In first year, FIU’s new offensive line coach must start from scratch after transfers

When there’s a fumble on the center-quarterback exchange, Joshua Eargle knows exactly who to blame.

“It’s always the center’s fault,” said Eargle, who is in his second year at FIU and his first as offensive line coach. “I hold our centers to a high standard. The center has to run the show, get everyone on the same page.”

Eargle, who played center and left guard at the University of Memphis, coached FIU’s tight ends last year.

Now he’s coaching a unit that has been hard hit by transfers.

Following last season, center Julius Pierce transferred to Middle Tennessee State. Then, two days into this year’s set of spring practices, FIU lost both of its starting offensive tackles.

Left tackle Shamar Hobdy-Lee, who started all 12 games last year and led FIU’s O-line with 804 snaps, entered the transfer portal. Right tackle Lyndell Hudson Jr., a three-year starter at right tackle, also hit the portal. Both of them have offers from Appalachian State, but they have not committed.

That leaves FIU with just two returning starters: sixth-year senior Jacob Peace, who started his career at VMI; and John Bock II, a true sophomore from Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons.

Peace has remained at guard this spring, but Bock has moved to first-team center, a position Eargle values most highly.

“Everything up front starts in the middle;” Eargle said. “Bock is doing a phenomenal job, galvanizing the line.”

Eargle praised left tackle Travis Burke, a former South Broward High standout who played two years at Gardner-Webb before transferring back home.

Burke, a giant at 6-9 and 290 pounds, played 13 games for Gardner-Webb last season.

The leader at right tackle appears to be third-year player Phillip Houston, a 6-5, 250-pounder who was an FIU backup last season after spending his freshman season at a junior college.

Sam Hill, a 6-3, 345-pounder who started his career at Reinhardt University, is a leader at one guard spot, with Peace on the other side.

Eargle praised two young tackles who are battling for playing time: Naeer Jackson and JaDarious Lee. Both of them are redshirt freshmen.

“Naeer is a dancing bear,” Eargle said of Jackson, a 6-6, 320-pounder from Miami Killian. “What a big-time dude he’s going to be.”

Lee, a 6-2, 275-pounder from Tennessee, is one of the most improved players in camp.

Mykeal Rabess, a 6-5, 260-pound true freshman tackle who graduated early from Miami Norland, has also impressed this spring.

In fact, FIU’s second-year head coach Mike MacIntyre named Rabess as one of the biggest surprises of spring camp.

“He’s athletic, long and big,” MacIntyre said. “We’ve thrown him into the fire, and he’s looked good.”

On the interior, Ming Tjon and Wyatt Lawson are competing with Bock at center.

“In the spring, everything is up for grabs,” Eargle said. “We’re trying to build depth and be ready to play 10 guys this fall.”

FIU is also trying to get back to its level of 2018.

That’s when FIU set program records for fewest sacks allowed (eight) and most wins (nine).

Allen Mogridge, who is now at East Carolina, was FIU’s O-line coach back then, helping the Panthers to three straight bowl games during his tenure (2017-2019).

Since Mogridge left, FIU has had two O-line coaches come and go – Joel Rodriguez, who is now at Akron; and Greg Austin, who landed an NFL job with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

FIU has gone from a 23-16 record during Mogridge’s tenure to a 5-24 ledger since, including 4-8 last year.

As for the transfers who have left FIU, MacIntyre said he wishes them well.

“We just keep recruiting and working with the guys we’ve got,” he said. “You have to adjust to change.”