FSU Football: Fixing the offensive line through recruiting

FSU football knew going into the recruiting season for the 2019 class that getting players who can instantly enter the lineup on the line was a priority.

Working to clean up the offensive line woes in one year has been a daunting task for FSU football. The reality is the problems started long ago and tie back to recruiting. Power schools such as Alabama and Georgia were recruiting on average five more offensive lineman than the Seminoles were per year while schools like Clemson did three to five more per year.

Last year was nothing short of a complete mess and with Landon Dickerson and Cole Minshew injured, things were even worse. FSU football ended up using nine different offensive line combinations – which appears to be more combinations than any other Power Five team. Players were moved to different positions they were not used to playing, with some having to play injured.

FSU football knows recruiting on the offensive line is key right now. Early signing day was a success on that front in that four star offensive guard Dontae Lucas and three star guard Maurice Smith along with three star offensive tackle Jay Williams all signing with the Seminoles.

The goals next year now that Alec Eberle, Derek Kelly, and Arthur Williams are gone is to keep our two best returning players – Dickerson and Minshew – healthy enough to play and recruit enough players to have a good offensive line.

Unlike years past, FSU football sees this as a priority and has made many offers with visits being scheduled for January, even going the JUCO route to speed up the process., with some of the players including:

• Three star tackles Ira Henry and Josh Cooper (both visiting in January)
• Three star guards Desmond Bland and Kamaar Bell (visiting in January)
• JUCO tackle and former UF player Kadeen Telfort (visiting in January)

Some FSU football fans were upset after early signing day over the loss of other potential recruits, and here is where many fans think stars matter but that’s not necessarily true. Clemson currently has one five star, one four star and a trio of three stars playing on their line – blocking all the way to the national championship game.

With our three early signees, the future looks promising – even more so now that FSU football is doing what needed to be done years ago.