FSU Football: Top defensive players for Noles entering 2017 season

FSU football had a wild ride last season with their defense – here’s a look at the top five players entering 2017 on that side of the ball.

If you ever wanted to find a thought that sums up what took place on the defensive side of the ball for FSU football during the 2016 season, the opening lines from Charles Dickens’ classic A Tale of Two Cities pretty much would do the trick: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Yeah, that’s pretty much a perfect summary of how last year went for the Seminoles.

The worst of the times got out of the way early, as the defense gave up just under 30 points a game the first two months of the season while struggling with the season ending injury to Derwin James and injuries to other players. Yet, the final five games saw a whole new team – one that played with energy, fight and ended the year vastly improved and giving up just over 17 points a game.

In 2017, the unit will return James – who might be better than ever following knee surgery – and a cast of players ready to dominate. Here are the top five players for the FSU football defense entering 2017.