Workouts fail to end QB battle
Scrimmage doesn’t produce a clearcut starter among Owls’ 3 candidates.
Scrimmages at Florida Atlantic
BOCA RATON — University are starting to feel repetitive for coach Lane Kiffin.
Although a lightning delay and a three-way quarterback battle helped make Saturday’s scrimmage at FAU Stadium feel slightly different, the recurring feeling of deja vu clearly bothered the Owls’ head coach.
“Usually the scrimmages, for whatever reason, seem to kind of struggle offensively over the two years of being here,” he said.
Facing a defense that rested several starters and took several out before they reached 20 snaps, quarterbacks Chris Robison, De’Andre Johnson and Rafe
Peavey all made strides in their competition for the starting job.
The Owls’ stingy defense forced three turnovers against the group, including a red-zone fumble that led to a scoop-and-score by walk-on defensive end Anthony Bennett.
Peavey arrived last week from SMU and immediately jumped into the long-running battle between Robison, a former Oklahoma enrollee, and John-
son, a former Florida State recruit who starred on Net- flix’s “Last Chance U.” Each had mixed results in FAU’s first scrimmage of fall camp. Here are five takeaways: 1. Jo h nson is the QB frontrunner: Although he has yet to clinch the starting job, Johnson has been more consistent than Robison and is fitting in seamlessly with the pro-style offense. With his arm strength back to 100 percent after surgery for blood clots last year, John- son finally looks like the quarterback who was once expected to replace Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston at FSU.
That’s not to say John- son was perfect Saturday, nor does it mean he’ll start against Oklahoma in three weeks. Kiffin showed last year that he can keep the quarterback battle going until the final days and play who he thinks is the best fit. But with more than a week of fall camp in the books, the chances of Johnson starting are increasing each day.
2. Robison shows rushed decision-making: The “gun- slinger” tendencies that earned Robison early comparisons to Johnny Manziel have continued through- out the summer. At times, his ability to keep a drive going when all seems lost has helped his case, but the Oklahoma transfer still tries to force throws at the worst times. He was intercepted early by linebacker Khantrell Burden before settling in.
Kiffin said the interception was partly on Robison and partly on a receiver missing a route. The coach still came away impressed with the redshirt freshman’s performance.
“Some good plays on time, which is what we’re look- ing for,” Kiffin said. “Both guys made out-of-rhythm plays (and) we’ve been stressing them to make plays on time so we don’t get nega- tive plays trying to make too much happen.”
3. Could Peavey pass Robison? There were times Saturday when Peavey, show- ing good accuracy and vision, looked as if he’d been at FAU longer than four days. Although he is still transi- tioning to a new team and a new offense, he is quickly settling in at a pace where it’s possible he could pass Robison on the depth chart. Peavey was the most con- sistent of the three quarterbacks Saturday and threw a TD pass to redshirt junior James Brunson.
“For the most part, I thought we were pretty efficient,” Peavey said. “Guys came out pretty physical and we executed well.”
4. Ernest Bagner continues his resurgence: With redshirt senior Hunter Snyder resting and redshirt sophomore Leighton McCarthy playing only at the start of the scrimmage, Bagner dominated at defensive end. The 6-foot-4, 245-pound senior from California, who had 2.5 sacks last year, would have had multiple sacks Saturday if the team had been tackling.
5. Gerald Hearns could be a legitimate RB option: Many were skeptical that Hearns, a former Dwyer High star, would make a meaningful impact this fall given his walk-on status. But the fifthyear senior has impressed on the ground and in the passing game. Hearns had several impressive runs Saturday and made a key catch during a two-minute drill.
“I just want to be able to show the coaches that I’m not just a big, stocky running back,” Hearns said. “I want to keep being an asset any way I can to the program.”