FSU Football: Looking at how Tribe20 performed against Georgia Tech

Defense

Last year, one of the few bright spots every week was the young freshman on defense. They made an impact every week, and while there were always mistakes, they made a whole lot of key plays as well, bolstering a defense that frequently struggled.

While this season the number of freshmen receiving playing time on defense should be less than 2019, there are still a decent number getting snaps. The two who saw the most action were defensive end Josh Griffis and Stephen Dix Jr. Griffis, a three-star end from IMG who was a last-second commit for the ‘Noles in 2020, did find himself out of place a bit but played hard throughout the game. He was the primary backup for Janarius Robins, Griffis totaled two tackles on the day.

Dix Jr, a four-star from Dr. Phillips, received a whole lot of playing time last week. He backed up Leonard Warner at ‘Mike’ linebacker and racked up four total tackles against Tech. Dix was not by any means fantastic – he was slow on the edges and got beat for a touchdown at one point. But, for a true freshman in his first game, he showed a lot of potential. Take this play in the 3rd quarter.

Dix scrapes over while maintaining his gap, and cleans up the play. Renardo Green makes a great play on the ball initially but doesn’t wrap up on the sweep. As we’ve seen before, missed tackles are killer for defenses, especially in Tallahassee, so Dix does a great job of finishing the play after Green’s initial contact. While Dix won’t be a superstar in his first season, the linebacking corps is looking up the ‘Noles after the past two recruiting classes.

Elsewhere on defense, DJ Lundy also saw snaps but did not record any stats. There were no other freshmen who saw the field for the ‘Noles, but a whole lot of transfers did. Fabian Lovett, the redshirt sophomore from Mississippi State, saw a lot of playing time, as did Jarrion Jones, the corner who also transferred from Starville. Neither made a huge impact, with Jones recording one tackle and Lovett recording nothing. Lovett did get some pressure on Jeff Sims but was, for the most part. a non-factor backing up Robert Cooper. Jones got the start at the boundary corner and got beat a few times for big gains, including a touchdown.

Deonte Williams, the defensive end from Baylor, also received playing time and recorded a tackle. It’ll be interesting to see if these players are able to make an impact against Miami, especially the transfer players.