welcome back the American football kickoff we now get things started with Florida Atlantic who last year Tom Herman's first year as the head coach they went 4 and eight overall and three and five in the American Finish tied to eight in the conference and Coach it's great to have you here thanks for starting off the day with us glad to see you yeah this is great for you I know so much has been talked about finding the right players that not just fit your system but your culture in your two how has that reality sort of lived up to what you envision for this program it it's been great my phone has rang a lot less this off season which is a good thing as as most head coaches know uh very workmanlike attitude we we changed uh I think our roster is a 46% turnover so 40 pretty much half of our roster didn't even play football for FAU last year and so uh most of those guys came in in the spring and and were phenomenal and and to your point last year you know we we were one in five last year's team in one score games and so we had the talent requisite to to be in those one score games on the road at Illinois number one defense in the Big 10 is a six-point game in the fourth quarter just not enough to to get us quite over the hump and and the same with our culture you know we had a good enough culture to overcome a lot of those Talent deficiencies to get us in those games just not quite enough to get over the top so we feel like we've improved the talent we've improved the culture and really except feels a lot like I feel a lot like I did headed into year two at at our previous stop you talk about some of the changes last year in the quarterback room you dealt with some injuries a little different this year camper comes in from Marshall got Tariq Starks that's already been there just talk us through where the quarterbacks are at right now what this fall is going to look like as they enter into the camp well as you know if you have a quarterback you have a chance if you don't you don't and um unfortunately Ely we got dinged up last year and we we were down to uh we didn't we didn't we weren't very productive at that position and uh we we feel great going Tyreek Starks uh if if there was a regret last year was probably not playing him earlier maybe instead of the last game maybe giving him a couple more games uh but we were uh so close to to being in that conference race that uh we didn't want to upset the apple card but Tyreek has had a great off SE cam has assimilated himself really really well you can tell the guy started a bunch of games and has that experience so we're going to be more talented now up front on the offensive line again more talented but not near the experience so on that side of the ball that that's where my eyes are going to be in the fall coach you talked about roster turnover but you still bring back a good core defensively you guys were tough on defense last year Jackson Ambush comes back 89 total tackle so talk about that defensive core this back really we played good enough defense to to not be 4 and8 to to to have a better record than than 4 and8 uh I think seven of our eight conference opponents we held to under their season average in points and yardage so long story short uh we're going to miss Evan Anderson at nose tackle uh he's a great player going to play in the NFL uh we don't have quite the Onan show that that Evan was but we feel like we can replace some of his productivity there up front but again really excited about what's coming back Jackson and Bush uh J Will Jaden Williams in the secondary uh the list goes on and on I'm I know I'm going to forget a bunch if I start naming them so but really excited about the defense and looking forward to seeing how we do interiorly with uh Evan gone and then trying to get a little more pressure on the quarterback speaking of Defense coach and just the instilling toughness piece that is such a big part of what you do and and all your stops really what does that look like like in Fall Camp what are you looking for how do you measure sort of the growth that you see from the spring to the fall with your guys yeah I I the only way I know how to get good at doing things is do them and how do you get good at tackling you go tackle people how do you get good at breaking tackles you break tackles you know and so uh we tackle a lot in Fall Camp we're very measured uh you know with when we do that and the the prep leading into uh the first game so it'll be very very physical uh early in Camp and then the physical demands will will die down a little bit um but and then the mental aspect will kick up a little bit but at the end of the day as as much as this game has changed over my time as a coach it's still about moving another human being where he doesn't want to go against his will and and at the end and so it's still a tough tough tough game won by by tough people Leon Wester was obviously a big piece of last year's offense has moved on that skill group there some new faces some guys that have also come in there just what does that look like who do you expect to step up as we enter into fall Camp yeah we we've had um you know two out of the last three years I've been a head coach we've had the leading receiver in the country uh you go back to 2019 at Texas and Devon du caught over 100 something passes so uh losing Le Jon is going to hurt uh in terms of that oneman production again much like Evan Anderson he was he was our offense last year and um we feel like are we going to place that with one guy at the H position absolutely not but we feel like the talent is there the depth is there that we can spread the ball around a little bit more coach let's talk about your first year