FSU Football: Willie Taggart pleased with offensive line improvements

FSU football fans have been yelling at the offensive line play for the past few seasons, but the new head Nole likes what he sees from the unit.

If you have been around the FSU football program as a fan for at least the last two seasons, you have spent plenty of time yelling and screaming at what could only be politely described as the “questionable” play at time by the offensive line – if you don’t believe us, just ask Deondre Francois and James Blackman about it.

The problems up front were evident last season when the Seminoles went from 27th in total offense during the 2016 season to 94th last year – specifically from 37th to 89th in passing and 40th to 67th in rushing during the forgettable season of 2017.

With former Noles offensive lineman Greg Frey leading the unit now after taking over for former segment coach Rick Trickett, FSU football has found a new found sense of what an offensive line is supposed to look like and do.

During Sunday’s meeting with the media, head coach Willie Taggart spoke about how he is happy to see the unit play better – in part because it seems that everyone has finally decided to get healthy at the same time.

"“Watching a guy like Landon Dickerson, you know, coming here, I heard a lot about him and how special he can be. I think he’s having one heck of a training camp…Derrick Kelly having a really good training camp. Granddaddy [Alec] Eberle, he’s having a good training camp. It’s just fun because you see those guys like enjoy being with each other and taking pride in what they are doing.You’re seeing consistent play out of those guys, and they are starting to get a little synergy playing together, and that’s something we need up front for us.”"

First off, I love the fact that Eberle has been given the nickname of ‘Granddaddy’ because he is without a doubt the leader of that FSU football line and the one who the rest of the players should follow into battle each week.

I will admit to being one of those people who took shots at the offensive line all of last season and blamed them, along with Trickett, for much of the offensive problems surrounding the FSU football team. Truth is, the unit fell victim to the injury bug just like the rest of the Seminoles team last season.

Like anything else with FSU football, if they can stay healthy the sky is the limit for the Seminoles on offense – and both Blackman and D12 won’t have to spend extra time at the chiropractor after being knocked down so much.