FSU football: 5 players that stood out in 2022 spring game

FSU football has its 2022 spring game Saturday afternoon in what was the 14th practice of spring camp. I wrote about 12 players I was looking for in the spring game and how they’d perform. It was good to see a few of them stand out in the game. Here are the five that stood out the most, plus some other observations.

• Trey Benson-Benson silenced all of the doubters who questioned Mike Norvell, taking him from the transfer portal. He exhibited speed and power and some shiftiness on a few long runs. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s not RB1 for the Noles earlier than later.
• Lawrance Toafili-Toafili looks bigger and ran with more of a sense of urgency. One thing that stood out was his touchdown carry near the goal line. Toafili took the handoff and went right up the gut instead of trying to bounce the run outside. A combination of Toafili and Benson in the backfield could be one of the best tandems in the conference.
• Jared Verse-The transfer defensive end looks the part of an FSU player. He blocked a field goal attempt and showed he belongs at the Power 5 level. He was in the backfield often Saturday afternoon.
• Mycah Pittman-The transfer wide receiver got dinged up at the beginning of Saturday’s practice. However, he came back and was productive in the spring game with several catches of different varieties. He makes the catch and immediately gets upfield for positive yardage and isn’t afraid of contact.
• Greedy Vance-It was hard to track who was in the secondary, but I noticed Vance a couple of times. He came downhill against the run and made a physical tackle one time. He was in coverage with the speedy Ja’Khi Douglas and flagged for a DPI, but it probably could have been a no-call. I think I recall him making another physical tackle too.
• Other Observations-Freshman RB Rodney Hill is fast and will be a player in time. Azareye’h Thomas looked good and locked up Malik McClain on one deep pass that I saw. Sam McCall will be a player. The defensive line will be really good and the FSU offensive line held their own despite missing several players, especially in the running game. The tight end room is awful and a couple of them should probably hit the transfer portal. There were too many drops from them, and I saw transfer WR Johnny Wilson drop a catchable pass.

Just like last year, most of the players shining come from the transfer portal. It speaks to the staff’s eye for talent, but also how they have to keep leaning on the portal to acquire talent because they didn’t inherit much talent.

The announced attendance for the game was over 30,000 fans. That’s not bad considering some people complained the spring game was the same weekend as the Masters and the baseball team was on the road. Not to mention the team is coming over another sub-par season. Overall, I was happy with what I saw and will have more observations.