Florida Atlantic 2012 Recruiting

2012 Florida Atlantic Owls ... Head Coach: Carl Pelini

Florida Atlantic Owls

2011 Record: 1-10

Sep. 3 at Florida L 45-3
Sep. 10 at Michigan State L 44-0
Sep. 17 OPEN DATE
Sep. 24 at Auburn L 30-14
Oct. 1 at Louisiana L 37-34
Oct. 8 at North Texas L 31-17
Oct. 15 WKU L 20-0
Oct. 22 Middle Tenn. L 38-14
Oct. 29 OPEN DATE
Nov. 5 Arkansas State L 39-21
Nov. 12 at FIU L 41-7
Nov. 19 at Troy L 34-7
Nov. 26 UAB W 38-35
Dec. 3 ULM

2010 CFN Prediction: 5-7
2010 Record: 4-8

Sept. 4 at UAB W 32-31
Sept. 11 at Michigan St L 30-17
Sept. 18 OPEN DATE
Sept. 25 North Texas L 21-17
Oct. 2 at South Florida L 31-3
Oct. 9 at ULM L 20-17
Oct. 16 OPEN DATE
Oct. 23 at Arkansas St L 37-16
Oct. 30 FIU L 21-9
Nov. 6 at WKU W 17-16
Nov. 13 Louisiana W 24-23
Nov. 20 at Texas L 51-17
Nov. 27 at MTSU L 38-14
Dec. 4 Troy L 44-7
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The Entire 2012 Recruiting Class

Top 5 Florida Atlantic Recruits To Care About
Player writeups by Scout.com

1. DE Shalom Ogbonda
6-4, 232, Scout.com 132nd ranked, three-star defensive end.

2. CB Tony Grimes
6-1, 180, Scout.com three-star JUCO transfer.

3. LB Joshua Ballesteros
6-4, 215, Scout.com 144th ranked, two-star outside linebacker.

4. QB Melvin German
6-3, 205, Scout.com two-star JUCO transfer.

5. RB Martese Jackson
6-3, 220, Scout.com two-star JUCO transfer.

The 2012 Class Was Heavy On... It’s Carl Pelini taking over the head coaching job, so the defense is going to be a primary focus with the secondary a major need and outside linebacker needing to be addressed. However, the offense was miserable last year and needs an upgrade in talent level. The quarterbacks came in a few years ago, with Stephan Curtis soon to be a factor, but playmakers across the offensive board will be used.

Team Concerns For 2012: Offense, offense, offense. There’s enough returning talent to hope for a far better season, but after last year’s disaster the attack has a long way to go to be merely decent. Running back is the biggest problem with Alfred Morris and Willie Floyd gone; Pelini could go the JUCO route to help things right away.

Looking Ahead To The 2012 Season: The Owls have to find an offense right away under new head Carl Pelini, and it starts with getting more from QB Graham Wilbert. The O line gets three starters back and the top receivers return for a passing game that was the least efficient in America. Alfred Morris was the offense, and now the attack has to find a running back to work around. The defense should be better under the new coaching staff, and while end Kevin Cyrille is gone, ten starters return.

The 2011 Class Was Heavy On … Outside linebacker. This is yet another soft recruiting class as Howard Schnellenberger didn’t load up on too many strong prospects from around the area. As always, everyone is local, but the only player of note is undersized linebacker Damian Parms, who isn’t big, but can stick. The receiving corps gets a little help with William Dukes and Hakeem Ishmar two big, promising targets.

2010 CFN Recruiting Ranking: 119. That Class Was Heavy On ... Quarterbacks. It wasn't exactly the old Howard Schnellenberger wall around Miami to get the top talent from the area. A class that lacked star power also lacked any one area of beefing up, but there were two decent quarterback prospects to build on for the next few years with 6-3, 210-pound Nick Bracewell and strong-armed Stephen Curtis to battle it out to be the future of the program. Bracewell is the better of the two.

2009 CFN Recruiting Ranking: 101. That Class Was Heavy On ... Cornerback. By far the best prospects of this year’s class are in the secondary where De’Andre Richardson and Keith Reaser are two really fast, really good corners who should be fixtures in the FAU defensive backfield for years. Winfred Strickland and Treon Howard aren’t as fast or as good, but they should provide decent depth down the road.

Nov. 26 at Florida Atlantic 38 … UAB 35
(AP) BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Alfred Morris scored a career-high four touchdowns and Treon Howard returned an interception for a touchdown as Florida Atlantic beat Alabama-Birmingham 38-35 on Saturday night for the Owls' first win of the season.

