Florida State Football: LB depth improves, practice schedule released, Nick O’Leary joins staff
A position in need of depth got some more on Monday when Northwestern freshman linebacker Justin Cryer committed to Florida State.
Cryer, a three-star recruit in the Wildcats’ 2023 recruiting class, hails from Katy, Texas. He is listed at 6-foot-2, 225 pounds on the Northwestern Athletics website and entered the transfer portal after Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald was fired due to an ongoing hazing scandal within the program.
He will be eligible to compete immediately for the Seminoles, who have a position group littered with underclassmen. There is a chance one or more of the incoming freshmen play significant snaps for the Florida State defense in 2023.
And with two senior starters set to depart after the season, the younger linebackers will be in the mix for starting spots a year from now.
Obviously, Tatum Bethune and Kalen DeLoach are the two leaders of the position group. Both are seniors and both have played a ton of college football in their careers. Primary backup D.J. Lundy is set to begin his fourth season in the program and is coming off the best season of his career.
But after those three, Randy Shannon’s depth chart gets real young real quick.
With the addition of Cryer, Florida State now has nine scholarship linebackers on the roster.
Five are freshmen.
Joining Cryer from the Class of 2023 are highly touted recruit Blake Nichelson, Georgia native DeMarco Ward and Texas native Dylan Brown-Turner. The Seminoles also have redshirt freshman linebacker Omar Graham Jr.
Brian Courtney is a sophomore, but he is new to the position after spending last year as a tight end. He now is listed as a linebacker/tight end on the official roster.
That’s the extent of the experience that will be backing up Bethune, Deloach and Lundy as the season starts in early September against LSU in Orlando.
It remains to be seen how much, if at all, Cryer will impact the defense in his first year in Tallahassee.
As a high school senior in 2022, he totaled 95 tackles, 20 for loss, and had six sacks for Royal High School. As a junior in 2021, he had 103 tackles, including 21 for loss.
His nickname is “Juice.”
Florida State practice schedule released
The Florida State football team’s practice schedule for preseason camp was released on Monday.
The Seminoles will hold their first practice on Thursday, Aug. 3, at 3:45 p.m. It will be the first of three consecutive practices at that time.
After taking that Sunday off, FSU will hold morning practices on the following Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before heading to Jacksonville for practices at the University of North Florida on Aug. 10 and Aug. 11.
The majority of Florida State’s remaining preseason practices will be held in the mornings on FSU’s practice fields, as the Seminoles prepare to face LSU in Orlando for the Sept. 3 season opener.
Click here for a complete list of the preseason practice schedule.
Nick O’Leary joins FSU coaching staff
Former Florida State All-America tight end Nick O’Leary has officially joined Mike Norvell’s coaching staff as a student assistant coach.
O’Leary, whose hiring was confirmed in the Seminoles’ newly released 2023 media guide, played in the NFL from 2015-20 with the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars and Las Vegas Raiders.
He was a Consensus All-American at FSU in 2014 and also won the Mackey Award, given annually to the nation’s best tight end.
During his career with the Seminoles, O’Leary was credited with 1,591 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns.
Talk about this story with other die-hard FSU football fans on the Tribal Council.
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