Three Up, Three Down: FSU Players’ Rising and Falling Stocks
By David Visser
Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
Trending Down: Lorenzo Featherston
The hype surrounding the 6′ 7″ Featherston after his breakout performance against the Demon Deacons was probably unfair. He terrorized Wake on the edge, collecting 2.5 TFL and recovering a fumble. The problem: the Deacons are inept offensively and bogglingly slow. They’re not a representative example of what a P5 DE will need to handle on a regular basis.
Featherston is a freakish athlete with a 7′ 3″ wingspan; the problem is that his size and ability have always been more than enough to facilitate his playmaking ability. He’s never really needed to concern himself with the strictures of maintaining the edge, for instance. Instead, his energy goes primarily to pursuing the ball, wherever it may go.
The Orange are far from elite, but they’re much more offensively competent than Wake, and with a week to prepare for Featherston, they were able to exploit this overzealousness. He was sealed inside far too often, and that opens up avenues for big plays. Future opponents will undoubtedly see this and target him until he proves he can change.
The good news for Featherston is that he’ll have the opportunity to remedy this on the biggest stage: the ‘Noles will need him at his disciplined best against an athletic, mobile quarterback like Notre Dame’s Everett Golson.