FSU Football: Top 5 most important defensive players for 2022
By Kelvin Hunt
The FSU football unit improved a great deal from 2020 to 2021, with several players making the All-ACC team.
It’s a unit I expect to be even better in 2022, even with the departure of key members like ACC Defensive Player of the Year, Jermaine Johnson, and Keir Thomas.
The good news for Adam Fuller is he returns leadership and experience at every level of his defense, plus some key additions from the transfer portal.
It’ll be the second full season of having an offseason to get guys acclimated to how he wants things done.
This defense could be top 25, especially if they tighten up on third downs and improve their red zone touchdown percentage. However, they’ll need some key players to step up and play up to their potential. Here are the five most important defensive players for the 2022 season.
No. 5
Omarion Cooper
The sophomore defensive back burst on the scene about mid-way through the 2021 season, starting at the boundary cornerback spot. The FSU defense hasn’t had great cornerback play of late, with Asante Samuel Jr. as the exception.
However, Cooper emerged as a player with the potential to make plays in the secondary. I’m not saying he’s Jalen Ramsey, but he might be good enough to force most teams to look to the opposite side of the field.
If that’s the case, that helps the defense tremendously because teammates can trust he’s got his area under control and cheat a couple of steps in another direction.