Peter Holland Jr./ Staff Writer
After three months without college football, the FIU football team will take the field this Friday night on April 15 at 7:00 p.m.
There’s nothing like coming out and experiencing the Friday night light scrimmage. For those who haven’t been to an organized spring scrimmage, it’s just like a regular football game except it’s the Panthers’ offense against their defense.
The first stringers will come on to the field during the first series for both sides. Sometimes the first string offense will go against the second string defense and vice versa just see how they look under pressure when their name is called. The concept of it all is just for the coaches to see the team’s progression after months of strength and conditioning, and weeks of practice with the returning the players.
Now it gets a little complicated. It’s still like a regular football scrimmage. Score a touchdown, that’s six points with one extra point, field goal is still three points. That’s only on the offensive side. During spring game rules, the defense can score points as well when they make and defensive play on the offense. For example, if one defender recorded a sack or a 3-and-out, that’s two points for the defense. If a defender creates a turnover, that’s three points for the defense. A pick six is, of course, six points for the defense. It’s full contact, but you can’t tackle the quarterback. If a defender comes near the QB or touches him, the play is dead.
Now we know the basics of a spring game, what to expect for the Panthers this Friday night? The Panthers are coming into this season with a lot of holes to fill, mostly on defense. Head Coach Ron Turner, going into his fourth year, and his coaching staff has to figure out who’s going to replace their long time starters on defense.
Their sack leaders Michael Wakefield and Denzel Perine, and their starter cornerbacks Richard Leonard and Jeremiah McKinnon are gone. That’s a huge shoe to fill for the defense replacing the senior leaders that received All-Conference USA honors. This is the perfect opportunity to witness the next man up mentality for this young defense, who has limited starting experience.
Good news is that the offense could be the strength for the Panthers that is led by quarterback Alex McGough. The junior is coming in as the second year starter after having a record breaking season last year when he set single season-season records in pass attempts (420), completions (269), passing yardage (2,722) and touchdowns (21).
The Tampa native will also have a young and balanced backfield led by rushing leader Alex Gardner. Gardner finished last season with 760 yards on 186 carries and nine touchdowns. However, they could be competition for the rotation. Anthony Jones, who sparked a lot of coaches in last year’s spring game, will be playing running back full-time after playing both running back and wide receiver last season. He will be competing with junior running back Napoleon Maxwell, who’s returning from a torn ACL last year.
Senior tight end Jonnu Smith is back for his senior season. After a down year last season from a statistical standpoint, he is looking to have redemption year after injuring his knee late last season.
The offensive line has been the weak point of the offense due to injuries and lack of experience. After swapping around the starting line ups with different linemen, it did show some promises led by All-C-USA center Michael Montero.
It will be blue team versus the white team. The blue team will represent the offense, and the white team will represent the defense. Quarterbacks will wear red, which means hands off on them. The last thing the team and fans need is getting injured by his own teammate.
The spring game is free to the public who are attending. The spring game begins on Friday, April 15 at 7:00 p.m.
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