FAU Coach Tom Herman addressed media on Tuesday afternoon to kickoff Wagner week and address a variety of pressing topics related to his team. Herman spoke on what he is looking for during practice following the drubbing at UConn, a new option at Quarterback, while also touching on conference realignment and more. FAU matches up with FCS Wagner this week, before heading into a bye prior to conference play and need to find their mojo before it is too late. The struggles on both sides of the ball were addressed by Herman, and heading into a week where FAU needs to figure out what works, most importantly in terms of passing the ball, the offense is getting back to the basics, while also leaving no stone unturned in trying to figure out what their best option is. Herman opening statement on practice and the team looking to find consistency “What you what you see on Saturdays is a direct reflection of what you do throughout the week, and when you don’t perform to the level of your expectations consistently, the only thing to do then is to ratchet up the consequence level in practice for not doing that. And the thing that we’re learning is it’s okay to make mistakes on a Tuesday practice, but there are mistakes that are acceptable and those that aren’t. And you know, it’s okay, hey, this is a different defense, and we’re gonna run this play like this, and oh, okay, hey, I went to the wrong guy. Or, okay, run it back. Let’s, let’s see that again. Or on defense, hey, it’s we didn’t adjust for the motion quite right on, on this coverage, because it’s new this week. Or whatever. Those all are, okay. Now you got to get them fixed in a hurry and make sure that the ball doesn’t roll downhill. But where I’m going with this is what’s now okay, is when we tell you go left and you go right on a Tuesday when there’s literally no play called for the offense and an offensive player false start. And so today, if that happened, just get out now. We may, we may show up to the Wagner game. You know, less athletic on the field, but we’re, we’re damn sure not going to look like a poorly coached team the way we did the other night.” “So the players that have ability need to learn, and the only way that we can feel a team that’s athletic enough and consistent enough then is to get the athletic guys consistent. And that’s our job as coaches. And you know, we haven’t overturned every stone just yet. There’s always another one to overturn. And so we’re, obsessed with trying to figure this team out, because I think we’ve got good guys. We’ve got really good players. But I think it speaks holistically too. This is, we gotta’ ask ourselves, as a program, you know, what are they doing at UConn through three years, however, long it’s been there? You know, they had some really good players. And I want to know, why is their offensive line pushing us around, strength coach, you know? Why? This administration that’s won, 10s of national championships, you know, I got my personnel guy, what? Who, we’re going to go over there 2-deep on Thursday and figure out, okay, what transfers did they sign? Were we recruiting that same transfer? What did their collective pay? You know? And so we’ve got to find out, because that’s a very, very good barometer. The University of Connecticut, what Coach Mora has done there, and I think fourth year is because that’s not an easy place to recruit to. So I want to know what’s there. What are they spending on player acquisition and retainment? What are they doing in their strength and development department? Because we’ve got to speed this thing up in a hurry if we want to look like, play like, act like UConn, and so we’re this is, this is a deep dive into everything that we do.” Herman on Kasen Weisman seeing an expanded role I think you’ll, you’ll see him play a scripted, not scripted plays, but at a scripted time in the game, Coach frye, we’ve communicated that to both Cam and him. We haven’t settled on, you know, kind of the mechanics of that, you know, when and how. But I cant look at this team and ask them to change and get rid of bad habit, you know. I’ve got to make some changes too, and I’ve got to do things as the head coach to create some kind of meaningful change, And if that is the play of Kasen when he gets in, great, if that is him being there and Cam knowing and playing better because of it even better. But we’re, like I said, this is about uncovering every stone to find the right buttons to push on this team. And you know, we’ve got two weeks to come figure that out, Herman said. Herman on Tyriq Starks injury He hasn’t thrown the ball in a while. We could jog him out and get away with the run game, maybe a select number of passes, but he can’t open that up, so to speak. So much so that, and I think we’re getting an MRI today or tomorrow, just, you know, we’ve diagnosed it as