Jeff Van Camp, 22, a basketball and football star at Navarre High School before graduating in 2006, will start at quarterback for Florida Atlantic University against the University of Alabama at Birmingham on Saturday.

 

Van Camp, a 6-foot, 5-inch, 222-pound red-shirt junior, has seen limited playing time as the understudy to senior Rusty Smith. Smith holds the Owls' career records in pass attempts, completions, yards, touchdowns and yards per game and earned most-valuable-player honors in FAU's New Orleans Bowl and Motor City  Bowl wins in 2007 and 2008. Smith's shoulder was injured with five minutes left in Florida Atlantic's 27-20 loss to Middle Tennessee State. Van Camp finished the game, completing five of nine passes for 73 yards.

 

For the season, Van Camp has completed 14 of 31 passes for 197 yards and rushed the ball three times for 13 yards. In three seasons, he's 24 of 56 for 271 yards and an interception. He's carried the ball 10 times for 9 yards and a score.

 

Van Camp's backup is another Northwest Florida signal-caller, redshirt freshman David Kooi of Pensacola Catholic High.

 

Van Camp threw for 997 yards and 5 touchdowns for Navarre's Raiders in 2005, his senior season. He is the son of Bridgette and Jeff Van Camp Sr. of Gulf Breeze. His father played on the defensive line for the University of Louisville Cardinals.

 

The Owls are 2-5, 2-2 in the Sun Belt Conference. They still could extend their bowl streak to three by winning four of their last five games. Two of their five losses have been to Nebraska and South Carolina.

 

UAB's Blazers are 3-5, 3-2 in Conference USA. Saturday's game kicks off at 1 p.m. at Legion Field in Birmingham.