With the third week of spring practice coming to an end, the FAU football team is starting to look forward to the finish line. There is just one more week of practice before the spring game next Saturday, April 9.

Last Saturday, the FAU football team held its first situational scrimmage game.

“It was a good opportunity to go out there and teach our guys the game of football and not just running plays,” head coach Willie Taggart said.

The team now has practiced about 10 times and it is starting to get tiresome for some of the guys on the team, according to Taggart.

“Once you’re 10 practices in, that same energy in that same segment you had in those first couple of days is gone,” Taggart said. “That’s the challenge I put to our team. You can see that we can continue to bring that every single day.”

Taggart noted that the team is focusing on tempo to work on a fast-paced offense this spring.

“Everything is at a tempo pace,” he said. “Those guys have done a good job dealing with the tempo and still being able to execute.”

Despite Taggart pushing for improvements on the field, defensive coordinator Todd Orlando is looking beyond that. Orlando wants to focus on a central idea surrounding the team outside of just football.

“The biggest thing for us is to make sure that we play united, we do things together, we care and love about each other,” Orlando said. “To me, that’s way more important than scheme, so the culture is number one.”

On the offensive side of the ball, the offensive coordinator Brent Dearmon expressed his joy about the coaching staff he has.

“Our offensive coaches are probably the best group I’ve been around,” Dearmon said. “They bring it every day, there’s a ton of knowledge in that room, and they challenge our guys every day.”

Dearmon said players need to focus on consistency throughout the rest of practice through the Spring game.

“You can’t show up one day and then not show up the next day,” Dearmon said. “Just getting consistency out of everybody.”

Dearmon mentioned that wide receivers Tony Johnson and junior LaJohntay Wester have been “pushing each other” throughout practice and have stood out.

Wester said that he is looking for more consistency this season.

“[Consistency] is the big thing that I’ve been working on personally, and as a whole offense it’s just being consistent and finishing,” Wester said.  

Wester also spoke about Dearmon’s other standout, Tony Johnson.

“The thing I like about Tony Johnson is that he pays attention, he’s a dog,” Wester said. “He is always listening and learning, so I think that’s a big impact on why he’s been improving this spring.” 

Looking ahead to the spring game on April 9, the coaches drafted their teams. Some free agents were taken before the draft though, most notably Dearmon selecting graduate quarterback N’Kosi Perry.

“I think it’s more of a message I wanted him to see out of me that I believe in him, but also having the right trigger man on the game like this kind of helps you out a little bit too,” Dearmon said. 

Bryce Totz is the Sports Editor at the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email him at [email protected], or tweet him @brycetotz.