Florida Atlantic (1-10) snapped a 13-game losing streak dating back to last season and was the only remaining winless team in major college football.

Owls coach Howard Schnellenberger, who announced in August that he is retiring at the end of this season, also avoided his first winless campaign. Florida Atlantic has one final game against Louisiana-Monroe on Dec. 3.

Morris rushed for 198 yards on 38 carries in his fifth straight 100-yard game. Quarterback Graham Wilbert was 16 for 25 for 181 yards for Florida Atlantic.

Jonathan Perry was 17 for 26 for 190 yards and two touchdowns for the Blazers (3-9) and also ran for a score.

Jackie Williams and Jamarcus Nelson scored touchdowns for Alabama-Birmingham (3-9). D.J. Vinson and Nolen Smith each caught a touchdown pass for the Blazers.

Leading 31-28, the Owls converted twice on fourth down during a 17-play drive that used 8:13, and went ahead 38-28 on Morris's 9-yard touchdown run with 1:38 left.

On UAB's ensuing possession, Perry threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Smith with 33 seconds left, but the attempted onside kick went out of bounds.

The teams traded scores for most of the game.

The Blazers took a 28-24 lead in the third on Nelson's 3-yard touchdown run The Owls retook the lead, 31-28, on a 10-yard touchdown run by Morris in the fourth.

Perry tossed a 9-yard touchdown pass to Vinson that gave Alabama-Birmingham a 21-17 lead. The Owls responded on a 4-yard touchdown run by Morris to put Florida Atlantic ahead 24-21 in the third.

With the score tied at 14, Florida Atlantic recovered a fumble by Perry at the Blazers' 9-yard line and converted the turnover into a 28-yard field goal by Vinny Zaccario and a 17-14 lead at halftime.

A 1-yard touchdown plunge by Perry gave the Blazers a 14-7 lead in the second. The Owls came back to tie it at 14 when Morris scored on a 1-yard touchdown run.

Florida Atlantic scored first on Howard's 23-yard interception return for a touchdown to make it 7-0. Perry's pass was tipped and Howard picked it off and ran down the sideline for the score.

The Blazers answered on a 9-play, 69-yard drive culminated by a 2-yard touchdown run by Williams that tied the score at 7.

Nov. 19 at Troy 34 … Florida Atlantic 7

Nov. 12 at FIU 41 … Florida Atlantic 7

Nov. 5 Arkansas State 39 … at Florida Atlantic 21

Oct. 22 Middle Tennessee 38 … at Florida Atlantic 14  

Oct. 15 Western Kentucky 20 … at Florida Atlantic 0
CFN Analysis: Just when it seemed like everything was starting new, with a shiny new stadium, a new starting quarterback, and the first home game of the year, the team came up with its second worst performance since the Michigan State disaster. David Kooi didn’t do anything to get the offense moving as FAU came up with 121 total yards, no running game, and major problems finding anything that worked. On the plus side, it can’t get any worse. If this was the worst game played in the new park, that wouldn’t be a bad thing. There will be chances to make amends with a struggling Middle Tennessee coming up next, but the offense has to come up with something to rely on.

Oct. 8 at North Texas 31 … Florida Atlantic 17
CFN Analysis: There was some thought that FAU wasn’t that bad, but it just so happened to play a lot of great teams. This game showed the team is bad. To be fair, this was the end of the brutal five-game road stretch to start the season. Next week against WKU will be FAU’s first game at home, and that has to mean more consistency and fewer mistakes from the offense. FAU was in the game before giving up turnover after turnover in the third quarter. There’s no excuse whatsoever to not score in the first half and to come up with just three points in the first three quarters against a defense as mediocre as UNT’s. On the plus side, Randell Johnson and the defense weren’t bad, with Johnson making 11 tackles and a sack, but it wasn’t enough to overcome all the offensive mistakes. 

Oct. 1 at Louisiana-Lafayette 37 … Florida Atlantic 34
CFN Analysis: There was a question of whether or not FAU was awful, or if it simply played a bunch of nasty teams. The answer might be a mix of the two, but the close call against ULL showed promise. The offense continues to sputter, but Graham Wilbert had his best performance of the year throwing for 219 yards and three scores. The defense collapsed late, but there were some solid games turned in by parts of the back seven. 11 penalties for 100 yards were the main culprit, and the problems in the secondary didn’t help but the Owls showed they could play a bit. With winnable games against North Texas and WKU coming up, it’s time to turn the season around. 

