Under his first season as Head Coach of the Florida International Golden Panthers Adam Wilson took a 1-11 team and won 9 games in his first season there. While last years team certainly had there faults, mainly defensive issues, this turnaround in wins was not luck. Wilson's offenses have been extremely balanced in their attack every since his days in Honolulu, Hawaii and have been able to put up points are nearly every opponent. His FIU offense was a lot more run heavy than his previous teams but, we still saw his offensive creative as they were able to average over 40 points a game. In 2017 however, we may be looking at a more controlled and time possessive offense after losing three receivers to graduation (D'Vonte Price, Sterling Palmer, and Shemar Thornton) along with starting QB Kaylan Wiggins. The Wiggins loss might be the biggest change for FIU as they will roll with redshirt Freshman Mike Nichols, who, may have all the tools to be a legit passer, has yet to face a collegiate defense. His transition will be tougher given his lack of a superior offensive line and a bunch of inexperience wideouts (outside of Jordan Underwood). This means that Demarcus Townsend has to play at the highest of levels during his senior year to help shoulder the load on offense.
And while Coach Wilson has never been known as a defensive specialist, this unit has a lot of work to do in keeping this offense in games despite losing 6 starters. Even with all these new faces on defense though there are two extremely promising areas, defensive line and corner. Along the line Jason Mercier, Steven Taylor, and Shaun Peterson Jr. are going to be a three headed monster pushing their way into the opposing backfield to sack QB's and stuff runners before they can get to the line of scrimmage. Then in the secondary Jamal Anderson, Shamar Monroe, Joey Walker, and Michael White are all tremendous cover corners who can pick the ball off. If these two groups can get the job done for Coach Wilson FIU will have a tremendous season.
Season Outlook:
Week 1 - Miami 52, FIU 35
Week 2 - FIU 38, Idaho 35
Week 5 - Rutgers 42, FIU 31
Week 6 - FIU 28, ULL 17
Week 7 - FIU 35, LA Tech 32
Week 8 - FIU 42, ECU 21
Week 9 - GA Southern 35, FIU 32
Week 10 - FIU 21, UCF 14
Week 11 - USF 45, FIU 28
Week 12 - FIU 35, Troy 17
Week 13 - FIU 42, App State 14
Week 14 - FIU 42, FAU 28
Expect FIU to have another very successful season but lose 4 games against some tough opponents. There downfall in these games will be two things; youth and turnovers. Good offenses will exploit these young linebackers and free safety, and well disciplined defenses will force Nichols to make tough reads. Where they will win games however, will be in their conference schedule as most of the Sun Belt conference will not put up much of a challenge to the this well coached squad.
A conference championship is well within this team's grasp if they can just pull out a few games and get some help along the way.
