FSU football: Asante Samuel Jr. will enter 2021 NFL Draft

FSU football will lose its best cornerback for the rest of the 2020 season.

FSU football was down to 44 scholarship players when the decision to postpone the game against Virginia was made Saturday morning.

The Noles are now down another scholarship player and their best defensive back in Asante Samuel Jr.

It was expected he’d head to the NFL after the 2020 season, and with the way the season has gone with COVID-19, it’s not surprising to see him make the announcement Sunday afternoon.

He announced via his Twitter account:

I’ve loved watching Asante Samuel Jr. during his three years in Tallahassee. The former four-star was the No. 60 overall player and No. 9 cornerback in the 2018 recruiting class.

He has lived up to the billing, unlike other blue-chip defensive backs the Noles have signed as of late. Samuel Jr. is currently projected as a second-round pick by PFF:

Thoughts

What Asante Samuel Jr. lacks in size, he more than makes up for with dawg and technique. I’ve argued he has the most dawg of any FSU football player on the roster since he stepped on campus three years ago. He’s short at 5’10” but physical and extremely quick with the ability to change directions.

He’s also not afraid to come downhill and attack in the running game.

He doesn’t have elite top-end speed, but his technique is sound, being his father played in the NFL for several years.

The only time he’s struggled is when matched up against larger wide receivers. He’ll be in position but can’t make a play on the ball because of a lack of height and length. If the Noles play another game in the 2020 season, it’ll be a huge loss in the secondary, and it’ll be interesting to see who steps up and attempts to fill his position in 2021.

Good luck in the NFL Asante, and continue to represent the “DBU” tradition.