FSU Season Preview: The Seminole Defense

Nov 30, 2013; Gainesville, FL, USA; Florida Gators running back Kelvin Taylor (21) gets a first down as Florida State Seminoles linebacker Terrance Smith (24) defends during the second quarter at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Linebacker

Telvin Smith — the emotional leader of last year’s defense — has graduated and now resides in Jacksonville. Replacing his leadership will likely be the biggest challenge facing the 2014 Florida State defense.

Terrance Smith is the lone returning starter. He played in the middle last season but has been lining up at the Will linebacker spot since the Spring. Smith got a lot of key experience last year and was arguably the key cog that helped turn Florida State’s defense from a good unit into a great one. It wasn’t until Smith was inserted at the Mike and Christian Jones started to line up more at defensive end that Florida State’s defense became the shut-down unit fans remember.

So far through camp, Reggie Northrup and EJ Levenberry have battled closely for the MLB position. Fisher heralded both this past week as Florida State turned its attention to Oklahoma State — which means both will likely play this season in various packages. Levenberry impressed during Spring and has looked at times like he was going to be the clear-cut starter, but expect to see Northrup plenty this year too.

At outside linebacker, Smith is likely to play on the weak side and Chris Casher could see a lot of time at the Sam. Ukeme Eligwe and Matthew Thomas both figure get involved once they are healthy too — but have been limited through Fall camp.

Also keep in mind that Florida State’s defense is anything but conventional. A typical 4-3 depth chart doesn’t mean a whole lot because the team is so frequently in nickel sets. Expect to see plenty of Terrance Smith in 2014, beyond him it could be any number of players making their way into FSU’s various looks and sets.