FSU football: How much can ‘Noles defense improve over 2021?
By Kelvin Hunt
FSU football defensive coordinator Adam Fuller entered the 2021 season on the hot seat after producing one of the worst defenses in FSU history during his inaugural season in 2020.
Life did him no favors, with a pandemic preventing the team from having a full spring and players missing valuable time in the weight room.
I heard it all off-season that there are no excuses for what we saw from the defense in 2020. I know results matter, but we have to be realistic and understand the staff got dealt a terrible hand. It’s not like they were lighting the world on fire in 2019, either.
I always believed the pandemic affected things much more than people wanted to believe, and it’s why I gave Fuller the benefit of the doubt going into 2021.
The first four games didn’t make me look great, but I felt the defense played well enough to win at least two of the four games in 2021.
The lack of offense did them no favors, and Adam Fuller was still trying to find the right combinations on the backend of the defense.
Let’s look at the first four games and what changed things.