FSU football: 3 defensive things to look for in 2021 spring game

By Kelvin Hunt | Apr 10, 2021

TALLAHASSEE, FL - AUGUST 31: A general view in front of Doak Campbell Stadium before the Florida State Seminoles host the Boise State Broncos for the season homer on August 31, 2019 in Tallahassee, Florida. The game was moved from Jacksonville, Florida because of Hurricane Dorian. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images) /

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Linebackers

The linebacker unit is a position group I hope to see major improvements from in 2021. It sucks Emmett Rice got hurt and will be out for a while at the very least.

However, the Noles have Stephen Dix Jr., Amari Gainer, Kalen DeLoach, DJ Lundy, and others players vying for playing time.

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We saw young linebacker Dix Jr. get ate up when facing teams that ran the RPO game. He also struggled to hit the right gaps in the run game and struggled to take good angles when closing in for tackles.

The same happened with DJ Lundy, especially the latter, and Gainer didn’t play as many snaps as needed due to some of the packages they used in the scheme.

I hope to see the linebackers flowing to the ball and taking good angles Saturday. I want to see them attack space in coverage better, as teams diced the Noles across the middle with ease the last couple of years.

I doubt we’ll see any exotic blitzes, but I’d like to see them properly time a blitz that gets penetration at some point. FSU players telegraphed blitzes the past few years that rarely have any impact on the play.

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