a pec strain. We just want to make sure that there’s nothing else going on in there besides just a pec strain that needs to heal, Herman said. Herman on the offense getting back to basics Yeah, back to basics is certainly fair, I think, as with any team, you never really know until you know what you have on the good side and the bad side. There’s been plenty of teams where I wasn’t sure if we could do X, and, you know, by week three or four, hey, I think we can do X, you know. And then there’s, there’s been other times where it’s, Hey, I’m pretty sure we can do Y. And then after three weeks, hey guys, I don’t know what we’re thinking, but we can’t do Y, you know. So there is, with every team, and certainly with a team with as many new faces as ours, there is a learning element to it. I think we definitely overestimated, maybe our capacity offensively. And so the only thing I would be a hypocrite to our players, because I tell them all the time, in times of adversity, you know, go back to your training, trust your training. Go do exactly what you’re trained to do, and have confidence in that. And so we’re in a pretty adverse situation right now, offensively. And so like anything in life. Let’s go back to exactly what we know, and let’s, let’s become a master of a couple trades, and not a jack of all trades and master of none, Herman said. Herman on his thoughts on Kasens development “You know, he’s, since he’s gotten here, he’s gotten a lot more zip on the ball. I think he’s playing with more confidence now, when he gets in, simply from this a guy that was sitting in his living room, you know, thinking he was probably never going to play football again, and I don’t know they wanted me telling that story or not, but so if you didn’t, I apologize. But I think it’s pretty cool that, you know, the growth that we’ve seen from him, and not just emotionally and maturity wise, but really physically too, you know, the ball is coming off of his hands with more zip, you know. Like I said, he’s playing with a little bit more confidence now than he had, in terms of moving in the pocket, eyes, in the right place, that kind of stuff. So I don’t know that skill set wise, you’re going to see a whole lot different, you know. And I just, you know, I think it’s just going to be a matter of, you know, does he see the game any differently, maybe, or make different decisions? But you know, he’s a good runner, and, you know, a good passer. He’s not going to throw it through that wall, you know, and he’s not going to run a 3.4 but he’s not a statue. He does everything really good. Let’s put it that way. I don’t know that he’s got one great tangible quality, but he’s got a lot of really good ones, Herman said. Herman on the defenses struggles against the run I think you never want to have that number put on you (400 rushing yards). I don’t care who you play, but those numbers get a little bit inflated when you play a service academy that runs that kind of offense. This one was more disturbing, certainly, because these are the kind of plays and things that we’re going to see week in and week out. So again, it’s not, there’s no panic, you know, I there might be, I don’t I’ve ever panicked, but there might be concern for the outcome of the season, if I knew that we didn’t have it in us, maybe, or that, you know, Hey guys, it’s gonna be a long year. Or, you know, we may never get this thing figured out. I know there’s no doubt in myself, and I don’t think there’s any doubt in that locker room, you know, as a whole, especially on that side of the ball. So we know we got to play better. We got pushed around, and we didn’t tackle well. And that is a recipe for a long, long night on the football field for a defense so, you know, and again, as coaches, we’ve got to examine, you know, when that when and if that happens again. How do we, you know, best stop the bleeding, Herman said. Herman on the impact of Chris Carter: Oh, man, how much time you got, he does everything. I mean, he’s, he’s great for our wideouts, you know, especially now that, you know, really, anybody out there can, can coach so he can, he can give them, you know, nuggets of coaching, but it’s way, way, way more than that. You know, he’s on a personal level, you know, has really, he’s got a few guy and kind of at risk guys, if you will, that he’s kind of put his arms around and then really, as a team, they know that when they go to him, you know, they’re, they’re going to get reality. Now it may hit him square in the freaking forehead in the way that he delivers that reality, but it’s also fresh, because he can talk to them in ways that we can’t, but I think they can be more open with him in ways that they can’t with us, because he doesn’t control, either, you know, and so, it’s been a really, really good marriage of his expertise, his personality. It’s