Defensive Dominance: Corey Clark’s Observations from Day 1 of FSU football practice

As I like to do every year around this time, I want to remind you that the first day of Florida State football practice is without pads. So is the second.

So, you have to keep that in mind when reading the following (wonderful and carefully crafted) words from yours truly.

It’s almost impossible to know which linemen, for instance, had good days or bad days. Or even, to an extent, good reps and bad reps. So much changes in the trenches when the pads actually do come on. The guys up front are still working against each other — they’re not just standing around going through the motions — there is real contact and hand-fighting and engagement at the point of attack, but it’s just not the same. We all know that.

Now, with that out of the way. Let’s get to the observations!

The defense won the day. By a whole lot.

The Florida State passing game had trouble getting anything going in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11. There were some highlight plays in 1-on-1s, but for the most part the defense was much, much better than the offense on Thursday afternoon.

Which wasn’t exactly a surprise to head coach Mike Norvell.

“Throwing the football, I thought we were a little erratic,” he said. “It’s something you’ve got to deal with, though, on the first day. … I loved the defensive energy. … That’s what you want to see. First day and guys are flying around.”

There were no interceptions in the team portions of practice, but there were a whole bunch of incompletions and deflections.

Renardo Green had a pass break-up against Johnny Wilson on a back-shoulder fade down the sideline. Green actually had three PBUs going up against FSU’s All-America candidate on Thursday. He had a really good day.

I also thought Fentrell Cypress looked strong. He got beat by Keon Coleman on a 40-yard pass in one-on-ones early on — it was a nice throw and a terrific adjustment by the Michigan State transfer — but other than that, I thought he was more than solid. He looked good.

So did freshman nickelback Edwin Joseph, who had a really impressive PBU on a sideline pass in 7-on-7. He covered a whole lot of ground to knock the ball away on a pass from Tate Rodemaker. The play got a very loud reaction from his teammates.

Fellow freshman Conrad Hussey also had a pass break-up down the sideline, and he had to cover a whole lot of ground to get there, too. Azareye’h Thomas and DeMarco Ward also had PBUs as well. Thomas’ came covering receiver Joshua Burrell, and Ward’s was against tight end Jackson West.

West did have maybe the highlight play for the Florida State offense on Thursday as he caught a 25-yard pass from Brock Glenn near the sideline, looked like he kept his feet in bounds, and then ran to the end zone for what would have been a 67-yard score. West missed much of last year and the spring with an undisclosed injury but looked sharp Thursday.

On the defensive line, Darrell Jackson had multiple plays where he was in the backfield blowing things up. And Joshua Farmer and Byron Turner Jr. combined for a sack on a play. Turner also had a pass break-up on a screen pass. And you can definitely see the quickness from Western Michigan DL transfer Braden Fiske.

As for the offense, as Norvell mentioned, it was mostly erratic in the team portion. Travis hit Wilson for about a 25-yard gain in 7-on-7, after he held the ball for a while it should be noted, and he also hit Wilson for another 15-yard gain over the middle. On the next play, though, Wilson had a ball ricochet through his hands for an incompletion.

Winston Wright had a catch early on in 7-on-7 for about 30 yards. He was wide open after breaking free from the secondary. And then, an even more impressive catch came a few moments later when he caught a 7-yard pass in the middle of the field from Rodemaker while being tightly covered. He was covered so tight, in fact, he was actually tackled. But the veteran receiver still held onto the ball. It was one of the best catches of the day from a Florida State skill player and great to see from Wright in particular.

The only other positive play of note from the Florida State offense during team drills was a long run by Caziah Holmes. It was blocked up really well — Jaylen Early in particular had a terrific seal block to open up the hole, and Holmes showed off his top-end speed by racing into the secondary and by the defense as the coaches were blowing whistles to end the play.

In 1-on-1s, other than Coleman’s impressive catch against Cypress, Jaheim Bell had a 45-yard plus catch after getting free from a walk-on safety, and Hykeem Williams had a long catch down the sideline against a walk-on defensive back. Williams looks to be in noticeably better shape than he was in the spring.

Other than that, it was almost all defense: Freshman Quindarrius Jones had two PBUs, Greedy Vance had a PBU and also cut off Deuce Spann on a route to force an incompletion (Norvell was not happy with Spann after that play), and freshman DB Ja’Bril Rawls had a PBU that was almost an INT.

As for Destyn Hill?

Well, he didn’t do much in team drills, but in the early portion of practice, he showed off just how much potential he has. He’s very fluid and very fast. And he seems to really track the ball well. There’s a chance, a very good chance, that he will be contributing quite a bit this season for the Seminoles. He looks like the real deal. Just the way he moves and comes in and out of his breaks. He could be a weapon.

Maybe at punt returner, in fact. He got a look there on Thursday, as did Coleman and Lawrance Toafili, who was mentioned by Norvell on Wednesday as someone that really excited the coaching staff in that role. Toafili wasn’t great on Thursday, though, he muffed two of the punts he tried to catch and looked a bit shaky on a couple of others.

But hey, it’s early August. There are still 24 more practices to go before the LSU game.

By then, the Seminoles will likely have settled on a kicker. On Thursday, both Ryan Fitzgerald and Tyler Keltner, the transfer from East Tennessee State, were perfect during the special teams portion of practice. They both made kicks from 30 and 33 yards out.

That’s a wrap for Day 1 observations.

We’ll see you tomorrow!

Talk about this story with other die-hard FSU football fans on the Tribal Council.

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