Quarterback depth chart remains work in progress
With Robison suspended, Tronti, Agner have led way in spring
BOCA RATON — The quarterback room this spring at Florida Atlantic has looked vastly different from just last fall.
Chris Robison, who started 11 games last year after winning a preseason competition for the job over De’Andre Johnson and Rafe Peavey, has sat out spring drills due to suspension for an undisclosed reason. Johnson transferred out, and Peavey graduated.
The Owls’ new crop of quarterbacks have competed this spring, and while two — Nick Tronti and Justin Agner — lead the way after starting for opposite squads in the FAU spring game on Saturday, neither has separated himself as FAU wraps up one more week of spring football.
Tronti, a redshirt sophomore who transferred in from Indiana ahead of last season, went 16 for 32 for 160 yards and a touchdown on Saturday. The former Florida Mr. Football winner at Ponte Vedra High hit tight end Harrison Bryant for his first-half touchdown.
Agner, a junior at FAU after stints at Kent State and Fort Scott (Kansas) Community College, threw for 266 yards and two touchdowns but was 12 for 32. The two scores went to 6-foot-4 receiver John Mitchell, one for 71 yards deep over the top of the defense.
“I thought they started slow and made some mistakes,” FAU coach Lane Kiffin said after the spring game. “They played better in the second half, it seemed like. The offense in general started slow and there wasn’t much running game to help them.”
The slow start was especially true of Agner, who was 4 of 15 for 35 yards and an interception in the first half before turning it on in the second half when both of his touchdown passes came, the second which brought his team within a point before he was called down on a touch — quarterbacks were not to be tackled — running on a two-point try where he may have been able to escape under normal game settings. Agner also drove his team down for a 44-yard field goal attempt that missed as time expired.
“We didn’t click like I thought we wanted to,” said Agner, who had his right throwing hand wrapped up postgame due to a pinky injury he said didn’t affect his throws significantly. “But at the end of the day, we drove it down toward the last possession and got us into field goal range to kick a field goal, and it just didn’t end up going our way.
“We’d like to not rely on our kicker. I’d like to score a touchdown. That’s just how I feel about it, but sure, that’s something that I can take positive.”
Tronti knew he could’ve been better in the spring game, especially having tight ends Bryant and John Raine, both starters last year, on his side.
“Just inaccurate balls at times,” said Tronti, who last year only saw action at the end of the BethuneCookman game, sitting behind the trio that competed for the starting job. “I felt good about all the plays and where I needed to go with the ball, just accuracy wasn’t there today at some parts of the game. Just kind of managing the game — taking shots when you should take shots, taking checkdowns when you should take checkdowns, stuff like that.”
While the competition is there, Tronti and Agner try to ignore that aspect of the spring and key in on self-improvement.
“I don’t really try to focus on a competition,”said Agner, who also ran for 44 yards on Saturday. “I know it’s in the back of my mind, but I just try and get better every day.”
Said Tronti: “It’s spring, and for most the quarterbacks right now, it’s our first spring here. So we still have all summer, all fall camp.”
Their backups on Saturday, Trent Wessel and Cordel Littlejohn, went 3 for 7 for 61 yards, a touchdown and an interception and 1 for 3 for three yards and an interception, respectively. away that was Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara follows through during the first inning against the Cubs on Wednesday night at Marlins Park. Alcantara fell to 1-2.