just his love for winning the game. I respect the hell out of Chris Carter for a lot of reasons. And one of them is that we’re in love with the same thing, this game. He loves football. Absolutely loves it. And the second thing is he loves making a difference in young men’s lives. So we’ve got two pretty important things in common, and he’s really good. He was really good at football, but he might be even better at mentally than young men, because he’s got a way of getting it out of some guys, some things that maybe I know I would forget, Herman said. Injury Update Jaden Williams did get injured on the last drive, and I didn’t know that he’s got a high angle strain. We’re hoping that the level it is, we should have him back for conference play that he missed this game and hopefully return for the week of prep for the game after the bye week, Joe Young on the catch down the sideline against FIU, landed awkwardly. And for him he’s already had two knee surgeries. He tore some cartilage, did not tear his ACL. Tore some cartilage in there that needs to get repaired. So we’re down, you know, BJ, EJ, and now Joe, you know, kind of, I kind of had six wideouts, kind of as starters, and three, all three of those were in that six. So we’re getting pretty thin at that position, unfortunately. And then Jaden Wheeler was, was non contact today, got punched in the ribs by an opposing player and actually bruised his kidney or liver, one of those internal organs. And Zeke Moore missed the game against UConn, got a stinger in practice that didn’t resolve itself in time for the doctors to feel good enough clearing him, but he was non contact today real close to having the strength numbers to be clear, so anticipate him being ready to go. Scarlee played well. I think he played 22 snaps, and I think he’ll play even more this week, Herman said. Herman on Jabari Smith Jr. being the next man up at WR Yup (he is the next man up) hes been in the rotation thus far this week and has done a really good job, Herman said. Hermans thoughts on Wagner Theyre two and two, and kind of won and lost in similar fashions. Of their two wins, they’ve blown a team out and they’ve had a close win. Their losses, they’ve been blown out and had a close loss. So this is a good team. I’ve been impressed with their defense, especially number 45 they’re Nickel Sam linebacker, you know, he’s very active, and they blitz him, they drop him in coverage. They do a lot with him. And they’ve got a really talented receiver as well that, you know, has a decided advantage in targets compared to the next, next guy, on their team. So we’ve got to know where he is. We’ve got to stop they’re, they’re a zone run team, so we’ve got to stop inside, outside zone, which you know, if you’re, if you’re done watching the UConn film, that’s probably all you’re going to run. And then, you know, offensively, we’ve got to make sure we understand where 45 is and kind of what that means in their different blitzes and coverages. So there’s a lot to prepare for. You know, I know our fans may not have heard of Wagner, but, you know, we’re in no position right now. We’re not good enough to beat Boca middle school, you know, with our C game, so we’re going to need to go out and play really, really well and take another step. I think the most important thing is, is, you know, come out of this with a really good taste in our mouths, having played our best and then really dived into Okay, now we’ve crawled. Let’s, let’s walk and hopefully run pretty quickly as we head into the conference, Herman said. Herman thoughts on conference realignment news Good for us, good for Tim. Yeah, this conference has been again, I’ll continue to sing its praises. You know, now that we’ve got four conferences that are autonomous the American Conference has always been, since its inception, 10 years ago, the next best one. And it’s exciting to know that the fellow members feel the same way about our conference that we do. So I’m not surprised by the news that they were getting recruited, but I’m also not surprised that they, publicly, decided to stay because this is as good as it gets, for most of us right now, Herman said. Final Thoughts Kasen Weisman getting reps at QB this early in the season isn’t something that was expected prior to the offensive struggles, but Herman is making an important move to potentially spark the offense. In terms of the defense, Herman acknowledged the struggles against the run and that the team has to improve, and fast, also mentioning the willingness not to play those who make inexcusable errors during practice. Overall, there was an important sense of urgency in Tom Herman’s voice as he understands it is now or never for 2024, as the Owls have limped out of the gates and only have a limited amount of time to right the ship before it is too late.
