS Redshirt Sophomore
#82 Jabari Smith – 5’10 170 LBS Redshirt Freshman
Transfers/Freshman:
#0 Milan Tucker – 5’11 180 LBS Redshirt Senior transfer from App State.
#7 George Johnson, III- 6’0 185 LBS Grad year Transfer from UMASS
#9 Caleb Coombs (photo top) – 5’11 180 LBS JR transfer from Marshall
#11 Marlyn Johnson – 6’4 205 LBS Grad year transfer from Buffalo
#13 EJ Horton – 6’1 185 LBS Senior transfer from West Virginia
#19 Dom Henry – 5’11 185 LBS Redshirt sophomore transfer from BYU
#80 Joe Young – 6’1 195 LBS Junior transfer from Coffeyville CC
#81 Leon Washington Jr – 5’8 170 LBS Freshman recruit from North Florida Christian HS
#83 Nicholas Wilson – 5’11 170 LBS junior transfer from Houston
#84 Nicholas Venezia – 5’10 170 LBS Freshman recruit from Jensen Beach HS
#85 Devarius Mitchell – 5’10 180 LBS Junior transfer from Davenport University
#89 Jett Coolman – 6’0 180 LBS Jr transfer from Millsaps college
Key Returners: BJ Alexander – Alexander comes into this season as the leading returning receiver on this unit from this past season, recording 10 receptions for 104 yards and 1 score. In a rotational role last season, Alexander caught a majority of his snaps in an outside role, showing an ability to win 1 on 1 matchups and being a chain moving threat on the outside for the Owls.
Heading into his 6th overall season, and 5th with FAU, Alexander has a serious opportunity to seize a starting role on this offense with the veteran experience and size, standing at 6’3, to dominate a role on the outside. Early on during the offseason, Alexander established himself as a leader in the room and has worked with other wide receivers to adjust to FAU, showing the leadership attributes he needs to take on a starting role in this offense.
Quoteable: “Not doing too much or too little, fall back on my work and work hard. You can’t beat work, that’s what it comes down to the most , the work I put in I feel like the coaches see it. When times get tough, I feel like I’m going to fall back on the work I put in,” FAU WR BJ Alexander On how he’s separating himself in the WR room.
Jayshon Platt – Coming into this season alongside Alexander as the only 2 Owls WRs in this room with previous experience at FAU, Platt played in 20 games across the past 2 seasons, recording 5 catches for 33 yards, also returning 8 kicks with an average of 20.8 yards per return and a high of 29 yards. Platt was unable to break a stacked top depth chart the past 2 seasons at Wr, but now in year 2 with experience under his belt this season has a chance to win a starting role and make a serious impact in the WR-room.
Platt has the size at 6 ‘1 to compete on the outside, but where he separates himself is with his speed and his ability to blow by defenders of all size on the outside and with an opportunity this season he should be able to put this on display. His speed has been on display at the KR position these past 2 years, and it’s expected he takes on that role again this season, but with an open race at the WR position it can be expected he puts that speed on display on the outside in an attempt to win a role.
Omari Hayes – Hayes is in his 3rd official season with the Owls, having played in 2 games last season serving as depth in the slot behind LaJohntay Wester. Hayes was HS teammates with Jayshon Platt and formed a dominating duo combining for 23 touchdowns and 185 catches at Venice HS, that dominating ability he displayed at Venice hasn’t been able to be displayed in the regular season at FAU, but this past spring game he made FAU fans aware of his abilities, recording 7 receptions for 55 yards and a TD.
Hayes has a chance to compete for a starting spot in the slot during camp for FAU, and has a strong ability to move in open space and play a pivotal role in the RPO game in this Owls offense.
Key Newcomers: Milan Tucker – Tucker comes to the Owls as a senior transfer from APP State, fresh off his biggest season with the mountaineers in the receiving department where he recorded 21 receptions for 305 yards and 1TD. Tucker was recently nominated to the JET award list, which recognizes the top returners in the nation and his returning ability was on full display at APP State where he returned kicks the past 5 seasons, returning 52 kicks for an average of 25.3 yards per kick, with one touchdown coming in 2022.
His speed has always been on display at the returning position, and last season he was able to put that on display in the slot for app State, and early on in training camp for FAU Tucker has been displaying that same speed, showing a connection with both Starks and Fancher in a variety of different routes. As a seasoned veteran and someone with blazing speed, it can be expected for Tucker to strongly compete for a starting role in this offense and play a major role in it as well.
