FSU football: Projecting the 2020 wide receiver depth chart

With a loaded receiving core returning, Chop Chat’s Sam Tschida previews what he expects the FSU football depth chart to look like at the beginning of the 2020 season.

In our ongoing series at Chop Chat breaking down the projected depth chart for Florida State, I have recently finished looking at the defense and started projecting the offense a few weeks ago.

You can read the offensive line and tight end previews here and here.

Much like at defensive back, FSU Football has a long and storied history of prolific wide receivers. From Fred Biletnikoff and Ron Sellers to Peter Warrick and Rashad Greene, there is no shortage of fantastic players who have played receiver for the ‘Noles.

Going into 2020, the ‘Noles are once again poised to have a set of playmakers at wideout.

The shift from Taggart’s offensive scheme to Norvell’s does feature in a change in receiver usage. I broke down what separates these two offensive schemes in the tight end post, and much of that applies to wide receiver as well. Norvell’s offense uses its receivers in a variety of roles.

To start off, let’s look at the base offensive formation in Norvell’s offense. Below we see the strong-side receiver X, along with the slot H, the tight end at Y, and the weakside receiver at Z.

Memphis is in the shotgun here with a running back on the heels of the QB. While sometimes Norvell moves the H behind the offensive tackle at the ‘wing’ and line up the Y in the slot instead.

This past season at Memphis, Antonio Gibson played both slot receiver and filled in a running back from time-to-time, finishing second in both touchdown catches and third in rushing touchdowns on the team. Norvell is also known to heavily involve his running backs in the passing game, with a running back finishing as the second-leading receiver during each of his four seasons.

Norvell has shown the ability to adapt to his personnel, and with a stud running back / decent offensive line, he will rely heavily on the run game if needed. The Tigers did this in 2018 when they had the insane trio of Darrel Henderson, Tony Pollard, and Patrick Taylor Jr., finishing seventh nationally in rushing yards per game.

But, this is a spread offense that aims to stretch the defense vertically, and the passing game is Norvell’s bread and butter. In three of his four seasons at Memphis, Norvell’s teams finished in the top twenty nationally in passing yards per game. Former Memphis receiver Anthony Miller had over three thousand receiving yards during the three seasons he played under Norvell (one of which Norvell was the offensive coordinator), and led the team twice with 14 touchdowns. Miller mostly played in the slot at just 5’11, but in Norvell’s offense, he was continually-schemed open by play action or with matchups against slower linebackers.

So, in Norvell’s spread offense, here is what FSU fans should expect the depth chart to look like.