Corey Clark: Observations from Day 6 of Florida State football practice

If you’re expecting our typical 1,000-word plus column describing the action from Wednesday’s Florida State football practice, prepare yourself to be disappointed.

Because this one is going to be abbreviated.

Not because I’m lazy. I mean, I am lazy, but that’s not why this one is going to be shorter. It’s just that on Wednesday, the Seminoles had their lightest and shortest practice of the preseason. Mainly because they’re about to be in full pads the next two days in Jacksonville, and head coach Mike Norvell wanted to make sure they were prepared for what’s coming physically.

It wasn’t an off-day by any means. But it wasn’t nearly as physical as the previous five practices. It was all indoors, and there was a lot of special teams work. There were no 7-on-7 periods or 1-on-1 periods.

So, clearly, not as much to write about.

But that doesn’t mean there was nothing to write about. There was a good bit of 11-on-11 work, so we’ll describe that as best we can.

First and foremost, the Jordan Travis-led offense went out with a bang. In the final period, they got the ball at the 25-yard line. There were 53 seconds left on the clock, and they had one timeout at their disposal.

Travis threw an incompletion to Johnny Wilson near the sidelines, thanks to good coverage by Azareye’h Thomas. The next pass to Wilson was completed for a 10-yard gain and a first down. Travis then hit Keon Coleman in the middle of the field for a 30-yard strike. Then, on the very next play, he lofted a pass toward the end zone that Wilson ran under — after running past freshman cornerback Quindarrius Jones — for a 35-yard touchdown reception.

Norvell and fellow Florida State offensive coaches actually started sprinting toward the end zone in celebration before the ball was even caught. They knew what they were watching. They’ve seen it before. It was a nice throw by Travis and a good grab by Wilson, who was running full-speed to go get it.

“That’s how we come back at the end of practice,” offensive lineman Darius Washington said to his teammates after the celebration.

That drive was, by far, the highlight of the day for the offense, which started the practice slow with eight straight unproductive plays in 11-on-11.

Travis threw three incompletions and was “sacked,” though it looked like he broke through the pocket for what would have been a big run. Backup quarterback A.J. Duffy then threw four straight incompletions on the next drive before practice got special-teams heavy.

Other positive moments in 11-on-11: Travis hit Coleman for an 18-yard gain in the middle of the field. He hit Markeston Douglas for 20. Duffy had some nice moments, too. He found Joshua Burrell for an 18-yard completion while rolling to his right. He also hit Jaheim Bell while fading away in the pocket for a 23-yard pass near the right sideline.

Rodney Hill caught a touchdown pass from Tate Rodemaker and also had a good run on the other field — thanks in large part to a terrific block by Jeremiah Byers on Darrell Jackson. Caziah Holmes followed with another big run, thanks to a goof lead block by Julian Armella.

As for the Florida State defense, Malcolm Ray had a tackle for loss in 11-on-11. He beat Jaylen Early to get into the backfield. Fentrell Cypress had a nice pass break-up on a throw intended for Wilson. Edwin Joseph forced an incompletion from Duffy with good coverage on Deuce Spann.

And the player who might have stood out the most on defense, from a pure playmaking standpoint, might have been first-year linebacker Justin Cryer. The Northwestern transfer had a QB pressure — where he forced an incompletion on a blitz – and then a tackle near the sideline on back-to-back plays.

Later on in practice he had two pass breakups as well, including one to end the final drive of the day on a pass from freshman QB Brock Glenn.

Other than that, it was mostly special teams work on Wednesday.

See! I told you it wasn’t going to be a typical observation column.

But you can bet your behind we’ll have a whole lot coming tomorrow when the Seminoles put on the full pads for the first time over in Jacksonville.

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

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