FSU football: Noles return two top pass rushing defensive tackles

FSU football will need to improve its pass rush to help the defense overall. Two of their defensive tackles are among the best according to one site.

FSU football has seen it’s defense regress significantly since the 2017 season. The defense couldn’t stop the run and the ‘Noles secondary gave up a record number of passing touchdowns in 2018.

A lot of the lack of success boiled down to FSU’s inability to get consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

The Noles had 28 sacks in 2018, and 32 in 2019 (playing in one extra game). It’s not like they were getting close to getting a sack and not making it happen either. The defense only had 70 QB hurries over the past two years.

A lot of issues have been a lack of production from the defensive end position since Brian Burns was drafted following the 2018 season. However, the Noles return two of the pass-rushing defensive tackles in 2020:

Thoughts

Marvin Wilson and Cory Durden were tied for the team lead with five sacks in 2019. Both were among the top sack leaders on the team in 2018 as well.

I have no doubt these two will continue to cause havoc up the middle for opposing teams. The question mark about FSU’s pass rush remains the defensive end position.

The inability to get consistent pressure on the opposing quarterback has made FSU’s secondary look even worse than it is. It doesn’t matter how talented the secondary is, it’s difficult to cover receivers when the quarterback has three or more seconds to get rid of the ball.

It also helps to have an aggressive defensive coordinator that likes to allow his players to attack instead of reading and reacting. That’s what the Noles will have in 2020 (if there are games played), and I expect Wilson and Durden to prove they belong at this top of this list for defensive tackles.