Corey Clark: An up-and-down day for the offense in Practice No. 5 for Florida State

There were still some highlights for the Florida State offense Tuesday morning. It wasn’t as if the defense dominated all day.

But overall, especially in the passing game, it seemed like the Seminoles were just a bit off in Practice No. 5 of the preseason.

Quarterback Jordan Travis missed some throws in 11-on-11. There were drops. And overall it just seemed like the defensive backs – even in 1-on-1s – won the day against the wide receivers.

So, let’s start with the defenders that stood out.

Braden Fiske had another really strong day I thought. The Western Michigan transfer, who was one of the most highly coveted defensive lineman in the portal, has stacked two really good days together. Which, with the news of Darrell Jackson’s waiver being denied by the NCAA, is a really big deal.

Fiske had multiple plays in the backfield in 11-on-11, including one in the red zone where he beat the block, got in Travis’s face and forced an interception. The pick was from Azareye’h Thomas, covering Johnny Wilson, and it was just one of many fun-to-watch battles between those two.

In the tempo drill to start practice, Wilson caught a ball over Thomas for about 20 yards. Then blocked him about 20 yards downfield on the next play – a run by Travis that could have gone for huge yardage. There was definitely some aggression there by Wilson, who caught a few more balls against Thomas throughout the day.

But Thomas had his moments, too. Not only the interception in the end zone – that very well could have been returned for 100-plus yards – but multiple pass break-ups, including one in a 1-on-1 matchup.

Wilson responded with an eight-yard TD catch in red-zone 7-on-7 drills. In fact, that was one of three straight TD passes Travis threw during that period. He also hit Keon Coleman for a six-yard TD – though there would have been a collision with Shyheim Brown near the goal line for sure if they were actually tackling – and then a four-yard strike to Jahiem Bell. The Bell catch was impressive work by the South Carolina transfer because Travis threw it very hard, from a short distance, into a tight window.

Bell held on for the TD. He’s shown exceptional hands so far.

But don’t get the wrong idea.

Florida State’s defense did well for the most part on Tuesday.

It started with the Thomas interception in the end zone in the 11-on-11 red zone drills and then continued into the 1-on-1 action, where the FSU defensive backs didn’t give up a whole lot.

Freshman Quindarrius Jones had another good day I thought. He had good coverage reps against both Keon Coleman and Deuce Spann during the 1-on-1 and had a pass break-up against Kyle Morlock in 11-on-11. He seems to be growing in confidence every day.

Fellow freshmen Edwin Joseph and Conrad Hussey had pass break-ups during the 1-on-1 portion. And K.J. Kirkland had one during 11-on-11. Overall, out of the about 25 1-on-1 reps between the wideouts and the defensive backs, I would say the secondary won 16 of them.

The biggest exception was Vandrevius Jacobs torching a walk-on for a long catch down the middle of the field. It was the start of a big day for Jacobs, who also had a long touchdown down the sideline in 11-on-11 from A.J. Duffy and another one from Brock Glenn in 7-on-7. Now, Jacobs wasn’t exactly going against FSU’s best DBs during these plays, but he still showed why everyone was so excited about him in the spring.

Fellow freshman Destyn Hill had an impressive TD grab in red-zone 7-on-7 as well, catching the ball over Greedy Vance in the corner of the end zone. He tapped his former high school teammate on the helmet before heading back to the sideline.

Coleman also had two good reps against Brown in 1-on-1s. He got free for a nice catch near the sideline in the first rep and then, at the goal line, Brown just grabbed him in the end zone for an easy pass-interference call.

Deuce Spann didn’t make many catches on Tuesday but he did have what would have been a 62-yard TD run against some backups. Lawrance Toafili broke free for what would have been a big run in 11-on-11 as well.

As for the defense, other than the Thomas interception, Kirkland almost had one against Travis. D.J. Lundy should have had one against Tate Rodemaker but he dropped it. Patrick Payton had a really impressive tackle for loss in 11-on-11 near the end of practice and Thomas and Brown combined for good coverage against Wilson in the back of the end zone.

In the kicking competition, Tyler Keltner made both of his “live” kicks on Tuesday. One from 31 and one from 45. Ryan Fitzgerald also made his kick from 45 yards out but had his 31-yarder blocked by Brown, who has a knack of doing that obviously.

Fitzgerald capped the day with down-the-middle kicks of 47 and 32 yards inside Florida State’s IPF.

Florida State Trench Notes (by Tom Lang)

Tuesday’s practice featured a healthy back-and-forth in the trenches. The offensive line strung together some good wins in run-game drills as well as in 11-on-11 work. But the defensive line had the better of the action in the red zone and late in practice.

Now that we’re into week two of Florida State’s camp, it’s probably worth a reminder that trench reports can sometimes skew towards a defensive bias. The reason: Offensive line play is a lot like officiating. If it’s doing its job, you don’t notice much. But when something goes wrong, it’s apparent to everyone (and good news for a defensive player).

That said, here are standouts from Day Five:

DT Braden Fiske

Fiske continued has stood out every day of camp. On Tuesday, the Western Michigan transfer worked with segment-mate Joshua Farmer to collapse a run play, took on a double team to spring a teammate in red zone work, forced a rushed throw and interception and blew up another 11-on-11 run, drawing an (uncalled) hold.

Just a ho-hum day for Fiske. But he wasn’t perfect, in fact this next player got the better of him…

OL Darius Washington

One of Florida State’s Swiss-Army linemen, Washington made his biggest mark in 1-on-1 drills. Washington took on a hard-charging Fiske twice and, both times, used his base to completely stop Fiske in his tracks. Impressive stuff. The redshirt junior from Pensacola would go on to win another 1-on-1 against Dennis Briggs and perform well in 11-on-11 work.

DT Joshua Farmer

Though he had to have been disappointed to hear the news about good friend Darrell Jackson, Farmer has been a menace up the middle for the entirety of Florida State’s camp. Today, he turned in two of the best 1-on-1 reps across all position groups Farmer overwhelmed guard D’Mitri Emmanuel with strength and quickness in back-to-back chances to draw high fives from his teammates.

DE Gilber Edmond

Though it wasn’t on the level of Monday’s top-to-bottom standout performance, Edmond made a few big plays. In 11-on-11 work, he outflanked and closed off a run to the outside, drawing a hold in the process. Then towards the end of the day, he shot himself out of a cannon to get around tackle Bless Harris for a sack of Jordan Travis.

In between, Edmond was bested by tackles Julian Armella and Jeremiah Byers in 1-on-1’s.

Other Florida State Notables

Edge rusher Patrick Payton stuffed a run with a thunderous backfield collision, followed by forcing a Travis throwaway in team work.Defensive tackle Ayobami Tifase may have claimed the award for the most violent 1-on-1 rep of the day as he shoved his way through Thomas Shrader to the passer. The bad news? Shrader’s helmet went flying; Tifase was likely guilty of illegal hands to the face.Defensive tackle Daniel Lyons and guard Bryson Estes had some good back and forth battles. It looked like Lyons got the better of the action.

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

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