FSU football: Opposing ACC coaches think ‘Noles defense could be strong

FSU football defense had a letdown year by their lofty standards in 2018. Opposing coaches think they have the potential to be much better in 2019.

I’ve documented my thoughts on the FSU football defense from 2018. They were not very good but I gave Harlon Barnett a pass because of how the season went.

It’s hard to accurately assess how good or how bad they were because the offense put them in a ton of bad spots with short fields with turnovers.

It’s also hard to account for an offense that can’t do anything and the defense being constantly on the field.

How can you measure being demoralized against Syracuse or holding Clemson scoreless for the first quarter and then getting taken to the woodshed?

The S&P advanced metrics had FSU listed at No. 37 after 12 games in 2018. I expect the FSU defense to be better in 2019 for a number of reasons I already discussed. However, it appears some opposing coaches believe that to be the case as well.

A few ACC coaches spoke anonymously with Athlon Sports about FSU last season and I’m going to focus on the defensive quotes:

"“Defensively, they’re strong, especially in the back. They’re going to be a lot deeper at linebacker especially.”"

This is accurate as the Noles have addressed the linebacker unit the last two recruiting cycles. FSU always has talented players in the secondary.

"“They lose Brian Burns in the pass rush, but they have some scary dudes inside on that line.”"

There’s all the talk about FSU playing more 3-4 defense and the combo of Marvin Wilson, Robert Cooper and Cory Durden is one of the best you’ll see in the ACC. Joshua Kaindoh was a top 10 player nationally and there’s a ton of other former blue chip recruits playing defensive end too.

"“It’s still a really young roster with a lot of gaps from some bad recruiting years before Fisher left.”"

Thoughts

This is true, a lot of those linebackers are extremely young and FSU hasn’t been able to land an elite pass rusher the past couple of years.

I tend to think that’s why they’re toying more with the 3-4 defense or trying to be more multiple. As long as the FSU offense improves in 2019, I expect the FSU defense to improve and I think that’ll be the case.

I see no reason why the Noles shouldn’t have a top 15-20 defense with the talent that’s on the roster.