BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic University's football team concluded the 2023 spring with their annual Spring Game on Saturday.
FAU faithful showed up for an early look at what new Hagerty Family Football Head Coach Tom Herman and staff have been building towards. A month of spring practices, 15 in all, culminated in an action-packed matchup that saw Team Red take down Team White 42-17.
While Team White was given an early 3-0 head start before the game even began thanks to a victorious "Oklahoma Drill," it was all Red once the clock was underway.
The top three quarterbacks, Daniel Richardson, Ben Ballard, and Tyriq Starks, rotated between teams. The two newcomers, Richardson and Ballard stood out, combining for 461 yards and six touchdowns. Starks added a touchdown of his own as each offense played mostly mistake-free football with no interceptions and only one fumble.
Big plays were the name of the game with 16 plays going for 15+ yards, many coming from runs after the catch and broken tackles, and eight total touchdowns. Junior Jymetre Hester led the way for the wideouts, hauling in four passes for 87 yards (including one for a game-long 53 yards) and a touchdown.
Running back Kobe Lewis was the main force to be reckoned with on the ground game, with a game-high 89 yards on 12 carries, with five of them going for at least 10 yards. Larry McCammon III added 65 yards with a long of 24 yards and recorded the game's only rushing touchdown.
On the flip side, the defensive unit was able to rack up tackles, highlighted by Junior inside linebacker Jarrett Jerrels with 12 total tackles. For the second straight year, Decarius Hawthorne impressed in a Spring Game, registering six tackles and a sack.
For the Owls, the Spring Game was just another day in a stretch of spring football to build towards their goals of success in the fall.