FIU's Willie Simmons Has High Expectations for QB Keyone Jenkins, 2025 Panthers

Originally posted on G5 Football on SI | By Kevin Barral | Last updated Jul 23, 2025 6:00 AM ET

FIU Athletic

On Tuesday, all 12 Conference USA teams met at the PGA of America Frisco Headquarters for the annual Conference USA Kickoff event.

"Very exciting time," Florida International head coach Willie Simmons noted during the Panthers' press conference. "Had an amazing seven plus months with these guys, building this team, building this roster, putting the coaching staff together, and we're excited to get to work next week. A lot of excitement around the program for various reasons and I think this team is going to really surprise some people this year."

We’ve arrived on scene

Tune in at 11:45am on ESPN+ for #CUSAMediaDay https://t.co/C7WhUjyqxf pic.twitter.com/7G9E6NKzax
— FIU Football (@FIUFootball) July 22, 2025

The focus around FIU's press conference was largely on the CUSA Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, Keyone Jenkins. In his sophomore campaign at FIU, Jenkins completed 188 passes for 2,557 yards and 22 touchdowns.

"He's a great young young player," Simmons said of his starting quarterback. "He's been starting ever since his freshman year. Taken his lumps, learned a lot, cut his interceptions down in half from his freshman year to his sophomore year, completion percentage went up. All the metrics that you evaluate a quarterback by improved from year one to year two. That's what you want to see. Now learning a new system, new coaching staff, you just want to see him take that next step as a leader. He is the unquestioned leader of this offense, of this football team...I think Keyone's ceiling is much higher than maybe even he realizes."

FIU Panthers defensive representative in Frisco was redshirt senior Brian Blades II, who Simmons affectionately refers to as "Deuce." Blades is coming off a season where he posted 29 total tackles (21 solo/eight assisted), one tackle for loss and one interception, which was a pick-six. Brian Blades II is the son of former Pro Bowler and Miami Hurricanes national champion wide receiver Brian Blades.

"Deuce is as good as advertised," said Simmons. "Keeping him really for us was just as big as keeping Keyone (Jenkins). People don't talk about it as much because of the nature of the quarterback position, but Brian (Blades) had just as many suitors, if not more in the two transfer portal windows. Him deciding to stay at FIU for his senior season means a lot for our defense. He's one of the leaders on the backend. Very talented, works extremely hard and has that pedigree."

FIU are coming off of their third straight 4-8 season, which led to the eventual firing of former head coach Mike MacIntyre. Simmons, who had originally interviewed for the job back in 2022 before MacIntyre was hired, got the job offer this time around, departing his role as Duke's running backs coach.

Simmons and the Panthers will open the season on Friday, August 29 against the Bethune-Cookman WildCats at 7:00 pm on ESPN+.