FAMU Offense suffers setback

By Heath A. Smith, DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

Mental mistakes, poor execution cost FAMU against WSSU.

Starting left guard Anthony Collins said Saturday's performance against Winston-Salem State was the worst by Florida A&M's offense this season.

It's hard to argue with the redshirt sophomore, and not because he's 6-3 and weighs more than 350 pounds.

Any time your offense hand-delivers two touchdowns to the opposing team, it is not a good day.

Freshman running back Philip Sylvester's fumble on the 1-yard-line set up W-SS's first touchdown, and a bad snap from starting center Kwame Akkabela set up another touchdown drive for the Rams.

Photo: FAMU's Leon Camel (16) watches as a fumble by Philip Sylvester ends up in the hands of Winston-Salem State University's Jamaine Mack (22) in the first quarter of their game in the Circle City Classic at the FAMU 1 yard line.

“As an offense, I feel like we had our worst game as far as mental mistakes,” Collins said at FAMU's weekly press conference Tuesday. “Every play it was like something. We just have to come out stronger and play with more energy.

“We gave them two touchdowns last week. Without those fumbles that led to touchdowns, I think we win that game last week.”

Life is difficult enough just trying to work in a new starting quarterback in Leon Camel. FAMU coach Rubin Carter doesn't need his offense to make things any harder on itself than it already is.

“We shot ourselves in the foot,” Carter said. “We spot a team 14 points and you try and play catchup. We have to play for a full game and not just a half.

“We have to get out of this mode and format of playing two teams. We just need to play the opponent and not ourselves as well.”

The Rattlers did come back to tie the game in the second half - a quality Collins said the offense seems to demonstrate often when behind.

“We seem to always play better when we are behind,” Collins said. “It's like we feel a sense of urgency like we have to come back. We focus more.”

In the future, however, Camel would just prefer that the offense play like it was behind instead of actually having to play from behind.

“We gave them two turnovers inside the red zone, which gave them 14 points,” Camel said.” You take away those 14 points we win the game.

“They came out and played hard, but it is not like they beat us. We slightly beat ourselves. We just plan to build on what we did heading into South Carolina State.”

Hyped

Collins said one of the things he likes about his new starting quarterback is the energy he plays with in games.

Apparently Camel may have played with a little too much energy Saturday, which may have resulted in some of his errant passes.

Camel completed just 12 of 31 passes against W-SS.

“The first couple of series, I had a little jitters,” Camel said. “I wasn't nervous, it was just jitters. I threw the ball into the ground a couple times.”

Photo: FAMU wide receiver Willie Hayward (3) can't hold on to a third-down pass at the two-yard line as Winston-Salem State University's Marcus Coates (27) defends on the Rattlers' last drive in the fourth quarter of their Circle City Classic.

Familiarity

It probably shouldn't have been a surprise that Camel's main target Saturday was senior receiver Willie Hayward.

Camel completed seven of his 12 passes to Hayward Saturday for 117 of his 158 passing yards.

Camel said the two walked on to the team together and used to hook up with each other on the practice squad.

Camel delivers big hit

The guys in the white shirts are usually off-limits to defensive players at Florida A&M's practices. That doesn't mean the guys in the green shirts are off-limits to the guys in the white shirts, however.

Camel made the hit of practice, and perhaps the season, on freshman defensive tackle Bryan Peoples near the end of Wednesday's practice.

Camel, who stands 5-foot-6 and weighs 170 pounds, knocked the 6-foot-3, 255-pound Peoples off his feet on the play that drew cheers from the offense and shock from the defense.

“I just wanted to get a rise out of everybody,” Camel said. “Practice was lengthy today and everybody was ready to go. The hit just lifted up practice.

“It was a crack for me. Either I was supposed to lead the ball carrier up the field or crack the defensive end so I just did what coach asked me to do.”

Carter doesn't want his starting quarterback injuring himself, but he doesn't mind a seeing a good hit either.

“He did a good job,” Carter said about Camel's block. "Leon is a tough guy. He is dedicated to his position and showing leadership. That's football. Sometimes the quarterback gets hit. This time he got to do the hitting.”

Photo: FAMU wide receiver Adrian Smith (87) has a long pass bounce off of him as Winston-Salem State University's Alex Chandler (19) watches in the second quarter

Gotcha

Senior long snapper Doug Peeler will be the first to tell you that he has a lot of free time on his hands during practice.

Wednesday, Peeler used a little of his spare time to play a friendly prank on redshirt-freshman left tackle Christopher Sands.

Somehow, without Sands realizing it, Peeler spelled the word “Fat” on the back of Sands' jersey during practice.

Sands practiced unaware that he was a victim of the prank for about 30 minutes until one of the team trainers removed the tape. Peeler confessed to pulling the prank on his buddy after practice.

“It was fun and I would do it again,” Peeler said.

Last year receiver Javares Knight was a victim of a prank when he was led to believe that he was getting his scholarship taking away.

“It's football,” Carter said. “It brings a little levity, but at the same time we are serious about the game of football. I want the players to keep their spirits up.

“We're at the halfway point in the season and it's important that the players have the right attitude going into each and every game.”