New opportunities arise as spring practice begins

Brandon Wise / Asst. Sports Director

brandon.wise@fiusm.com

After a season that finished in such misery and despair in late December, there was a shining light at the beginning of Spring: a fresh start. For head coach Mario Cristobal, he knows that many players have been waiting to get their shot.

“So many players have been waiting in the wings to step up and make their mark on the program,” Cristobal said. “They’re eager and they’ve been working their butts off while they’ve been waiting their turn. The time is now. We’re going to put them in situations where they can prove themselves.”

Those players will get their opportunity because of the loss of quarterback Wesley Carroll and T.Y. Hilton to graduation. One of those players, Jake Medlock, will get his chance to lead the team this spring.

“[I need to show] hard work, determination, lead the team, show [Tim Cramsey] that this injury on my shoulder hasn’t stopped me,” Medlock said. “Show him I can be a leader on the team.”

The Jacksonville native heads into the spring as the odds-on favorite to win the starting job when the season kicks off in September. However, Lorenzo Hammonds, Fred Porter, Akil Dan-Fadio and newcomer E.J. Hilliard, will be pushing him. Cristobal thinks that Medlock will be the leader for the spring, but that it’s subject to change.

“We ended the year with Medlock starting until he got hurt so he does have some experience and a good amount of talent,” Cristobal said. “The rest of that crew, they’re all young, but they’re really talented guys, that’s what spring football is for. To see who can really do it when things are coming at them a hundred miles an hour and they have to just flat out perform under pressure.”

Those five will get their chance to prove to new offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey that they deserve to start. Cramsey, who was the offensive coordinator for nine years at the University of New Hampshire, has been working hard to adjust on the run to the new area of Miami.

“Its good, it’s been fast. I’ve been here three weeks. I’ve installed the offense with the staff and with the team and we got on the field today for the first time running it,” Cramsey said. “There’s going to be some clicks we got to fix, there’s going to be situations that we need to tone up. But it’s been good, the players have bought in.”

The offense appears to be very similar to the one that former offensive coordinator Scott Satterfield ran for two years. Medlock only sees a couple of adjustments for the Panther offense this spring.

“It’s been pretty good, it’s pretty much the same, it’s just different wording,” Medlock said. “There’s a couple of new things, the snap cadence is one, but we’re going to get it squared away.”

Cristobal knows that the adjustment period is going to take sometime with the team.

“There’s going to be an adjustment period,” Cristobal said. “But it’s going to be a good one. Whenever you introduce new concepts, new schemes, I think there is a grace period that you need to make things function efficiently and from a timely stand point as well.”

Senior offensive lineman Caylin Hauptmann will miss the entire spring due to a shoulder injury he sustained. He is expected to be available when the season starts in the Fall.

 

Schedule released

 

The upcoming season will see the Panthers battle with many familiar foes as well as some new ones. The addition of South Alabama to the conference means that this will be the first time that FIU will not play every team in the Sun Belt.

They will play at South Alabama this year, but not North Texas.

The season kicks off with the Panthers on the road at Duke on Sept. 1 before coming home to take on Akron on Sept. 8.

The schedule is highlighted by Louisville coming to the Cage on Sept. 22, as well as defending Sun Belt champions Arkansas State on Oct. 4.

Cristobal is excited that the schedule is finally in front of him to read.

“We’re excited to play another competitive schedule as we continue to build our football program,” Cristobal said. “To finally see our schedule in print and the opportunities presented by it is the perfect motivational factor as we start spring football.”