FSU Football: Why Akeem Dent should start against Boise State

After a great showing throughout FSU football spring practice, Chop Chat’s Sam Tschida breaks down why the coaching staff should start Akeem Dent early.

With a storied history of great defensive backs, FSU football normally does well on the recruiting trail in the secondary. This past offseason, the ‘Noles signed six defensive backs in their 2019 class, two of which are already enrolled and on campus.

Four-star safety Raymond Woodie III, son of linebackers coach Raymond Woodie, played well this spring and should provide quality depth this season. The other four enrollees who aren’t on campus were most blue chips and should provide quality depth next year, and in the seasons to come.

The other early enrollee at DB is former five-star recruit Akeem Dent out of West Palm Beach. The highest related recruit in this year’s class, Dent had a ton of hype coming into Tallahassee, and he did not disappoint. Reports from practice indicated that Dent played extremely well against the second-team offense, and then was also good against the first team.

Florida State Seminoles Football

Dent was also very impressive in the FSU football spring game, recording eight tackles and two pass breakups. While he did face the second-team quarterback in Jordan Travis, Dent was matched up against the majority of first-team receivers, aside from Tamarrion Terry. So after his performance this spring, I think that the coaching staff should start Dent against Boise State.

This isn’t exactly a hot take, but eyebrows are always raised when a true freshman starts in the first game of his career. Dent is probably the second-most talented defensive back brought in over the past several recruiting classes, only behind Jaiden Woodbey (although Travis Jay could make an argument). Recruited originally as a corner, Dent played mostly strong safety over the spring and looked good.

While not the most experienced player, Dent could provide a spark to the strong safety position, now that senior A.J Westbrook has graduated. With Hamsah Nasilradeen moving to the ‘star’ position, and Jaiden Lars-Woodbey moving to free safety, the depth at strong safety is pretty short.

Right now, only redshirt-junior Cyrus Fagan is listed as a strong safety, and while the former five-star recruit has shown promise, he hasn’t put everything together. With the lack of depth at the position (which will be solved in the fall), Dent is in prime position to start early. He also showed out in the spring game, as we can see here:

Dent is at the deep safety as Florida State’s defense is playing in a zone; he steps up and puts his hat on the ball forcing a fumble. While you’d like to see a sound tackle, this shows the playmaking ability Dent has, and the havoc he can cause on defense. We can also see his football IQ in this clip here:

Once again, the FSU defense is in a zone, and Dent, who is playing the field, recognizes where the quarterback is going and jumps the route. As I wrote a few months back when I broke down his senior film, Dent has incredible play recognition and football IQ, seen in this clip.

His natural ability, combined with the amount of unproven depth at strong safety, lead me to believe that the coaching staff should start Akeem Dent in game one against Boise State because he will absolutely be a game changer.