FIU Football: Quarterbacks Making Progress In Spring Practice

Kevin Barral | Mar 28, 2024

FIU head football coach Mike MacIntyre on the sidelines during the MTSU s Salute to Veterans / HELEN COMER/The Daily News Journal / USA

Since spring practices began, the FIU Panthers have introduced more offense-versus-defense drills and more in-game scenarios. One of the bigger stories of day five was the status of quarterback Haden Carlson, who was not at practice.

FIU head coach Mike MacIntyre told the media that Haden Carlson was excused for practice as he dealt with a family issue.

With Carlson out for what may be a couple more days, the quarterback room is very inexperienced. However, MacIntyre believes the amount of reps the younger players are getting is helping them prepare for the season and potential in-game opportunities.

"I think they're all improving every day," said MacIntyre of his QBs. "We practice on two fields and you watch practice and they're getting a lot of reps. Repetition for a quarterback is 11-on-11 drills. That's how you get better pass skills. It's not real football, and then you're doing 11-on-11 and they're getting a lot of reps. All the guys are improving."

One of the quarterbacks who impressed, at least in MacIntyre's eyes, on day five was freshman Clayton Dees.

"Clayton's got a little moxie to him," said MacIntyre. "He doesn't think it's too big for him. He picks up everything mentally really well, now to speed up when you see it to go with it. I think that's hard for a quarterback because they see it, but then they got to speed themselves up because everything's closing a little faster."

Dees was the only quarterback recruit that MacIntyre and his staff brought in this cycle. Standing at 6'2", 180 pounds, Dees has strong pocket presence and thus far has been very accurate. At Palmetto High, Dees threw for 3,528 yards, 27 touchdowns and ran for 566 yards.

Along with the quarterbacks progression, one of the names that has stood out to MacIntryre is Georgia Tech transfer Juju Lewis. Lewis never played a game for the Yellow Jackets, but was highly recruited. After entering the portal, he decided to come back to his home state of Florida and join MacIntyre's team.

"Juju, is very athletic, strong hands and a great catch rate," said MacIntyre. "I'm very impressed with that and we can't wait for him to keep going more and more and be able to make plays, but he's an excellent receiver that we feel will be able to help us this year."

Fans will have the opportunity to see Lewis and Dees in-person at FIU's 2024 spring game, on Saturday, April 13 at FIU Football Stadium.