Football Practice #5: Continuity and Maturity Enables Attacking Football

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic football team believes in attacking the football. Its tempo offense is matched by an aggressive defense that Hagerty Family Head Football Coach Zach Kittley challenges and molds each practice. Sunday's workout was no different.

The Owls are the only team in the nation to return the entirety of its football coaching staff as well as the starting quarterback. Nearly 65% of the team returned from a year ago and very few players were added over the summer. This allowed the staff to use the spring and summer to teach football. Couple that with 65% of the offense and 56% of the defensive production returning and the Owls are attacking on both sides of the ball, playing much freer than five practices in a year ago.

QUOTABLE
Hagerty Family Head Football Coach Zach Kittley
On how football school went this summer
"It was great. As coaches, really, we are teachers. We have to teach so many different aspects of the game… We are teaching the fundamentals. We are teaching the basics. We have a lot of continuity and a lot of retention from last year. A lot of these guys have gotten through a lot of football school and fall camps, spring ball the year before. So now you implement that with your new guys coming in, and you get through all your football schools in the winter, and then you get some in the summer, and they do stuff on their own as well. I think it pays dividends for what we are trying to do. We are so far ahead in our installs. We are calling so many more plays on both sides of the ball and our guys are just more confident because they have gotten so many reps. We are playing faster."

On the confidence of the team
"We are moving at a good rate and I think that piggybacks on the continuity and all the football schools that we were able to do this year…Because of how the calendar fell, I felt like our guys got more time. It has been really good for us. Our guys are playing super confident and it is because they are comfortable with what we are doing. They understand how we operate now. Then you have almost all of your team captains back from last year's team too, and they are helping. They already knew the standard, and then now they are putting that forward with everybody else on the team."

On the team being ready for pads and braving through the weather
… We were very, very physical yesterday. Today was another very physical day, and that is what you want when you put the pads on. I want to be a physical football team, and it starts in the box. We have had two great days of inside runs with our shells on. They are confident. They are fast. They are playing physical. It has been great. On the weather piece, we are down here in South Florida. We had almost a three-hour rain delay game last year. I like it. On practice one, we got delayed about an hour and a half because of the weather, and I told Coach Lee [Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Brandon Lee] that I was actually happy about it just because we did not have that adversity last year. I love adversity. I think, as much as we can, putting our guys through adversity is going to help us on Saturdays in September and moving forward. So, it has been good."

On Jay Crable and Brady Tillman III
"Jay has been awesome. He is very dynamic off the edge. He can do a lot of things for us. He is physical. He weighs about 240/245 right now and he plays with the motor, which makes him even better, but he is a smart football player too, and he loves football. He is very serious about his craft, and we can see a difference off the edge…Jay is one of those guys that has had a great camp so far. He is trending in the right direction, and I cannot wait to see how he does because he is an aggressive player. And then Brady Tillman, he is kind of a 'Steady Eddie.' He has been awesome for us. He is very sharp. He can do it all. He is a bigger back, but he is a worker. …He has a great spirit about him He is always positive. He is always upbeat. He has been great for that running back room. He has made a lot of plays for us and will continue to do so as we move forward."

Senior EDGE Jay Crable
On always attacking the ball
"At first in the spring, as we were getting guys and everybody was new, I feel like we struggled with getting to the ball just because a lot of us are learning and trying to figure our way through the defense. But in these first four practices, we are getting after the ball. A lot of guys are able to play fast. Now you are able to see a lot of people's abilities, whether guys are fast, whether they are physical. I think we are really getting up to the ball now and everybody is really able to not think as much and play fast."

On playing with a high motor
Naturally, I have a high motor, but being in this heat, I have kind of had to adapt to the heat and the sun and Coach Kittley runs a lot of tempo too. I really try to be as much tempo as I can be, but I love getting to the ball. The more you are around the ball, the more you show up on tape, the better off you are. And wherever the ball is, that is where people look. So if you are around the ball a lot, a lot of people are going to see you."

On who has made a big jump between spring and fall
I would not say it is a specific person. We have had so many new pieces to this defense. Really everybody, from our safeties to our linebackers. We have returning starters like Leon (Hart Jr). It is great to see him back and practicing, really everybody. It is great to see what everybody can do. We are coming out and we have energy and guys are hyped and it just great to see that guys are making plays and see what guys can do because you can only see so much when you are just in the film room and you are walking through plays. Now that we have pads on, it is awesome to see everybody making plays, defensive backs down the field…We just want to be a dominant defense."

Senior RB Brady Tillman III
On the competitiveness of the running back room
"We want to come out and compete every day. It does not matter what reps we get. We just keep going. With the offense, we are patient but the big guys up front, they come out physical. They get that one push and we are gone."

On his relationship with RB Coach Chris Perkins
"Coach Perk instills a lot in us. He wants us to be fast, physical, not put the ball on the ground and make plays, just let us run that ball."

On what he enjoys most about Florida Atlantic
"The scenery, the environment, the teamwork and the brotherhood. I feel like a lot of us are coming together more, this fall camp, defense and offense. We are talking more. We are communicating in the locker room. We are having fun and we are enjoying it."

On making the jump from Division II
Football is football at the end of the day. The only thing that really changing my eyes is up front they are just bigger guys, but at the end of the day, football is football."

On how he would describe himself as a back
"Tough, going to get that first down. Short yardage, I want that football. Third-and-1, I am going."

PHOTO GALLERY

Gallery: (8-9-2026) Fall Practice #5

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