Quoteable: “Just trying to be myself, I feel like everyone has their own niche and personality and the way they play, so being myself and lifting up other guys and trying to coach them through because I’m one of the oldest guys, if not the oldest guy in the room. It’s being a mentor towards them, I feel like there is no dominant leader, but we all have leadership qualities and we all use them to our advantage in our respective ways,” FAU WR Milan Tucker.
Caleb Coombs – Coombs comes to FAU, alongside QB Cam Fancher from Marshall and joins this offense with camaraderie already built alongside a potential QB one option. Coombs is coming off of a career year, where he was Marshall’s leading pass catcher this past season, recording 39 receptions for 329 yards and 2 scores. Coombs played a majority of snaps last season in the slot at Marshall, showing a dynamic ability to move in space, however also lining up on the outside, showing an ability to break press coverage and create space on his own against bigger defenders on the outside.
Coombs’ versatility as a receiver and connectedness with a potential starting QB in Fancher gives him the ability to compete for a starting role in this offense, and it’s expected for him to compete for reps in the slot, but with Tucker also competing for that same position, it will be interesting to see if Coombs competes for an outside role, rather than in the slot.
EJ Horton – a new member of this WR unit, having committed over the summer but comes into this offense with experience at 2 D1 programs, having started at Marshall where he where he played in 19 games across 3 seasons, recording 16 catches for 245 yards and 2 scores, showing an ability to be a threat in the deep ball department. In 2023 he transferred to West Virginia, and was the 4th string WR, recording 10 receptions for 201 yards and a score.
Horton comes to the Owls with a solid amount of experience on the outside and brings a diverse skill set as he has the speed to blow by defenders on the outside, but also the strength to break press coverage. With a wide open race for the outside receiver positions, it can be expected for Horton to compete for a starting role in the offense, having been seen taking on reps with both the 1st and 2nd team offense so far in the early part of training camp.
Owl Bytes
Jet-Speed FAU Wr Milan Tucker was named to the JET award preseason watch list, and has his eyes set on big goals in the returning department this season, after only being named to the second team All American returners list this past season
“I feel like there isn’t really a strategy to it. It’s really just taking every day and making it your own. There’s not one play one moment better than the other. It’s kind of just taking one step at a time. The goal for me as a first team, it’s kind of it’s that unwritten thing that I kind of chased for a while, getting second team all American was nice, I appreciate that, it’s a good accolade to have, but first team haunts me a little bit, so I’m chasing that,” Tucker said.
Earning Coaches Trust With an array of new receivers joining FAU during the offseason and a depth chart that is wide open, earning the trust of OC Charlie Frye is something that he says he is looking for from the WRs he brought in this offseason, and that starts with doing the little things during camp.
“See who we can trust. As a player, you say, ‘well, how can I earn your trust coaches,’ at that position, it’s being in the right spot at the right time. That’s how you earn the quarterbacks’ trust. Then when the ball comes to you making the catch, so there’s a lot of variables that go into it. But at the end of the day, earning trust is knowing what to do, knowing how to do it, and then doing it that way every time.” FAU OC Charlie Frye.
Staying with the times This past offseason, recent rule changes allowed for a direct communication between OC Charlie Frye and the quarterback on the field, which will allow for seamless communication of plays and prevent any attempt at sign stealing, which has been a prevalent issue recently in college football and potentially for the Owls. FAU OC Charlie Frye is familiar with helmet communication at the pro level, and he understands how to use it with checks and balances without overloading the QB.
“I love it, just having it as a player, playing with the coach being able to talk to me, especially when I was in Seattle, because Mike talked directly to us as the head coach. So, the quick sentences that he would get us like the trigger words. Hey, you’re high low here, or hey, you’re low high back inside, or zero throws zero go or slight field takes two or slight boundary takes one and another. So just those little triggers were important for me as a young quarterback. So having that as a player and then being able to do it with a Miami, I think you can overdo it with with the the information that you’re gonna give them, and I think that if you think you’re gonna go into the game and tell your quarterback to do on every play exactly what to do. I think it’s gonna catch up to you. Like we’re still in the business of developing young quarterbacks. Let’s not lose sight of that. But if we can help, let’s help.”- FAU OC Charlie Frye
Coaches Corner
OC Charlie Frye headlined our time in video interviews.
FAU will be back in session tomorrow morning for Day 4 of Fall Camp at the Tom Oxley Center, when we will be covering the cornerback Unit.