Head Coach: Willie Simmons is entering his first season as the head coach of FIU. He’s been a popular name in the carousel for a few seasons for a reason, he wins. Simmons was previously the head coach at Prairie View and Florida A&M. He went 45-13 at Florida A&M which includes a HBCU National Championship (Celebration Bowl win) and an appearance in the FCS playoffs which isn’t common for HBCUs. Simmons took over a Prairie View team coming off back to back .500 seasons and a Florida A&M program coming off 8 wins in 3 seasons, despite this he’s never had a losing season as a head coach.
Program Outlook: FIU has been through some tough times as of late, success in general has been hard to sustain. Their last bowl eligible season was 2019, and their last winning season was 2018. Butch Davis found some success and then it went down like a house of cards in 2020. That being said, FIU could be on the verge of big things. There’s been genius marketing moves like VICE NIGHT where they have cool uniforms and cars around the stadium during their linear TV weeknight games, then to top it all off Pitbull became involved including renaming the stadium to Pitbull Stadium. The next step? Establish a program so good that the phrase “you can’t just waltz into Pitbull Stadium and expect to come out with a victory” becomes a real thing.
How does the 2025 Roster look?: FIU ranks ranks 104th in the country returning 43.5% of their production per Punt and Rally’s returning production rankings. This is no surprise with a coaching change. Key players for the Golden Panthers starts with QB Keyone Jenkins, he’s a talented QB, one of the most decorated recruits to sign with FIU. He briefly entered the portal and Simmons convinced him to stay, a huge recruiting win. Jenkins will have some options Juju Lewis is back after missing a lot of last season due to injury, but the big difference maker on this offense is likely going to be Hawaii transfer Alex Perry. TE Dallas Payne (UAB) knows the offense and will contribute as well. The backs are LOADED, Kejon Owens is the lead returning rusher, but Devonte Lyons impressed in the spring. They’ll be joined by Georgia Tech transfer Anthony Carrie and highly touted freshman Sterling Joseph. The defense will be led by corner Brian Blades II who is a star, he’s one of the best in the conference. Victor Evans III will return next to him and the portal will help at safety Websley Etienne coming in from Arkansas State and Demetrius Hill from Illinois. Keegan Davis leads the returnees up front but the portal really helped boost this position with guys like Aaron Armitage (Stanford) and Lamont Green (Florida State). Percy Courtney Jr is the next man up at LB, but Johnny Chaney, Jr (Colorado) will contribute as well. The question marks for FIU start with the interior Dline where it’ll need to come together and there’s not a ton of size to work with. The offensive line has some pieces to replace after being solid last year, the portal helps some but it’s a concern until the starting 5 is locked in.
Screenshot from FBSchedules.com
2025 Schedule Thoughts: FIU’s schedule is ok, it’s not the easiest but definitely has some challenges to it. Their non-conference can’t begin more differently they open with Bethune-Cookman who is a mess of a football program coming off a 2-10 FCS season and they immediately follow that up with Penn State, a team many think can win the National Title. It levels off after that, FIU hosts FAU in the Shula Bowl, the Owls also have a new head coach and they wrap up the non-conference with UConn who won 9 games last year. The CUSA schedule includes games against the newer teams (Delaware, Missouri State & Kennesaw State) but also features games against potentially the top 5 teams in the conference. It will require a lot of improvement for a bowl bid.
Final Thoughts: I believe FIU football is on the verge of being really cool. They have all the pieces, Pitbull’s involvement, Vice Night at Pitbull Stadium and now they have a great head coach. I can’t rule out Willie Simmons instantly bringing more wins here. Why? Because FIU wasn’t as far away from a breakthrough as you’d think, they had 5 one score losses last year and their largest margin of defeat in conference play was 9 points. Needless to say while there’s some turnover, there are some wins that can be found.
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