FSU Football: Competition breeding competitive depth

FSU football needed an infusion of players to create competitive depth with the departure of some players. Things seems to be coming along just fine.

FSU football has had limited depth at some key positions the past couple of years. We’ve seen issues at quarterback, offensive line, wide receiver, linebacker and safety.

The FSU coaching staff has worked to bring in some players to raise the talent level of the team.

One of the first things Willie Taggart told players when he arrived at Oregon was he was going to recruit players that will try to take their spots and the same is true at FSU.

Close to 40 percent of his inaugural 2018 recruiting class saw meaningful minutes last season.

The coaching staff had six players from the 2019 recruiting class to enroll early with all six having a real possibility of seeing playing time as true freshmen.

The great thing is most of that impact will be felt in areas of need on the offensive line, linebacker and safety positions.

Coach Taggart spoke after Friday’s practice about the importance of competitive depth and how the first practice with pads went.

Final Thoughts

There is going to be some real competition at a lot of key positions. Think about all the talent in the secondary: Stanford Samuels III, Levonta Taylor, Jaiden Lars-Woodbey, Asante Samuel Jr., A.J. Lytton, Kyle Meyers, Akeem Dent, Raymond Woodie Jr., Carlos Becker, Isaiah Bolden, and Cyrus Fagan. That doesn’t include Travis Jay, Brendan Gant, Renardo Green and Jarvis Brownlee coming this summer.

Linebackers have Dontavious Jackson, Leonard Warner III, Amari Gainer, Hamsah Nasirildeen, Emmett Rice, and Jaleel McRae just to name a few not to mention Kalen DeLoach and Kevon Glenn coming this summer.

The offensive line will have graduate transfer Ryan Roberts and potentially another graduate transfer to join Dontae Lucas and Jay Williams as newcomers this summer.

Those three positions were among the three biggest issues for the 2018 squad. It looks like competition is going to breed depth and success in 2019 as long as the injury bug stays away.