What a difference a year makes. FSU football completed its spring camp with its final practice Sunday. It’s a far cry from last year’s three-day spring camp with one day in pads.
This team will not be elite in 2021 and I think, or at least hope fans realize that. There will be losses, but I believe it’s imperative to know there can be progress as a program, although it may not show up in the wins and losses.
No team is going to go from three wins to 10 or 11 wins. Every once in a while, everything lines up, and teams make huge leaps in wins and losses, but it’s not sustainable.
Syracuse in 2018 and Louisville in 2019 are prime examples, and we see what they looked like the year afterward.
Mike Norvell has repeatedly said he’s not looking for a quick fix and is looking to build a solid foundation to get this program back to where it belongs.
I believe that is happening as I see sparks of life at different positions within this team. I think the quarterback position will be more of a strength in 2021. That alone will keep FSU competitive with several teams on the schedule.
However, some areas that still need major development from a fundamental and depth perspective. Here are my top three areas that need more focus in those areas after spring camp.
Wide Receivers
This unit was not a strength for the Noles in 2020. Outside of Tamorrion Terry, there were so many questions it wasn’t funny.
DJ Matthews and Tre’Shaun Harrison hit the transfer portal, Keyshawn Helton and Ontaria Wilson were coming off injuries that robbed them of games in 2019.
Tamorrion Terry opted out after playing hurt in a few games, and the Noles never found a passing game to complement its rushing attack outside of the screen game to running backs.
Helton and Wilson return in 2021, and outside of those two, there are no proven wide receivers for quarterbacks to target.
It’s one of the main reasons we saw so much of freshmen Malik McClain, Joshua Burrell, and Bryan Robinson coming on late in spring camp. The Noles will have help coming to the unit shortly, with transfer Andrew Parchment and highly-touted freshman Destyn Hill.
However, both will only have a couple of months to learn the playbook and all of the nuances that come with the offense.
It’s not going to be pretty relying on a ton of youth at the position early in the season, but hopefully, they’ll find some consistency as the season progresses.
Offensive Line
I think it’s fair to say we saw some improvement from the offensive line unit last season. Some of the improvement was because teams had to respect the running ability of Jordan Travis, but there was an improvement overall.
The running backs all averaged 4.5 yards per carry or better, and there were times early in the season when FSU quarterbacks had some time to find receivers.
The lack of depth came into play as the injury bug made appearances forcing freshman Robert Scott into action. He performed admirably and looks to be a piece the coaching staff can trust as a young player.
Robert Orr, the first blue-chip offensive tackle to sign with the Noles in forever will arrive soon. One hopes he doesn’t have to follow the Robert Scott route and play too early, but he’ll at least be a body at the position if they can’t find success in the portal.
The FSU starting five is a solid group, it’s the lack of depth, and the fall-off after that, that’s the problem.
The coaching staff has a scholarship left to use on a player that could join the team from the transfer portal. Ideally, they’d like a offensive tackle, as those are the weakest links in the unit.
These players need to hit strength and conditioning hard as they lost a lot of time to get bigger and stronger last year due to the pandemic.
If they can snatch an offensive tackle from the portal and get healed up while getting stronger in the weight room? This unit could be serviceable with better quarterback play in 2021.
Tight Ends
The tight end unit may have been in worse shape going into last year than they are right now. Camren McDonald was the most experienced tight end on the roster with all of six career receptions.
McDonald proved to be a legitimate threat last season with 23 receptions for 263 yards and two touchdowns. Walk-on Preston Daniels had two receptions for 45 yards, and that was all of the offensive production from the position.
McDonald will need help, and there isn’t a lot of options to choose from on the roster. Transfer Jordan Wilson could be an option, but he is coming off an injury that cost him all of last season.
Wyatt Rector, Preston Daniels, and Carter Boatright are on the roster too. The other factor could be freshman Jackson West.
West wasn’t available for the spring game but did enroll early and flashed a few times during spring camp.
So that’s five players outside of McDonald who could help at the position. Here’s to hoping these guys develop more over the summer and fall camps. The tight end position is a big part of Mike Norvell’s offense, and a productive unit running and blocking means big things for the scoreboard.