Tulane's Jon Sumrall Scouts the High Flying Owls of FAU
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Tulane football coach Jon Sumrall met with the media Tuesday to talk about his team and the one the Green Wave will matched up with this Saturday for homecoming, Florida Atlantic.
What leaps out about the Owls of FAU is the audacious numbers its passing game can put up because of the extreme pace at with Florida Atlantic plays.
"It's the opposite of playing someone like Army," Sumrall said. "You play Army, and they want there to be six possessions the entire game. These guys (FAU) go so fast. We're not going to go as fast as them. That's not who we are. Our character, our demeanor, if you will, is we like to change tempos."
So the Tulane defense will have to be on their toes. Literally.
"The biggest challenge in that (FAU's up tempo), is to make sure our guys get their cleats set, their eyes set for they need to get it to work, and make sure they're all playing the same defense. I use this adage a lot: if we're all wrong, we're alright. If we have a bad (defensive play) call, but everyone is playing the bad call at the same time, it can be a okay call.
"How it affects our offense," Sumrall continued about the fast-paced UTSA offense, "is they put a ton of points up. So you have to be prepared to score. You can't settle for field goals."
FAU quarterback Caden Veltkamp sits in second place in the American Conference in passing. averaging just shy of 288-yards passing for the Owls, behind only North Texas QB Drew Mestermaker. The redshirt junior transfer from Western Kentucky is a big 'un, 6' 6" tall and 236-pounds.
"He's a big, strong armed guy," Sumrall said when talking about Veltkamp. "He can make every throw on the field. He can drive it down the field (throw the deep pass). He's accurate in the intermediate and quick game, gets the ball out quickly and on time. Their slot receivers are as good as anybody we've seen all year."
Though Florida Atlantic will run the ball, the Owls instead use the passing game as their form of a rush.
"Some of their throws are an extension of the run game," Sumrall told us. "They'll throw the ball like it's a run play, because (the play) is not driving it down the field. Now, they will throw it down the field plenty, but they're efficient getting the ball out to make sure their quarterback doesn't take a bunch of shots."
Tulane and Florida Atlantic matchup in a sold out Yulman Stadium this Saturday at 3:00 p.m. for Tulane's homecoming game. The Green Wave will be wearing their City Edition uniforms for the one and only time this season. We have a story about that here.
Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.