FSU football received good news when redshirt sophomore defensive tackle announced he’d be returning for his junior season in 2020.
A day later, and it’s the opposite as junior defensive back Stanford Samuels III announced he will declaring for the NFL Draft.
It’s a move that doesn’t come totally as a surprise as Samuels has three years worth of tape that’s been a mixed bag for the most part.
His message to the FSU football family can be seen below as he posted it on social media:
#FSU DB Stanford Samuels III announces he will skip senior season and enter NFL Draft. pic.twitter.com/58JaEdUriJ
— Ariya Massoudi (@AriyaMassoudi) December 26, 2019
A heartfelt message from a legacy player as Stanford’s father played at FSU as well. A former five-star recruit, Samuels didn’t seem to live up to his billing although his stats do show good production. Some of it was playing injured a lot in 2018 coupled with changing positions for a good portion of that season as well.
However, he was done no favors with having to play for two different defensive coordinators and without a bonafide defensive backs coach the last two years.
Let’s take a look at the impact on FSU football with him heading to the NFL Draft.
Experience
Samuels would have been FSU’s most experienced cornerback had he returned in 2020. He played in all 13 games as a true freshman in 2017 and started 11 of 12 games as a sophomore in 2018.
He also played in all 12 regular season games in 2019. I know I was a bit critical of Samuels earlier as I said his tape was a mixed bag of good and bad.
However, it should be noted he played the boundary cornerback position which is the more difficult of the two cornerback positions.
He also usually faced the best receiver of the opposing team each game from that position. It just seemed as though he got burned way too often for a player of his rating coming out of high school.
That goes back to the lack of coaching he received in his time at FSU. Whether it was lack of technique taught or being put in unfavorable coverages in certain situations, it made it difficult for even the most talented athletes to excel.
Frankly, it could be one of the underlying reasons why he’s not willing to come back his senior year as I’m not sure he’s be able to improve his draft stock a ton.
Depth
This could be another reason why Stanford Samuels won’t return in 2020. FSU has done a good job of recruiting defensive backs as usual and there are a lot of talented individuals fighting to get on the field.
Players like Akeem Dent, Travis Jay, Renardo Green, A.J. Lytton and incoming top 50 true freshman Demorie Tate will be vying for that boundary cornerback spot.
There’s a real chance Samuels would lose reps as a senior with the new defensive staff coming in and starting everyone off with a clean slate.
Although Samuels would be the team’s most experienced cornerback FSU has always played a lot of guys in the secondary so him being gone will not be a huge blow like say if Cory Durden decided not to come back on the defensive line.
Dent, Green and Lytton played in all 12 games in 2019. Jay will redshirt due to an academic issue but having that year under his belt should be helpful.
Tate is talented enough to play as a true freshman so FSU will have several options to replace Samuels III.
Final Thoughts
It’s probably the right move for Stanford Samuels III. He’s a player that has good size and length that will likely transfer well to the NFL in the right scheme.
He’s a player that will likely test well at the NFL Combine and all it takes is one team to fall in love with him.
We’ve seen players like past FSU players like Marquez White get drafted in the sixth round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
White had 65 career tackles with four career interceptions and six pass break ups.
His numbers don’t stack up close to the production Stanford Samuels III had at FSU. He finished his career at FSU with eight career interceptions,16 pass break ups and 145 career tackles.
I think that’s enough coupled with a good combine workout to get him drafted in the middle or late rounds at least.
Heck, we’ve seen former FSU walk-on Javien Elliot get signed as an undrafted free agent and is in his fourth year on a 53 man roster in the NFL.
Good luck to Stanford Samuels III and go represent the Noles in the league.