FSU football: What impact will Jim Leavitt have against Virginia?

FSU football will need a valiant effort on defense against Virginia Saturday night. Will Jim Leavitt have any impact for the game?

FSU football will travel to play Virginia this weekend as underdogs with a fan base that believes they have no shot of winning for the most part.

That sentiment is based mostly on how the defense has not showed up through two games. The Noles have blown two huge first half leads and are lucky to be 1-1 at the moment.

It’s the reason why Willie Taggart went out and brought Jim Leavitt in as a defensive analyst during the season after trying to make it happen before the season began.

The biggest question is how much of an impact can Jim Leavitt have on the defense after officially getting hired on Wednesday?

Well, that’s a tricky question because it depends on a few things. I find it hard to believe Willie Taggart waited until Monday (of this week) to call Leavitt to get him to accept the role and Leavitt got to practice on Thursday for the first time.

We have to remember these two have history together, and Taggart wanted to bring him in as his defensive coordinator as part of his initial staff.

It’s quite possible Taggart was on the phone with Leavitt Sunday (or earlier) and reached some sort of verbal mutual agreement about him joining the team.

Leavitt could have magically got his hands on some UVA film Sunday and started looking at things and communicating what he saw and what would work best before his arrival on Thursday.

Now, the key to it all is not what he saw or suggests, but what the players are able to execute Saturday night.

FSU defensive players have been trying to play hero ball instead of playing their assignments. If Leavitt can somehow help get that corrected, we should see marked improvement this week.