Corey Clark: Observations from the last open Florida State practice before LSU

We’ve seen all we can see from this Florida State football team heading into the season opener on Sunday night.

Of course, the No. 8 Seminoles will continue to prepare for No. 5 LSU over the next couple of days, with practices on Friday and Saturday, but Thursday represented the last open practice to the media before the showdown in Orlando.

As has been the case for virtually the entire preseason, it was a good back-and-forth between the offense and defense. And we were there to track it all!

So, get ready for the last observations before Florida State’s season opener.

The defense started out really, really strong.

In Period 3, which features 11-on-11 going through a two-minute drill, the starting defense got three straight third-down stops. One was a drop by Johnny Wilson — which was an issue on Thursday — but the other two were well-defended plays, including a pass breakup by Renardo Green on Wilson and another PBU by Jarrian Jones on a pass intended for Destyn Hill.

Freshman defensive backs Quindarrius Jones and KJ Kirland both had impressive plays in stopping the next offensive series led by Tate Rodemaker.

Then, later in practice, after allowing a crossing route to Wilson, cornerback Fentrell Cypress punched the ball out and recovered the fumble. Cypress, who transferred in this offseason from Virginia, had a very good day overall I thought. He had multiple pass breakups and almost had a pick-6 in 7-on-7.

“I think he had one of his best days since he’s been here,” Florida State head coach Mike Norvell said.

The offense did very little in 11-on-11 in the early portion of practice, and defensive tackle Braden Fiske ended the last series with a deflected pass at the line of scrimmage. Defensive end Gilber Edmond had a pressure/sack on one play against Brock Glenn, who then came back and completed two straight passes.

In the lone goal-line 11-on-11 play, the defense had tight coverage, but Jordan Travis rolled out to buy time and then made a great throw to Keon Coleman, who held on in the corner of the end zone — despite extremely tight coverage — to record the score.

Coleman was terrific all day Thursday, but what else is new?

He made an exceptional grab over Cypress in 1-on-1 in the end zone for a ridiculous touchdown catch, and he also ran a great route to get open against tight coverage from Jones.

Wilson’s best play in 1-on-1 also came against Cypress, who again had great coverage, but the 6-foot, 7-inch wideout made a terrific play on the ball and was able to keep his feet in for about a 30-yard gain. Other than that, though, Wilson struggled in team periods, dropping multiple passes.

He did come back and haul in about a 50-yard TD against the scout-team defense later.

Other highlights from 1-on-1: Destyn Hill dusted Greedy Vance on a go route and hauled in a 50-yard catch down the middle of the field. Justin Cryer and Shyheim Brown had back-to-back PBUs; Quindarrius Jones had nice coverage on Hykeem Williams; Jaheim Bell had a TD catch; Vandrevius Jacobs made a lightning-quick move to get open for a TD catch on the next play.

Jacobs also had a great catch in 7-on-7 when he leaped over Vance on a ball that wasn’t very well thrown, but still came down with it and then turned upfield in an instant. He’s a talented, talented kid. Kyle Morlock caught a TD in the red-zone 1-on-1 drills as well, making a nice diving catch, and Brown then had another PBU that was almost an interception.

During another 11-on-11 period, Travis hit Bell on what might have wound up being a TD. Hard to tell if the corner would have been able to push him out of bounds or not. Glenn then found tight end Markeston Douglas for a 15-yard touchdown. Kentron Poitier got open on a crossing route, but couldn’t hold onto Rodemaker’s pass.

One of the most impressive plays of the entire practice was a catch by Bell against the scout team. He made a terrific adjustment on a ball that was behind him a bit, and he caught it so easily, and then didn’t break stride down the sidelines, that he reminded you — once again — how special he can be.

Hey, speaking of special!

We also got to watch a little special teams.

Ryan Fitzgerald made both of the kicks in team drills that he got airborne, but his first one was blocked. It looked like it was Verse that got a hand on it; he was the one that was certainly talking the most afterwards.

Fitzgerald came back, though, and split the uprights on his last two kicks, including a make from 45 yards out.

Florida State Trench Notes (By Ira Schoffel)

Highlights from 1-on-1 pass-blocking drills:

Offensive tackle Jeremiah Byers continues to win the vast majority of his one-on-one reps. He did a good job of neutralizing Patrick Payton on his first rep Thursday, and then did the same later to Byron Turner Jr.Fabien Lovett did not have his best rep the first time he went up against guard Darius Washington, and Lovett didn’t look happy about it. A few minutes later, he got to go up against Washington again and just manhandled him.Braden Fiske got the best of guard Casey Roddick during each of their clashes. He is just a force when he gets going.Bless Harris did a nice job of hanging in there against Jared Verse, which is no easy task.DT Darrell Jackson had a pair of good reps against D’Mitri Emmanuel.Julian Armella got the best of Gilber Edmond during their clash, but Dante Anderson seemed to turn the tables on Armella when they went head-to-head.Anderson didn’t have as much success in his rep against Jaylen Early.Guard Keiondre Jones appeared to win both of his clashes with Daniel Lyons.And senior Dennis Briggs was too quick for Bryson Estes in their battle.

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

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