FSU Football: Introducing the new left tackle Darius Washington

With a brand new true freshman getting significant reps at left tackle for FSU football, Chop Chat’s Sam Tschida breaks down what fans should expect.

During last week’s game against Wake Forest, the offensive line for FSU football experienced a lot of change. Starting center Baveon Johnson went down with an injury, leading to backup Andrew Boseli to get significant reps. At left tackle, Abdul Bello started the game and was soon replaced by Juwan Williams. Neither Bello or Williams was particularly impressive, allowing three quarterback pressures in just the first four drives.

In stepped true freshman Darius Washington, who got his first significant snaps on the year after playing in garbage time against Clemson the previous week. I gave a brief breakdown of Washington’s performance here, along with the rest of the true freshmen who played, but it’s important to take a deeper dive into what type of player FSU’s new left tackle is.

A 247 Composite three-star recruit, Washington hails from West Florida Tech high school in Pensacola. Washington was a late addition to #Tribe19, de-committing from Mississippi State on February 3rd and committing to the ‘Noles three days later. At 6’4, 285, he has ideal size and raw athleticism that made is a strong possibility he could be a contributor in his second or third year on campus.

Florida State Seminoles Football

But instead of being given time to develop, injuries and poor play thrust the true freshman into the starting lineup extremely quickly. Washington became the second true freshman to get significant playing time for the ‘Noles on the o-line, with Dontae Lucas being the first.

Washington wasn’t perfect during his time on the field, but he was serviceable, which is a major plus for the FSU o-line. He received a 50.3 grade from PFF, which is considered slightly below average, and above the average grades of both Bello (35.3) and Williams (33) so far this season.

His pass-blocking grade was 55, while his run-blocking grade was 54, meaning that a penalty dropped his average. Washington was matched up against Carlos Basham most of the game, the best player on a bad defense. Basham is undoubtedly an NFL player and is one of the best edge players in the ACC this year. Safe to say, that’s an extremely tough matchup for a true freshman.

All things considered, he wasn’t bad, especially given the circumstances. Washington allowed only three quarterback pressures in 27 passing plays, although one of which did cause a red zone interception. But overall, he stayed in front of his man, and with Basham that is a challenge in and of himself. Washington did struggle at times physically, but that’s to be expected; staying in front of the defender is the best FSU fans should hope for at this point.

By all accounts, Washington should be the starting left tackle against Syracuse on Saturday. He was working with the first team o-line the entire week, and with Williams still recovering from an injury and Bello still not performing up to par, expect Washington to receive the majority of the snaps.

He might not be great, as Syracuse does still have a very good defensive line (although their o-line is in worse shape than ours), but Washington has a bright future and is another step in the (very slow) repair of the offensive line.