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

Honorable Mention

So those are the top five impact players through five games, but there are a number of players who are playing well.

• Amari Gainer-Gainer is going to be big time in this defense as he’s replacing the injured Jaiden Lars-Woodbey. He crushed it in his first start against NC State and has 18 total tackles on the season and has two sacks.
• Levonta Taylor-Taylor has had a resurgence after getting benched earlier in the year. He has two QB hurries, a sack, two pass break ups and 21 total tackles.
• Janarius Robinson-Robinson has been a pleasant surprise this season. He’s doing a good job of setting the edge and getting decent pressure on quarterbacks. He has 17 total tackles with 3.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.
• Robert Cooper-Big Coop has really improve this year since he’s in better shape. He’s able to play more snaps and has already surpassed his total number of tackles from a year ago.

There are a couple other players that have made a few splash players here and there. The FSU defense can help carry this team to eight wins if they show up in the second half of the season the way they did against NC State.

It remains to be seen, but they are certainly on the right trajectory after a tough start to the season.