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FSU Football: Staff doing solid job of addressing offensive line woes

By Kelvin Hunt

TALLAHASSEE, FL - OCTOBER 27: Deondre Francois #12 of the Florida State Seminoles lays on the field after suffering an injury in the fourth quarter of the game against the Clemson Tigers at Doak Campbell Stadium on October 27, 2018 in Tallahassee, Florida. Clemson won 59-10. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
TALLAHASSEE, FL - OCTOBER 27: Deondre Francois #12 of the Florida State Seminoles lays on the field after suffering an injury in the fourth quarter of the game against the Clemson Tigers at Doak Campbell Stadium on October 27, 2018 in Tallahassee, Florida. Clemson won 59-10. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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FSU football is adding solid help to its weakest unit and could be markedly better in 2019 if the injury bug stays away.

FSU football added its newest member of the 2019 recruiting class in Northern Illinois graduate transfer Ryan Roberts Saturday.

Roberts will be eligible to play immediately and has a good shot of earning a starting gig as a tackle. He’s the fourth offensive lineman the Noles will have in the 2019 class with them likely taking 2-3 more players.

Here’s who they have thus far:

  • Dontae Lucas (Guard) (Early Enrollee)
  • Maurice Smith (Guard) (Signed)
  • Jay Williams (JUCO Tackle) (Early Enrollee)
  • Ryan Roberts (Tackle) (Will Enroll in Summer)

The staff is continuing to look at other graduate transfers as well as traditional high school help. The staff had Kamaar Bell, Ira Henry and Darius Washington on campus this weekend.  RJ Proctor who’ll be graduating from Virginia and transferring is a target too.

That’s not to mention the players who redshirted last season in Jalen Goss, Christian Meadows, Christian Armstrong and Chaz Neal.

Thoughts

Have the staff been able to land elite ranked offensive linemen outside of Dontae Lucas? No, they haven’t. However, I think their effort to address the offensive line woes should be noted.

They realize how bad the unit was and that’s why they’re hitting the JUCO and graduate transfer market so hard.

However, they have to be careful to not stock up top much there as to scare away high school players due to the depth chart.

It should be noted offensive linemen are hard to properly evaluate/rank and tons of three-star linemen develop into good players.

FSU has some talent on the interior at the guard position, but their biggest issues were at tackle and this is where Ryan Roberts provides an immediate upgrade. The hope is Jay Williams can contribute and Landon Dickerson sheds the injury bug along with Dontae Lucas potentially getting snaps.

The only question mark at that point would be the center position. The hope is Baveon Johnson could replace Alec Eberle, but if he can’t the Noles could potentially turn to Brady Scott who was serviceable at times even though it was too early to play him in 2018.

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All in all, the staff should have the offensive line in a better spot in 2019 compared to what they inherited. The fact they are addressing it so aggressively should be a good sign for FSU football fans moving forward.

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