FSU Football: Evaluating the true freshmen against Louisville

After FSU football’s big ACC win against Louisville, ChopChat’s Sam Tschida breaks down how the true freshmen of Tribe19 played against the Cardinal.

FSU football got a much-needed win against ACC rival Louisville last weekend, rebounding from their loss against UVA last week. The win moved the Seminoles to 2-2 on the season, and while it was by no means a complete game, it was the best performance FSU has given all season.

For probably the only time all year, there are a lot of positives ‘Noles fans can take away from the game. Once again, a few of the positives involve the true freshmen of Tribe19, who made a big impact on the game. Let’s see how they did.

Offense

For the fourth straight game, the only true freshman who received playing time on offense was Dontae Lucas, although he did not start at right guard. After starting the first three games, Lucas was replaced by junior Mike Arnold, who had a nice game until being replaced.

Florida State Seminoles Football

Lucas did struggle a bit last week against UVA, but that is to be expected from a true freshman. He did play for much of the second half against Louisville and overall played decently well. The PFF grades have yet to come out for this game, but I expect Lucas to get above-average passing and run-blocking grades. FSU fans should be very encouraged, because Lucas has gotten better every week, and we might have a future All-ACC player on the offensive line in Tribe19.

Defense

Once again, a lot of true freshmen made an impact on defense for the Seminoles against Louisville.

Jaleel McRae had the best game of his young career so far, getting plenty of snaps at inside linebacker and recording three tackles. McRae wasn’t great in pass coverage but did well with his run fills for much of the first half, then got pushed around a bit in the second. Still, the aggressiveness seen from McRae was a nice change from previous linebacking play.

Akeem Dent received more playing time this week and recorded the first stats of his FSU career. Dent had two tackles one of which went for a loss. Let’s take a look at it below.

Here, we see Dent do a fantastic job setting the edge. He plays the outside well, forcing the UL ballcarrier to cut back inside, where he gets some help and makes the play. Great job by the former five-star. While Dent did get beat in coverage for a touchdown later in the game, it wasn’t indicative of his coverage, but rather a perfect throw from the QB.

Staying in the secondary, DB Brendan Gant had himself another nice game. He only had one tackle, but it was one of the most important tackles of the game, seen below.

Gant does a fantastic job of stepping up and staying on UL QB Malik Cunningham, who multiple times during the game had escaped a sure sack for a big gain. While Gant is still rough in pass coverage, this play here shows how effective he is in stopping the run.

DB Raymond Woodie once again only saw action on special teams but did not record any stats. Renardo Green, who was suspended for the first half after the targeting call from last week, saw a few snaps on defense was also primarily on special teams.

Defensive tackle Tru Thompson once again saw playing time in relief of Robert Cooper (who had himself an excellent game). Thompson didn’t record any stats and was mostly a non-factor, but he did look improved in taking on double teams.

Bottom Line

It was a nice win for the ‘Noles, who badly needed some momentum for the rest of the season. The true freshmen of Tribe19 continue to impress in-game, and Seminoles fans should still be excited for the future, even though growing pains will continue to be apart of their game.