A Scary Thought: Florida State’s Verse is bigger, faster and healthy heading into 2023

The most remarkable aspect of Jared Verse‘s breakout season in 2022 wasn’t that he came to Florida State from small school like Albany. It was that he did it while not being anywhere close to fully healthy.

The FSU defensive end, who was a first-team All-ACC selection a year ago and considered a potential high first-round pick for next year’s NFL Draft, met with the media on Wednesday morning in Charlotte at the ACC Kickoff event.

And he talked about that moment during the 2022 season when he suffered knee injury in the first half against Louisville. That was Week 3. Verse only missed one game afterwards.

“It hurt,” Verse said. “I’ve never been hurt during the season to that extent. So, it kind of took away from my mental a little bit. I talked to Coach Norvell and Coach Norvell was like, ‘We’re going to take care of you. We’re going to do everything for you. Make sure you’re OK.’ I played limited snaps a couple of games. Made sure I was OK.

“But then when I was good, they used me right away. So, I was happy about that.”

They used him because even though he wasn’t fully 100 percent healthy after that night in Louisville, he was still one of the best defensive ends in the country.

Verse finished the 2022 season, his first in Division I football, with 17 tackles for loss and nine sacks. He was second in the ACC and 10th nationally in tackles for loss and was one of only two players in all of the Power 5 to have four games with at least 2.5 tackles for loss.

And he finished off his first year with the Seminoles in emphatic fashion, with a sack on the final play of Florida State’s 35-32 win over Oklahoma in the Cheez-It Bowl in Orlando.

But as you can imagine, he said he’s not satisfied with how he played in 2022.

“I was happy with the year I had,” Verse said. “I gave my all. I didn’t really leave anything on the field. But there were tiny mistakes I made that, given the chance to do it again, those won’t happen again.”

He said the two things he’s been working on the most this offseason are “get off” and “hand-fighting speed.”

But he also put on weight. He’s up to 260 pounds according to the Florida State media guide roster.

When asked about that number on Wednesday, Verse smiled and said it was very close to accurate.

“I gained about six, seven pounds in the offseason,” he said. “I feel a lot stronger. And my biggest worry was losing speed and that was not even close to a problem. Like I think I got acclimated to it very well, really quickly. But I gained a lot of strength and I got a little faster, too.

“So, I’m happy with what I gained.”

Not only is Verse fully healthy now, with no lingering effects from the knee injury, but according to him he’s stronger and faster.

He was already really good.

Now, if he can stay healthy, he has a chance to be one of the best in the United States. Maybe the best. And he’s expected to be one of the first defensive ends drafted next spring.

But, even though he’s anything but humble when steps on a football field, he makes sure to keep himself grounded even as his name is mentioned on preseason All-American teams and in early mock drafts.

“Because I remember what I was two years ago,” Verse said. “I remember what I was a year ago. I wasn’t on anybody’s radar. I wasn’t a Top 10 pick. Out of high school I didn’t have any stars. I was never that kid where, ‘Oh, everybody wants him,’ besides went I went into the portal.

“So, I just kind of remember that. That’s probably my biggest driving factor. Because there’s still always going to be that kid in me that nobody wanted. So, I’m still working for him to make him proud.”

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