2024 FIU Football Spring Showcase Takeaways

Kevin Barral | Apr 14, 2024

FIU quarterback Keyone Jenkins (1) passes the ball during the MTSU s Salute to Veterans football / HELEN COMER/The Daily News Journal / USA

One year after the 2023 FIU Spring Showcase was canceled, 2024 would end up having perfect weather and an overall great atmosphere with plenty of takeaways.

This year, an 11-on-11 game was formatted for two 15-minute quarters and then a 10-minute quarter. The game would be decided on a fourth-and-three in the red zone attempt where where the blue team, led by Haden Carlson and TJ Snowden, got the win.

“I thought we got a lot accomplished tonight,” said head coach Mike MacIntyre. “We were very competitive with each other. You saw the spirit…you can see the competition and how we're doing, how we're working. I was excited about that. We dropped a couple of balls that we hadn't been dropping on some slants.”

MacIntyre was referring to a redzone drive where wide receiver DJ Washington dropped a wide open pass in the red zone. The blue team had to settle for a field goal on that drive.

Quarterback Play

This spring, we saw players divided into the blue and white team. For the blue team, Clayton Dees, Amari Jones and Haden Carlson suited up while Keyone Jenkins, Chayden Peery and Zachary Waters were on the white team.

The only quarterback to throw a passing touchdown in the two-quarter spring game scrimmage was Keyone Jenkins. After settling for a field goal on his first trip inside the red zone, Jenkins ended up coming out for the third drive of the game for the white team and connecting with Dean Patterson for about a 10-15 yard touchdown.

“It was really like a false count,” said Keyone Jenkins after the game. “He jumped offsides, so free play for us. Didn't want to take a sack or throw the ball out of bounds. I made some time, found Dean and here we are.”

For the most part, Jenkins connected with his tight end Rocky Beers and running back Shomari Lawrence for short gains of about three to five yards. Haden Carlson also threw for a gain of about 30 yards to sophomore Kyle McNeal. The very next play was by far the biggest with a DJ Washington one-handed catch for about 10-15 yards to get FIU in the red zone, but settled for a field goal.

Although he didn’t throw any touchdowns, Amari Jones received a considerable amount of reps, putting him in a position where he can potentially become the backup quarterback.

“Amari did some good things today,” said MacIntyre. “Amari brings a really good dimension. He's very calm out there. He can make the throws, he's able to run. He has a big size to him. Him being healthy and seeing him do that was fun watching.”

Receivers on Display

Keyone Jenkins' top target on the evening was tight end Rocky Beers, who in 2023 caught 18 passes for 158 yards and one touchdown. Beers should be implemented into the offense more this season, especially with how his usage rate went up toward the end of the 2023 season.

Along with Beers, Jenkins went to who should be his number-one wide receiver in Dean Patterson. They connected for a touchdown, the only one during the two-quarter scrimmage.

DJ Washington is someone who brings something new to the Panthers offense with his size and length. MacIntyre called him a venus flytrap with how big he is.

“He has a great catch radius,” said MacIntyre. “We call him the venus flytrap. He just catches it wherever he is. He's gonna catch it, so we've nicknamed the venus flytrap.”

Pressure Led To Sacks

One of the points of emphasis that defensive coordinator Jovan Dewitt noted is the need to find success when pressuring the quarterback. It’s fair to say that they did on Saturday, sacking the quarterback about three times.

“Worked on that a lot,” said MacIntyre in regards to pressuring and completing the sack on the quarterback. “Our offensive line has gotten better. The competition between that has really helped us get better on the defensive side too. We've got some guys that can rush the passer.”

FIU Alumni Make Their Presence Known

The Spring Showcase is always a great time for former players of the school to show up and talk to current players. The newest members of the Miami Dolphins Jonnu Smith and Teair Tart showed up along with recently retired Jaguars safety Jonathan Cyprien. More recent alums Dorian Hall and Alex Nobles also made an appearance.

“It was fun,” said MacIntyre. “Had Cyp out here we introduced those guys to the crowd and that was great having all those guys around. I know there were some more guys I saw, but they're kind of just with their families and moving around. It was great to have the two new Dolphins around over here today.”

What’s Next?

The Panthers will now begin their summer workouts ahead of Fall practices. FIU will go through primarily conditioning workouts leading towards more practices in the fall that will further shape position battles.

Published Apr 14, 2024

KEVIN BARRAL