With six spring football practices down, nine to go, here are 3 takeaways from FAMU so far
The first two weeks of spring football camp have provided Florida A&M with a glimpse of the 2024 season.
On Friday, the Rattlers upped the ante and implemented a game-simulated scrimmage period to analyze the team.
The offense and defense faced each other on Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium and showed first-year FAMU head football coach James Colzie III how the units complement each other.
“I was really, really impressed with how the offense handled themselves at the beginning of the scrimmage and how the defense picked it up later,” Colzie said after Friday's practice. “It was good to see how we executed and competed from my angle.
“Practice six was a success.”
Six practices down, nine to go for FAMU's spring football camp.
Spring has allowed coaches and onlookers to gauge the 2024 Rattlers as they attempt to repeat as Southwestern Athletic Conference and Black College Football National champions.
Here are three takeaways from FAMU’s first six practices and two weeks of spring football.
New FAMU head football coach James Colzie III knows the temperature of the team
A challenge a new head coach could face is commanding the locker room.
Colzie, hired as FAMU’s 19th full-time head football coach on Jan. 27, hasn’t had that issue in his first two months.
Though Colzie is the head coach, he feels the most successful teams are player-led.
“We have really good veterans leading this football team,” Colzie said. “We just got to make sure we improve the bottom end of our roster positively. The guys who have been here understand the expectations and are doing a really good job. The younger guys are the ones that I need to step up and understand what it’s like to be a FAMU football player.”
FAMU quarterback Junior Muratovic serves on the Rattlers’ leadership council.
He says an adjustment period wasn’t needed when the program transitioned from former head coach Willie Simmons to new coach Colzie. The Rattlers rallied around Colzie’s leadership.
“As soon as he was named head coach, it was back to regular programming,” Muratovic said of Colzie. “It wasn’t anything different except Colzie is now leading the meetings. There was no weird transition period, and flowed right into it.”
FAMU offense progressing during ongoing starting quarterback battle
The Rattlers are still determining who their starting quarterback will be once the season opener kicks off in five months.
Muratovic and Florida Atlantic transfer Daniel Richardson are competing to lead the Rattlers’ offense come Aug. 24 versus Norfolk State in Atlanta.
Muratovic and Richardson get first-team snaps during practices. They both led the offense to the redzone on Friday during the scrimmage period.
The offensive performance this spring has given Colzie optimism despite who takes the first snap.
“Junior and Daniel Richardson did a great job of getting us down the field,” Colzie said of the quarterbacks. “It made me extremely happy about what we’re doing offensively.”
FAMU lost former quarterback Jeremy Moussa, the 2023 SWAC Offensive Player of the Year, to graduation. Former head coach Simmons also coached the quarterbacks and called the plays.
Now, the offense is reporting to promoted assistant head coach Joseph Henry to give the unit a fresh outlook. Muratovic has brushed up on his quarterback knowledge to assist his pursuit of starting for the Rattlers.
“It was hitting it hard in the offseason,” Muratovic said. “Also, in the film room, making sure I can portray what Coach Henry wants us to look like on offense.”
Despite departures, FAMU's Dark Cloud Defense exudes confidence
It seems to be an annual tradition for FAMU to lose defensive stars at every season’s end.
In the last three years, Rattler standouts safety Markquese Bell (Dallas Cowboys) and defensive end Isaiah Land (Indianapolis Colts) graduated from the program and are enjoying NFL careers. The reigning SWAC Defensive Player of the Year and NFL hopeful linebacker Isaiah Major also graduated from FAMU.
FAMU’s All-SWAC players, defensive lineman Gentle Hunt and linebacker Johnny Chaney Jr., entered the NCAA Transfer Portal.
Also, FAMU’s former head coach of the defense, Ryan Smith, took the defensive coordinator job at Murray State. Milton Patterson is the Rattlers’ new defensive coordinator.
Still, the ‘Dark Cloud Defense’ holdovers feel they can replicate similar dominance that landed them the second total defense in the Football Championship Subdivision.
“I have no doubt in my mind that we still got the potential to be one of the best,” said FAMU interior defensive lineman James Ash. “We come here every day ready to work. If we’re working for it, you can’t take nothing from us.”
As the cornerbacks coach, Colzie assisted FAMU’s defense in its top FCS finishes in the last two seasons.
Setting the bar high for the FAMU defense, Colzie thinks the unit can break through for the top spot in the nation behind the talent of Ash, linebacker Aric Horne, and cornerbacks Kendall Bohler and Winsome Frazier Jr.
“There’s a standard set,” Colzie said. “We’ve finished number two, but we want to finish as the number one defense in the country. We got the guys to do it and hopefully, we can continue to get better to get to that point.”
Florida A&M Rattlers 2024 Spring Football Practice Schedule
Practice 7: Tuesday, March 26
Practice 8: Thursday, March 28
Practice 9: Friday, March 29
Practice 10: Tuesday, April 2
Practice 11: Thursday, April 4
Practice 12: Friday, April 5
Practice 13: Tuesday, April 9
Practice 14: Thursday, April 11
Orange and Green Spring Game at Bragg Memorial Stadium: Saturday, April 13 at 4 p.m.
Gerald Thomas, III covers Florida A&M University Athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at gdthomas@tallahassee.com or on the app formerly known as Twitter @3peatgee.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU Football: Here are three key points of Rattlers spring practices
