FSU football: 3 defensive questions going into 2020 spring camp

FSU football went get its spring practice underway in a couple of days. Let’s take a look at three defensive questions for the Noles.

FSU football will get its first taste of what a Mike Norvell spring practice will be like on March 7th.

The players have been enduring strength and conditioning, weightlifting, and the Tour of Duty workouts the past couple of months.

They have a large number of early enrollees that will be beneficial as time goes on.

The past two seasons will be thrown out the window, and FSU football will be off to a fresh start with nearly an entirely new staff.

For those in garnet and gold, the start of spring couldn’t come soon enough after three disappointing seasons compiling an 18-20 record.

As bad as things have been, winning can cure it all rather swiftly. Heck, being competitive and not looking completely lost on the field would be a start against rivals like Florida and Clemson.

Spring practice will be the first chance to see what the new coaches can do and if the direction of the program is heading in the right direction.

Here are the top three defensive questions for the Noles entering the spring practice.

Can The Two Defensive Early Enrollees Shine?

I wrote about the importance of having a lot of players early enrollee a few weeks ago. FSU football had eight players to enroll in the spring semester.

Two of them are defensive players in three-star defensive end Joshua Griffis and four-star linebacker Stephen Dix Jr.

The two players are at a critical position of need, especially Griffis, as the Noles have little proven depth behind Janarius Robinson and Joshua Kaindoh.

The video below is one caveat of being able to enroll early as you can see Griffis putting that work in off the field months before spring practice begins.

The linebacker unit has been upgraded talent-wise in the past year, but there are still several unproven players at the position.

Dix Jr. has gotten rave reviews from linebacker coach Chris Marve as a player that’s quiet but does exactly what’s been asked of him so far.

These two players could play valuable snaps on special teams or in reserve roles this season. Having a spring practice under their belt could be huge when fall rolls around.

Scheme

This is one of the biggest questions as the defensive side of the ball is where I believe this team could see the biggest improvement.

FSU defensive coordinator Adam Fuller will get his first chance to see the pieces available to him(aside from those not currently injured) and which 11 players best reflect his vision for the team.

The good news is he runs a 4-3 scheme most of the team ran last year under Harlon Barnett. I’m sure there will be some differences in terminology and philosophies, but the learning curve shouldn’t be as steep as trying to change to an entirely new defense like a 3-4 like last season.

The defense looked capable in their last outing in the Sun Bowl despite missing several starters like Marvin Wilson, Joshua Kaindoh, Hamsah Nasirildeen and Jaiden Lars-Woodbey.

There are still question marks at a few spots like linebacker and in the secondary but it will be interesting to see how aggressive this scheme will be compared to the last couple of years under Harlon Barnett.

Health

This is one of the most important aspects of going into spring practice. The Noles lost a ton of players off last year’s defense due to injury.

We’ve seen footage of some of them working out like Jaiden Lars-Woodbey and Joshua Kaindoh.

Hamsah Nasirilseen is still recovering, and it’s still not clear if Lars-Woodbey or Kaindoh will be cleared for contact at the moment.

If these players are limited at all, it’ll give younger players an opportunity to gain valuable reps and show what they can do.

This defense must build competitive depth at every level as there was a considerable drop-off when these players missed time last season.