Impressions I'm a Florida guy so I'm bullish on South Florida and bokeh it's a great City you have a great stadium for fans that might be watching that don't really know FAU and what it's about kind of talk about your first year Impressions and what you've seen down there and what you're building well again when me and my family decided to get back into college coaching the job needed to fill two two requirements family's got to be happy living there and you got to be able to win championships and my gosh in the year and a half we've been in boa Ron we've fallen in love with it it is absolutely not just gorgeous in terms of the the scenery in the beach and the ocean but just the people and the um the atmosphere there and then FAU the academic reputation continues to rise dorms are exploding across campus it feels a lot like to be honest with you you being in Orlando like UCF yeah uh about 10 15 years ago and so uh if we can keep that momentum especially that basketball delivered uh with their final four run a year ago uh we we feel like the sky is a limit coach I'm curious you know last year we visited and you guys had just come out of non-conference and you had road trips at Clemson where your quarterback gets hurt you had a road trip against a pretty good Illinois team this year looks like a much more manageable non-conference obviously you open up in East laning tough opener against Michigan State but then after that FIU Yukon you've got Wagner in there as well just the difference in your non-conference between last year to this year well anytime you don't have to go backto back weeks on the road to play two power four opponents uh that's a good thing we're always going to play one of the big boys and and we relish that uh being the first year Michigan State I feel like in all my years I'm I think every year as a head coach I'm sure that's not true but I we're facing a new staff week one which is a challenge unto itself but uh you're you're right in the fact fact that we don't have two of them uh we we've got uh FIU at home uh you know but we we've got to go to stores Connecticut uh which is a tough trip so uh definitely more manageable uh but hopefully you know we can we can hit our stride early well speaking of early coach I mean you get a conference game week two against Army the new member in this conference I mean what are your expectations and just overall Army coming into the American you know what they do for this conference really as a whole yeah super excited about I I I think you know Mike oresco in in his 10 years as the the leader of this conference and now Tim pernetti um taking over the helm it's in great hands as as evidenced by us six uh coming in uh last year from Conference USA as well as now Army so now we have two Service acmy uh in the the conference so it's a fantastic plan executed really well and and you can tell the leadership in our conference uh throughout this ridiculously everchanging landscape has really positioned the American to be the the leader uh amongst conference similar conferences coach with the expansion of the college football playoff when you're going recruiting now how is that part of the pitch now that look You' got an opportunity right now to get into the 12 team expanded college football playoff absolutely um I I don't as long as the money is equal now you know uh we signed at Oliver at at Houston a five star uh I don't know that that happens any anymore cuz I don't know that a team in the American is going to be able to pay what the schools the other schools that were recruiting Ed were were would have been able to offer and so uh but what we can offer is if if the money is equal or close to you say okay we're you're going to play football less than two miles from the Atlantic Ocean you're going to get a great degree you're going to get uh developed and trained by one of the greatest staffs uh in the country with national championships and so on and so forth uh and now you win the conference you're going to the playoffs and we're going to have just as good a shot as anybody in this conference probably much more than those teams in the midwest that claim to be in whatever power this they claim to be in they're not winning their conference ever and so they're not going to the playoffs so we're excited about being able to tell our guys you know tell us why not now tell us why not you want compete for championships we can do it coach you're the only coach that we'll talk to today that has hoisted that American football championship trophy you did it right out of the gates you won at Houston what does it take when it all comes down to it to win and have success in this league I know it's a much different League than well it is but it isn't you know it's it's it's got such a parody everybody has very similar players I think it's it's going to be about culture it's going to be about um sche it's going to be about staying healthy because in today's transfer every six months climate it's very difficult to keep old uh depth on your roster if I'm a junior or senior and I'm a second Stringer or third Stringer I'm finding a place where I can play nowadays so your depth is going to be freshman and sophomore so if you if you have solid depth can sustain the injuries that come along without a drop off in production and then just show up every week you're going to have right around the same kind of players that everybody else has on a on a week in week out basis coach we appreciate you taking the time to join us today really looking forward to seeing what you can do here in year two and we appreciate it now we turn our attention to the Florida Atlantic owl schedule as Coachman mentioned we they'll be starting