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FSU Football: Harlon Barnett says the best players will play on defense

By Kelvin Hunt

MIAMI, FL - OCTOBER 06: Brian Burns #99 of the Florida State Seminoles causes a fumble by N'Kosi Perry #5 of the Miami Hurricanes in the first half at Hard Rock Stadium on October 6, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL - OCTOBER 06: Brian Burns #99 of the Florida State Seminoles causes a fumble by N'Kosi Perry #5 of the Miami Hurricanes in the first half at Hard Rock Stadium on October 6, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /
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FSU football will look to right the ship on a defense that’s given up over 100 points the last three games. Harlon Barnett says the best players will play.

FSU football needs its defense to step up in a major way the next two games if they wish to have a shot at winning and extending their bowl streak.

FSU defensive coordinator Harlon Barnett spoke with media Wednesday morning and chimed in on a couple of things.

One big change is former five-star defensive end Joshua Kaindoh has now secured the defensive end position opposite of Brian Burns.

He was injured and missed most of the off-season and was just getting back when the season began. It fits the mantra Barnett preaches in the best players will play although I’m not so sure that’s always the case.

Barnett reiterated the goal is always to stop the run and why they haven’t been able to do so the past few games. It’s basically all 11 players not executing their roles properly.

Check out the entire interview below:

Thoughts

One of the biggest takeaways from this interview is Barnett being willing to switch some things up. There’s Kaindoh in a starting spot and now they are trying to get Leonard Warner on the field at linebacker at the same time as Dontavious Jackson.

Warner is the second best linebacker, but he was Jackson’s backup so he wasn’t on the field all the time. Now, they are trying to find a way to get their two best linebackers on the field at the same time which is smart.

The other thing he talked about was the secondary and the plays they are giving up(primarily AJ Westbrook). It’s true the secondary is usually in position to make a play on the ball but they are never able to actually find the ball to make a play.

That’s something that’s been a problem all year.  I’m curious to see if anyone will supplant Westbrook at safety as he has absolutely been a liability the last few games. If the best players are playing there has to be another option to look at from here on out.

Here’s to hoping the defense can get back to stopping the run Saturday against a run first team the way they did the first few games of the season.

Next. Willie Taggart Positive He'll Be Able To Turn FSU Around. dark

If not, it’ll be another blowout loss and the Noles will have no shot at making a bowl game.

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