A much younger FIU team than last year took to the FIU Stadium field this morning in the first of 15 spring practices.
The most noticeable thing about today's practice was how much time FIU quarterbacks spent under center. The Panthers quarterbacks were probably under center for about 90 percent of practice. Yes, they did operate out of the shotgun too. CLICK HERE to read a story on day one of spring ball.
Quarterbacks Jake Medlock, E.J. Hilliard and Akil Dan-Fodio, who has moved from tight end for the spring, all worked a good amount of time practicing on 3, 5 and 7-step drop backs from under center. Medlock looks stronger than last year and leaner. Click on the link in the previous paragraph to read more.
Another thing that caught my eye was defensive tackle Jerrico Lee moving over to fullback. Lee is much lighter than his listed 270-pound weight. He's probably around 245-250. Look at the photo below. Lee (No. 41) is doing what former FIU offensive tackle Rupert Bryan did at the recent FIU Pro Day -- convert to fullback. Lee looked all right doing the drills. It will be interesting to see how running back Lamarq Caldwell does in this offense. Caldwell is a bigger back that looks like he would fit right into this offense.
FIU coach Ron Turner on Lee: "We run some two-back offense and we really don’t have a fullback on the roster so we looked at him and he looks like a fullback body type so we are taking a look at him and see how he progresses."
As expected the offensive line is light on depth. For what it's worth (it is only March 19), the first team line today was: LT - Aaron Nielsen, LG - David Delsoin, C - Donald Senat, RG - Trenton Saunders, RT - Yousif Khoury.
Turner said he wants to add more depth to the offensive line and said he has talked to some defensive linemen about possibly moving to the offensive line.
There are a lot of starting jobs up for grabs on the defensive side after eight starters graduated. For the most part FIU used a 4-3 today, but Turner said you will see some 3-4 packages as well. For March 19, 2013 this was your first team defense: DEs - Paul Crawford, Giovani Francois; DTs - Darrian Dyson, Greg Hickman; LBs - Davison Colimon, (Middle linebacker) Patrick Jean, Luis Rosado; CBs - Richard Leonard, Sam Miller; S - Justin Halley, Mitch Wozniak.
