FSU football: Top 5 defensive impact players going into bye week

Cory Durden

Cory Durden surprised some folk in his redshirt freshman season in 2018, so expectations for him were extremely high when coupled with Marvin Wilson and Robert Cooper on the defensive line.

Durden played well in spurts in the first couple of games but lacked the consistency to be an impact player.

He really stepped his game up against Virginia with four tackles and 1.5 sacks. Both he and another player we’ll talk about later were virtually unstoppable against Louisville.

The stat lines doesn’t show it, but he was good in the NC State game as well. In fact, one of his biggest plays was wiped out by a garbage personal foul call after he sacked former FSU backup QB Bailey Hockman.

It wasn’t but a few plays later when he met Hockman in the backfield again for a crushing hit alongside Janarius Robinson.

Here’s a stat for you from Pro Football Focus:

Durden has 14 total tackles with 3.5 tackles for loss, a pass break up, a forced fumble and a ton of QB hurries. His play along the defensive line has been a big key in FSU football being able to limit opposing offenses running the ball.