‘You feel like you’re in a game’ … Seminoles fired up for first preseason scrimmage tonight
Every Florida State practice under Mike Norvell is intense.
That was evident even on Friday, as the Seminoles held a shorter workout with an emphasis on special teams to keep the players fresh for tonight’s first preseason scrimmage.
During seemingly every drill, Norvell found someone to (loudly) critique. Sometimes, the same player heard it more than once.
Florida State’s players probably won’t need much motivation from Norvell and his coaching staff this evening. After eight practices, the Seminoles will be going inside Doak Campbell Stadium for their first scrimmage of the preseason.
“It’s always more excitement whenever [you’re] going into a scrimmage,” sophomore linebacker Blake Nichelson said. “Now you get to [tackle] to the ground. In practice, we don’t go to the ground. So now, it’s like full-go. … It’s just like a different feeling. You feel like you’re in a game.”
Florida State will hold three closed scrimmages during preseason camp. The next one will come in one week, after the Seminoles practice Wednesday and Thursday in Jacksonville, and the final one will come a week after that.
Norvell said this first scrimmage will be situational in nature. So instead of the first- and second-team offense trying to put together long scoring drives, the coaches will move the ball around to work on red-zone, short-yardage, obvious passing downs, and other specific areas.
“The situations I want to put them in, and see how they kind of respond to that,” Norvell said. “It will be a good work day. … I’m excited to see the guys go out and be able to work and execute.”
The Seminoles have two more weeks of preseason camp before they begin game-week preparations for Georgia Tech in Ireland. And that means players have another two weeks of intense competition to make moves on the depth chart.
“It’s going to be great to be able to go full-go,” Nichelson said of the scrimmage. “It’s something everyone has been waiting for this whole year. I know we only get three of them before our first game. So everyone’s got to take advantage of that scrimmage.”
Some of the positions providing the most competition this preseason are wide receiver, offensive line and linebacker. But even if there are likely starters penciled in at some other positions, most top backup spots are still wide open.
That likely will lead to added enthusiasm and greater physicality in tonight’s scrimmage. But Florida State’s players also know that one night won’t make or break their entire preseason.
“My mindset is it’s a glorified practice,” sophomore linebacker Justin Cryer said. “We’ll take it like a game day though, as far as our preparation and how we do things. But it’s practice at the end of the day. We’re going inside Doak, we’re going against the 1s, I’ll be playing against the offense. It’s the same thing we’ve seen all week.”
Stay connected with Warchant.com tonight for post-scrimmage coverage, including interviews with Norvell and defensive coordinator Adam Fuller.
Florida State linebacker DeMarco Ward (left) prepares for a drill with Omar Graham Jr. during preseason practice. (Ben Spicer/Warchant)
Talk about this story with other die-hard FSU football fans on the Tribal Council.
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