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Florida Atlantic University Athletics
2020 – The 20th Football Season
7/15/2020 10:00:00 AM | Football
July 15, 2001 - Florida Atlantic University sat on the precipice of its inaugural football season. At the helm of the program sat a legendary coach, Howard Schnellenberger, whose hands were decorated with NFL Super Bowl and Collegiate National Championship rings. His office, the Tom Oxley Athletic Center, was just months from punch list completion. From the halls of his Oxley Center 
office, Schnellenberger would coach his team and would mentor his young team through a time of unrest as the nation absorbed the realization of 9/11 one week into the program's inaugural season.
Schnellenberger would usher the Owls through NCAA Division I-AA (now known as FCS) status, climbing as high as No. 3 nationally and hosting the NCAA national semifinal game in 2003. He would then take that same group of Owls to the highest level of collegiate football competition, Division I-A (now known as FBS). In season seven, the young program traveled to New Orleans where the Sun Belt Conference Champion Owls defeated Memphis, becoming the youngest start-up program to be invited to a bowl game and to secure a victory. They did so in the first season of FBS membership. A year later, the Owls proved victorious over Central Michigan in the Motor City Bowl and scrapped their way to back-to-back bowl victories, the only team in the state of Florida to accomplish consecutive bowl wins in 2007 and 2008.
But FAU under Schnellenberger's leadership was not done. His focus and the focus of the university became an on-campus football stadium. The stadium would later be known as a campus jewel. A jewel that would become the focal point six-plus Saturdays each fall, and whose field would bear the Howard Schnellenberger name.
The NFL draft ceiling was broken in the Spring of 2010 when quarterback Rusty Smith, one of 15 FAU starting quarterbacks, became the first Owl to be drafted into the NFL. Tight end Rob Housler
would follow Smith's lead as an NFL draftee in 2011 as a third-round selection. Just a few months later, fans were ushered into the Owls' on-campus football stadium, carpeted with natural grass and a view of the Atlantic Ocean. Following the 2011 season, Alfred Morris became the third draftee in as many years. In total, 10 FAU players have been drafted since 2010 and 51 have signed with either an NFL or CFL team since the program's inception.
Three coaches would marshal the sidelines over the next five seasons. Following the Owls' 2016 season, and fourth year as a Conference USA member, Lane Kiffin assumed the coaching helm and guided the Owls to a C-USA title in two of the next three seasons, 2017 and 2019. The Kiffin-led Owls tallied an 11-3 mark in each of those seasons and were invited and captured the Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl both years. Along with team titles came conference and national acclaim. Running back Devin "Motor" Singletary was the first Owl to garner AP All-American honors in 2017, while tight end Harrison Bryant became a unanimous All-American selection and was the first FAU player to earn national individual recognition as the John Mackey Award winner.
In total, 864 players, 89% from Florida, have donned an Owl jersey and those players have recorded 104 victories. There have been 35 Conference Player of the Week selections,
39 First Team All-Conference awardees and 156 postseason selections. Five players have earned conference superlatives. The Owls have traveled to 31 states with Alabama (Sun Belt title game), Arizona (Quarterfinal Playoff), Hawaii (OT FBS), Louisiana (New Orleans Bowl), Michigan (Motor City Bowl) and Tennessee (first FBS win) being states with the most notable wins.