Sept. 24 at Auburn 30 … Florida Atlantic 14
CFN Analysis: At least the Owls got the running game moving a bit. Last in the nation, they were able to come up with 108 yards on the ground and didn’t stop pushing even after getting down big in the third quarter. This was a no-win situation against Auburn on the road, and the three interceptions were a big problem, but Graham Wilbert wasn’t too bad with 191 yards and a score. Against Louisiana, the Owls have to come up with scores early and have to keep getting several options involved to get the running game moving. Alfred Morris finally got going, with 85 yards on 15 carries, and now he has to be the workhorse again. 

Sept. 10 Michigan State 44 ... Florida Atlantic 0
CFN Analysis: It’s back to the drawing board for the Owls. The defense didn’t do much of anything against the balanced MSU attack, but the biggest problem is an offense that’s doing absolutely nothing thanks to a miserable start to the season from the line. There’s zero push for the running game whatsoever, and quarterbacks David Kooi and Graham Wilbert weren’t even close combining to complete 6-of-13 passes for 26 yards. One first down, 0-for-10 on third downs, and more penalty yards (55) than total yards (48); the team needs a week off. 

Sept. 3 at Florida 45 … Florida Atlantic 3
CFN Analysis: The Owls didn’t have a prayer against a pumped up Florida team looking to make a big statement, and life isn’t going to get much easier with dates at Michigan State and Auburn as part of the brutal five-game road stretch to start the season. Graham Wilbert never got time to operate, but he did the best he could with what he had to work with completing 14-of-26 passes for 107 yards. The Will Muschamp defense wasn’t going to let FAU’s running game breathe, giving up just 30 yards with Alfred Morris having a nightmare of a day gaining 16 yards on 14 carries. The one positive was the punting game with Mickey Groody having a typical Mickey Groody day, averaging 43.5 yards per bomb.

2011 Recruiting Class

The 2011 Class Is Heavy On … Outside linebacker. This is yet another soft recruiting class as Howard Schnellenberger didn’t load up on too many strong prospects from around the area. As always, everyone is local, but the only player of note is undersized linebacker Damian Parms, who isn’t big, but can stick. The receiving corps gets a little help with William Dukes and Hakeem Ishmar two big, promising targets.

Five Florida Atlantic Recruits You Should Care About
Player writeups by Scout.com

1. LB Conard Johnson
6-1, 205, Scout.com’s 182nd ranked outside linebacker

2. WR William Dukes
6-3, 180, Two-star prospect

3. OT Daniel Donnelly
6-4, 285, Two-star prospect

4. WR Hakeem Ishmar
6-1, 200, Two-star prospect

5. CB Djoun Frye-Smith
5-11, 180, Two-star prospect

2011 Entire Recruiting Class

Marcelo Bonani K/P 5-11 160 Lake Wales, FL (HS)
Matt Chaney DL 6-2 260 Jacksonville, FL (Bolles)
Stephan Clark WR 6-4 185 Sebastian, FL (Sebastian River)
Vinnie Davino OL 6-5 260 Sarasota, FL (Booker)
William Dukes WR 6-4 190 Fort Lauderdale, FL (Dillard)
Robinson Eugene DE 6-5 230 Miami, FL (North Miami)
Mohammad Farah OL 6-2 280 Estero, FL (Estero)
D.J. Frye-Smith DB 5-11 175 Miami, FL (American)
Jarvaris Giles RB 6-1 210 Port St. Lucie, FL (St. Lucie West Centennial)
Marcus Hagins LB 6-2 200 Ocala, FL (Vanguard)
Joe Henry DE 6-3 230 Miramar, FL (Everglades)
Hakeeme Ishmar WR 6-2 200 Dade City, FL (Pasco)
Conard Johnson LB 6-0 224 Pompano Beach, FL (Blanche Ely)
Colton Kane QB 6-3 190 Navarre, FL (Navarre)
Andrae Kirk LB 6-2 225 Miami, FL (Miami Central Senior High)
Diondre Lewis LB 6-1 210 Miami, FL (Miami Central Senior High)
David Lozandier S 6-0 190 Miami, FL (North Miami)
Mike Marsaille OL 6-5 300 Fort Pierce, FL (Fort Pierce Central)
Derek Moise WR 6-2 180 Miami, FL (Booker T. Washington)
Robert Nasiff OL 6-4 265 Wellington, FL (American Heritage)
Damian Parms S 6-2 185 Miami, FL (Monsignor Pace)
Stephen Schoewe OT 6-3 255 Niceville, FL (HS)
Antonio Washington RB 6-2 195 Arcadia, FL (DeSoto)
Cary White RB 5-10 210 Tampa, FL (Sickles)