FSU football: Projected defensive skill spring depth chart

As FSU Football hurdles toward spring football, we will take a deep dive on the projected starters come March 10th.

This roster has undergone significant changes, and they are mainly on the defensive side.

Of eight transfers thus far, five have been on the defensive side, and three in secondary. There was an argument for misappropriating roster spots with glaring needs across the offensive line, but there was an immediate necessity to improve the 107th defense in FBS.

Improving starts in the trenches, and we’ll address that next week. I want to focus on the linebackers and defensive secondary.

As this team switches to the 4-2-5 defensive scheme (Nickel), the depth chart is ambiguous in some areas. There are questions of usage, versatility, and capability all around the defense.

There will be a running theme of squinting through this defense to find the Rorschach pattern to help me see improvement. Much of this team has limited snaps in garnet and gold and are either transfers or underclassmen.

This unit is a mixture, but is that better than having young players thrown into the fire and learning on the job? I think we will see the answer unfold this spring and fall.

This defense is full of unproven commodities, and somehow the coaches have to come up with seven or eight starters by September 5th.

These projections are my best guess of where the staff will go and with who.