Spring game showcases fresh talent on FAMU’s football team

By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook Staff Writer

Quite a few players on the FAMU football team, especially at the receivers and running backs positions, made big enough plays during Saturday’s spring football game to leave fans believing there is plenty to build on.

The ones who made an impression on fans at Bragg Stadium “showed they could play football, too,” said coach Willie Simmons.

When the game was over, the Green team took a 21-15 victory over the Orange team in overtime. It was a defensive battle until Green team quarterback Jeremy Moussa called his own number for a 10-yard run into the end zone.

Up to that point, the only touchdown was scored by Kevin Sawyer Jr., who took a 45-yard screen pass from Orange team quarterback Junior Muratovic into the end zone.

Newcomers like receiver Kareem Burke and returning junior Chris Sands showed flashes of how effective they could be. Vershod Quinn and Sawyer had multiple runs of significance during the afternoon.

“All in all, I thought it was a successful spring; a lot to build on,” Simmons said. “I was pleased with what we were able to do over these last 15 practices

“One of the things we feel we have here is a lot of depth; more than we’ve ever had.”

That includes the quarterback position, led by Moussa, who took over under center last year after he joined the team as a transfer from Vanderbilt.  Each of the four other quarterbacks — Trey Fisher, DJ Boney, Ja’Cory Jordan, and Junior Muratovic got significant playing time.

While Moussa has established himself as the most likely to win the starting job for a second season, Fisher and Muratovic seemingly are intensely competing for the backup role. 

“We have a talented (quarterback) room,” Simmons said. “Every guy in that room physically can do what needs to be done to give us a chance to be successful. Now it’s about them doing the little things, understanding the timing, their footwork, the protections; everything that it takes to be a successful quarterback.

“Every day they are evaluated but with the spring game that’s the closest thing that we have to a game situation; see how they respond in a two-minute situation, see how they respond on a down. Each scrimmage we had along with the spring game really gave us the best barometer on how these guys will perform when the lights come on in August.”

Moussa obviously knows how to do that. 

“I feel so much more comfortable this time just because of all the game reps that I have,” he said. “Each look you can get, the more confident you’re going to feel when you have to recall that again.”

The defensive battle that ensured from the outset was almost assured from a draft that to done two days before the game. The concept was to ensure parity, Simmons said.

When the defensive units from both sides get back together in the fall, they’ll make a squad that will challenge offenses, said defensive lineman Kamari Stephens.

“The chemistry that we are starting to build, it’s going to be very hard for people to move the ball on our front seven this season coming up.”

The lone obvious area that the Rattlers showed any chink was in the kicking game. However, that much was expected with the loss of All-American punter Chris Faddoul and kicker Jose Romo-Martinez.

Jack Brooks, a two-time All-Big Bend kicker from Leon High School, was expected to help fill the void but has left the program.  Another Tallahassee product, Trey Wilhoite, has been kicking and punting for the Rattlers since transferring from Eastern Illinois.

However, Simmons plans to turn to the NCAA transfer portal for help.

“I’m not concerned because of the nature of the transfer portal,” he said. “That’s the beauty of it, but it’s definitely a need that we have to address pretty quickly.”