July 15, 2020 – The Owls will embark on their 20th season in just a few weeks under the direction of Willie Taggart, the program's seventh head coach. The Owls moved into a new home, the Schmidt Family Center for Academic and Athletic Excellence, in the Spring of 2020. Coach Taggart and the Owls have not been afforded the opportunity to take the field together. They have yet to don pads or to run a play from scrimmage, but Taggart has mentored his team through a time of national unrest and watched as the squad has gleaned knowledge from their diversity. Taggart's hands have not been used to display past team accomplishments; his fingers have been used to monitor "Zoom." They have tapped across a computer's keyboard while helping his players register to vote. His fingers have been used to affix a protective mask as a precaution against a world pandemic. And they itch for the opportunity to shake an opponent's hand once again. There is much to be done prior to the 2020 season opener and the 20th season for the FAU Owls. But much has been accomplished and much more is to come. #WinningInParadise
office, Schnellenberger would coach his team and would mentor his young team through a time of unrest as the nation absorbed the realization of 9/11 one week into the program's inaugural season.Schnellenberger would usher the Owls through NCAA Division I-AA (now known as FCS) status, climbing as high as No. 3 nationally and hosting the NCAA national semifinal game in 2003. He would then take that same group of Owls to the highest level of collegiate football competition, Division I-A (now known as FBS). In season seven, the young program traveled to New Orleans where the Sun Belt Conference Champion Owls defeated Memphis, becoming the youngest start-up program to be invited to a bowl game and to secure a victory. They did so in the first season of FBS membership. A year later, the Owls proved victorious over Central Michigan in the Motor City Bowl and scrapped their way to back-to-back bowl victories, the only team in the state of Florida to accomplish consecutive bowl wins in 2007 and 2008.
But FAU under Schnellenberger's leadership was not done. His focus and the focus of the university became an on-campus football stadium. The stadium would later be known as a campus jewel. A jewel that would become the focal point six-plus Saturdays each fall, and whose field would bear the Howard Schnellenberger name.
The NFL draft ceiling was broken in the Spring of 2010 when quarterback Rusty Smith, one of 15 FAU starting quarterbacks, became the first Owl to be drafted into the NFL. Tight end Rob Housler
would follow Smith's lead as an NFL draftee in 2011 as a third-round selection. Just a few months later, fans were ushered into the Owls' on-campus football stadium, carpeted with natural grass and a view of the Atlantic Ocean. Following the 2011 season, Alfred Morris became the third draftee in as many years. In total, 10 FAU players have been drafted since 2010 and 51 have signed with either an NFL or CFL team since the program's inception.Three coaches would marshal the sidelines over the next five seasons. Following the Owls' 2016 season, and fourth year as a Conference USA member, Lane Kiffin assumed the coaching helm and guided the Owls to a C-USA title in two of the next three seasons, 2017 and 2019. The Kiffin-led Owls tallied an 11-3 mark in each of those seasons and were invited and captured the Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl both years. Along with team titles came conference and national acclaim. Running back Devin "Motor" Singletary was the first Owl to garner AP All-American honors in 2017, while tight end Harrison Bryant became a unanimous All-American selection and was the first FAU player to earn national individual recognition as the John Mackey Award winner.
In total, 864 players, 89% from Florida, have donned an Owl jersey and those players have recorded 104 victories. There have been 35 Conference Player of the Week selections,
39 First Team All-Conference awardees and 156 postseason selections. Five players have earned conference superlatives. The Owls have traveled to 31 states with Alabama (Sun Belt title game), Arizona (Quarterfinal Playoff), Hawaii (OT FBS), Louisiana (New Orleans Bowl), Michigan (Motor City Bowl) and Tennessee (first FBS win) being states with the most notable wins. July 15, 2020 – The Owls will embark on their 20th season in just a few weeks under the direction of Willie Taggart, the program's seventh head coach. The Owls moved into a new home, the Schmidt Family Center for Academic and Athletic Excellence, in the Spring of 2020. Coach Taggart and the Owls have not been afforded the opportunity to take the field together. They have yet to don pads or to run a play from scrimmage, but Taggart has mentored his team through a time of national unrest and watched as the squad has gleaned knowledge from their diversity. Taggart's hands have not been used to display past team accomplishments; his fingers have been used to monitor "Zoom." They have tapped across a computer's keyboard while helping his players register to vote. His fingers have been used to affix a protective mask as a precaution against a world pandemic. And they itch for the opportunity to shake an opponent's hand once again. There is much to be done prior to the 2020 season opener and the 20th season for the FAU Owls. But much has been accomplished and much more is to come. #WinningInParadise
Players Mentioned
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