Football returned to Boca Raton this weekend as FAU held its 2022 Spring Game on Saturday. 

The Red Team, led by defensive line coach Kevin Patrick, defeated defensive coordinator Todd Orlando’s White Team 15-13. 

“We did some things, but we still have some things we need to improve on,” said game commissioner and head coach Willie Taggart. “Offensively, we need to be more consistent with drives. Defensively, tackling-wise we have to be better, especially in the open field. Those are things that get you beat and we have got to get better.” 

The Red Team took the lead on the first drive of the game as redshirt freshman kicker Morgan Suarez made a 30-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead with 9:13 remaining in the first quarter.

On their following drive, graduate quarterback N’Kosi Perry extended the Red Team’s lead to 9-0 with a nine-yard touchdown run. 

“I always feel like I can do better. As far as knowing what I’m doing and knowing where I wanted to go with the ball, I felt great [today]. I was really comfortable,” Perry said.

Of the three quarterbacks that saw the field for both teams, Perry had the strongest outing. He completed 20 of his 28 passing attempts for 168 yards. 

“The one thing I’ve seen different [out of Perry] is the work. Perry has done an unbelievable job this offseason working,” Taggart said. “He’s up here every day to watch film with a receiver, learning the system and getting on the same page. When your quarterback is working like that, everybody else wants to work the same way.”

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Michael Johnson Jr. finally got the White Team on the board in the second quarter as he ran in a seven-yard touchdown to make the score 9-7 going into halftime. 

With 14:15 to go in the fourth quarter, redshirt-freshman running back Marvin Scott III, who transferred from the University of Nebraska in December, scored his first touchdown in an FAU uniform with a 10-yard run, extending the Red Team’s lead to 15-7. 

“I didn’t think we ran the ball well enough on either side, but I thought Marvin did a good job,” said Taggart. “From day one of spring till now, he has gotten a lot better which is good to see, and he still has the whole offseason to get bigger, stronger, faster, and have a better understanding of the offense.” 

Junior running back Larry McCammon answered Scott’s touchdown on the following drive with a two-yard touchdown run of his own for the White Team, giving them the opportunity to tie with a two-point conversion. 

However, the ensuing two-point attempt was unsuccessful, leaving Patrick’s Red Team with a 15-13 victory at the end of regulation. 

“I thought we had a really good spring, we got better in every aspect. Now that we have some things to coach off of, I’m excited about this offseason and moving forward,” Taggart said.

The Owls open the 2022 season against the University of North Carolina at Charlotte 49ers on Aug. 27 at Howard Schnellenberger Field in FAU Stadium.  

Cameron Priester is a staff writer for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @PriesterCameron.