Corey Clark: Observations from a physical, scorching Day 2 in Jacksonville for FSU Football
JACKSONVILLE — Day 1 was hot. There’s no doubt. But Day 2 … this was more like what Mike Norvell was hoping for when he scheduled Florida State’s annual preseason trip to the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.
There was no breeze. Barely any shade. Jut the sun beating down on the Seminoles for over two hours.
And the FSU head coach loved the way his team responded during its two days in full pads in Jacksonville.
The Seminoles will stay the night in the dorms at UNF before heading back to Tallahassee on Saturday. They then will have their first scrimmage of the preseason on Sunday.
“That’s part of camp, that’s part of growth,” Norvell said of the adversity his team faced these past two days. “You’ve got to be uncomfortable.”
Or as quarterback Jordan Travis said a few minutes later: “You’ve got to be comfortable being uncomfortable.”
And for the second day in a row, Florida State’s senior star quarterback seemed comfortable throughout the practice.
He was once again very sharp in 7-on-7 drills and had some nice plays in 11-on-11 as well.
We’ll start with what we saw in 7-on-7.
Travis was 8-of-11 during those drills, and two of the incompletions could have been called drops. It was bang-bang whether the defender knocked the ball away or it was already coming out before it got there. Either way, the starting QB was really sharp.
Travis hit receiver Joshua Burrell early for a 20-yard TD strike in the right corner of the end zone.
“Great ball, Jordan!” Norvell yelled.
He followed that up with a 15-yard TD pass to running back Caziah Holmes on a play where freshman linebacker Justin Cryer just missed a pass breakup.
“Great throw,” Norvell yelled.
Then Travis found receiver Keon Coleman for about a 6-yard gain to close out the set.
Later on, he hit Deuce Spann on a 7-yard TD slant pass in which Spann got just inside cornerback Azareye’h Thomas to make the contested catch and then get into the end zone. A play later, Travis found Johnny Wilson in the back of the end zone for a 5-yard score. It was a terrific pass just out of the reach of safety Akeem Dent.
The going was a little bit tougher for the other quarterbacks on Friday.
Brock Glenn was intercepted by freshman cornerback Quindarrius Jones on a pass to Hykeem Williams near the sideline. It was a great adjustment by Jones to find the ball and go attack it. He continues to impress.
Glenn did make two terrific throws to Preston Daniel in the end zone during 7-on-7. Daniel dropped the first one, but he came back on the very next play — and what looked like to be the exact same route — to haul in the touchdown.
A.J. Duffy did little of note in 7-on-7, and Tate Rodemaker seemed to have a good day but was working mainly against the scout-team defense for most of it. He threw two straight touchdowns to walk-on Jeremiah Giedrys in red-zone 7-on-7.
In 11-on-11, it wasn’t as easy for Travis and the Florida State offense, but they still had their moments.
Starting inside the 10-yard-line, Travis hit tight end Kyle Morlock with a terrific pass for a 7-yard touchdown and also found running back Trey Benson for a 3-yard score a few moments later — after scrambling around for an eternity. Freshman corner Ja’Bril Rawls had a PBU against Burrell to keep the Seminoles out of the end zone on the next play.
Then, later in practice, the Seminoles went back to 11-on-11 to close it out. Most of it was red-zone work, but there was some goal-line action as well.
Travis hit Jaheim Bell for a 25-yard touchdown during which the tight end made an impressive open-field run. Travis might have hit Daniel for a TD on the very next play, but Norvell blew it dead when a defensive lineman got close to the quarterback.
Later on, Travis hit Benson for a 22-yard gain when the star running back beat walk-on linebacker A.J. Cottrill to the corner. During a third-down drill, Travis hit Wilson for a 7-yard gain and a first down working against cornerback Fentrell Cypress. Holmes followed that up with a first-down run before the defense answered back by blowing up a pass intended for Daniel.
Other defensive highlights for Florida State during 11-on-11 were defensive lineman Braden Fiske making a quick inside move to thwart a run by Rodney Hill. This came mere moments after Hill had scored a 25-yard touchdown— against third-teamers, mainly — on a pass from Glenn. Holmes had a 25-yard touchdown run against the same defense.
Benson then dropped what would have been a 3-yard touchdown on a pass from Travis on the next series.
In red-zone drills, Glenn threw his second interception of the day. This one was picked off in the right portion of the end zone by freshman Conrad Hussey, who also had a pick in Thursday’s practice.
This might have been the most upset Norvell got all day. And it wasn’t because his QB threw an interception. It was because the rest of the defense — mainly the ones on the sideline — barely reacted at all. He yelled at them: “Celebrate!”
It was well over 100 degrees on the field, and it was the last period of the day, but Norvell and defensive coordinator Adam Fuller implored the rest of the FSU defensive players and coaches to celebrate when they make plays like that.
Then we got to goal line.
The very first play was blown up by freshman defensive tackle Ayobami Tifase.
Holmes scored from 2 yards out on the next play, and then Travis threw an incompletion rolling to his right. Benson scored easily from 2 yards out, racing to the corner, prompting veteran linebacker Tatum Bethune to tell freshman Dylan Brown-Turner: “You’ve got to move up (before the snap).”
That’s one thing you notice a lot about this Florida State team by the way. The veterans are always, always coaching up the younger guys. Defensive back Kevin Knowles does it a ton.
On the very next play, Tifase was at it again. He wrecked the play from the snap, causing a pile-up in the backfield that was eventually cleaned up by D.J. Lundy for a tackle for loss on Duffy.
“Oh my God,” veteran cornerback Jarrian Jones yelled to the offense. “Can someone block Ayo?!”
The offense didn’t score on the final three plays. And then practice was over.
On the special teams front, both Ryan Fitzgerald and Tyler Keltner went 1-for-2 in the team period. Both hit the left upright with their misses.
As for what happened with the big boys up front, while the skill players were running 7-on-7, here are the observations from Aslan:
Tifase had a bull-rush win over walk-on center David Stickle. Defensive end Jaden Jones had a great first step against tackle Bless Harris but wound up sprinting out too wide and allowed Harris to neutralize him.
Defensive tackle Malcolm Ray beat Bryson Estes with a swim move, and DT K.J. Sampson got the best of Julian Armella during a drill with a strong, fast-hands snatch.
Jones came back to beat Jeremiah Byers during the combo-block drill, and Dennis Briggs drew praise from assistant coach Odell Haggins and his teammates when he powered past Jaylen Early and Armella. Sampson drew more praise from Haggins in a rep against Estes and Daughtry Richardson.
Talk about this story with other die-hard FSU football fans on the Tribal Council.
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