It began as a joke between Florida Atlantic coach Lane Kiffin and Miami hip hop icon Luther Campbell. Earlier this year, Kiffin moved an FAU spring practice to Fort Lauderdales Carter Park. Campbell attended and ribbed Kiffin about the parks location.

I was joking with him, Hey man, this is Carter Park, Campbell said. This aint the hood. You need to come to the hood.

Campbell extended an invitation to Kiffin for his Owls to practice at Liberty Citys Hadley Park. On Saturday afternoon, FAU shuttled four buses 44 miles south and held a preseason practice at Hadley Park, within shouting distance of high school powerhouses like Miami Central, Miami Northwestern and Booker T. Washington.

Campbell even admitted he forgot about a potential practice in Liberty City before Kiffin called him recently.

I thought it was a dead issue until he called me up a couple weeks ago and was like Yeah, man, were coming down there, Campbell said. You ready?

Kiffin did not attend Saturdays practice due to a death in the family. His father-in-law, former Florida Gators quarterback John Reaves, died on Tuesday.

But the Owls still invaded Miami-Dade County, scrimmaging for most of the practice, though they did not tackle to the ground.

Saturday was a homecoming of sorts for a number of Owls. Fourteen players played high school football in Dade. Running backs coach Kevin Smith (Miami Southridge) and receivers coach Gary Harrell (Miami Northwestern) are both from Miami. Player development assistant Chris Perkins was an assistant coach at both Northwestern and Central.

Running back Gregory Buddy Howell Jr., is from Coconut Grove and had seven family members at Saturdays practice. For him, though, practicing in Liberty City meant more than seeing his family.

The little kids say theyre my biggest fans and stuff like that, thats inspiring because I want to basically be a motivation to these kids, Howell said. Show them that they got hope and I come from the same environment you come from, and not letting them fall to the society and hood and the bad stuff thats around them.

I want to show them that footballs a way out. Use myself as motivation to these kids like others were for me.

Howell also said Saturday was important for FAU to familiarize itself with Miami. When he was at Coral Gables High School, Howell said he didnt know much about FAU or even its location. FAU was in the shadow of bigger schools like Miami and Florida State.

So basically, expanding our brand and our name, thats just great, Howell said. So now people know who FAU is. Thats the whole thing, start building our brand and making it bigger.

Campbell, a co-founder of the Liberty City Optimist Club, is best known as a staunch supporter of the Miami Hurricanes, but hes developed an affinity for FAU. Brittney Telis played in Liberty Citys football league before playing at FAU from 2001-04. Now, Telis is the commissioner with Liberty City Optimist.

We follow all our kids, no matter who they are, wherever they go at, Campbell said. This is more like a present for him, for him to have his college come out to a program that he grew up in and hes the commissioner of, it was a beautiful thing.

Campbell also developed a relationship with Kiffin when he coached Amari Cooper at Alabama. Cooper attended Northwestern before he played in Kiffins offense in Alabama.

We have a lot of history at this program, from the Duke Johnsons, the Freemans, Antonio Brown, Ochocinco (Chad Johnson), all those kids played out here, Campbell said. But we never had a college football program come out here, D1 college football program, and actually practice on our field. It was great.

I know a whole bunch of D1 coaches and whole bunch of them are calling me like Hold on, I cant believe this is happening. He got one in on us.

mdefranks@sun-sentinel.com; On Twitter @MDeFranks.

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FAU brings practice to Liberty City, Luther Campbell on Saturday - Sun Sentinel