By Pete Pelegrin
Twitter: @Petepelegrin

The freshly painted FIU logo and end zones on the grass practice field, and the new football storage building aren't the only new things surrounding FIU football as spring practice opened Monday morning.

The Panthers -- coming off an eight-win season and a bowl appearance last year for the first time since 2011 – will have to incorporate new playmakers on offense and practically an entire new linebacking corps and secondary in 2018.

For the last four years, quarterback Alex McGough directed the Panthers offense. This season there will be a new signal caller for FIU. Monday, the Panthers had returnees Maurice Alexander, Christian Alexander and Kaylan Wiggins taking snaps.

FIU head coach Butch Davis realized last December the importance of having more than one quarterback ready to go.

"We learned a big lesson from the bowl game," Davis said. "We clearly were not prepared for Alex [McGough] not to finish a game. Thank God he made it through 12 and he got hurt in the 13^th game. If that injury had occurred in week three, four or five it's any eye opener for us."

"We have to make sure our second team and third team quarterback are prepared to go in and win the game. The best example anyone can have is the Philadelphia Eagles. Their starting quarterback goes down and Nick Foles comes in and leads them to the Super Bowl."

The Panthers also lost their top running back and receiver from a year ago to graduation. Alex Gardner and Thomas Owens have moved on.

Running backs Anthony Jones, D'Vonte Price, Shawndarrius Phillips and Napoleon Maxwell make up a talented quartet that Davis believes can all excel.

"Running back was last year and it still is this year the strength of this football team," Davis said. "We got four guys that the talent is excellent. They got vision, size and speed. They are faster than they were a year ago. I talk to them an awful lot."

"One of the things is everybody is worried about is how many carries am I going to get. At another university that I coached at we had Clinton Portis, Frank Gore, Najeh Davenport and Willis McGahee on the roster of the same team. One of the blessings that came out of that was that almost every one of them had more than 10 years in the NFL. When they went to the NFL they were almost in perfect condition. They did not have 400 carries in a season and they were not beat up."

The Panthers had freshman receivers step up in the latter part of 2017 when Owens went down with a season-ending knee injury. Bryce Singleton led the young receivers, including breaking the FIU freshman receiving record of three touchdowns in a game in the regular season finale against UMass.

"One of the things that is a little bit of a blessing is that some of those guys got a chance to play at the end of the season," Davis said. "Bryce Singleton came in and it took him a week or so to start. Then all of the sudden he scores three touchdowns. Shermar Thornton comes in and he starts making plays. You'll find out who these guys are. We signed three freshmen wide receivers that will come in the summer. We got a transfer from the University of Florida in C.J. Worton that has been a starter at Florida. He's been in games in the SEC."

Defensively, FIU lost its top two linebackers in Anthony Wint and Treyvon Williams to graduation and the majority of its secondary, including its interception leader in Brad Muhammad and its third and fourth leading tacklers in Bryce Canady and Niko Gonzalez.

However, there is still plenty of talent returning. Cornerback Isaiah Brown, returning from a broken collarbone, ran the fastest 40 in offseason workouts, clocking in at 4.39.

Sage Lewis has moved to middle linebacker and Fermin Silva is working at both defensive end and linebacker.

Georgia Tech redshirt freshman transfer defensive end Jordan Wood (6-4, 275 pounds) impressed in Monday's practice, driving linemen off the offensive line.

"We have to put a lot of these players defensively in a lot of situations: two-minute offense, red zone offense, blitzes and try to push the envelope for them to grow," Davis said. "Now is the time for new leaders to step up. We're breaking in a whole new secondary and pretty much breaking in all new linebackers."