FSU football: Top 5 substantial defensive improvements in 2021

FSU football defensive coordinator Adam Fuller went into the 2021 season squarely on the hot seat after one of the worst defensive seasons in FSU history.

There were not many positives as a defense that had some talent underachieved for whatever reason.

I’ve always thought a large part of it was the impact of COVID and not having a true offseason to implement and assess the roster.

There wasn’t much time for players and coaches to develop relationships, and there was no time for the players to practice together and form any chemistry.

It’s why I acknowledge the season was historically bad but it wasn’t fair to judge Fuller entirely based on those results.

It was akin to telling an auto mechanic to fix a car and only giving him half of the tools needed to complete the project. I entered 2021 eager to see what the results would be, after all, Fuller had shown drastic improvement in year one of his defenses at two different stops before FSU football.

This season was essentially year one, and the results were similar to the substantial changes at the previous stops. Context is important in every assessment, and I must note the FSU defense had to perform even though their average starting field position ranked No. 111 nationally.

That means only 19 defenses defended shorter fields than FSU, with opposing offenses beginning their drives at their 32-yard line on average. Here are five substantial improvements from the FSU defense in 2021.