FSU football: Akeem Dent confident heading into 2022 season

The FSU football program has seen a lot of changes over the past few years. One player that’s experienced them all and had his career somewhat resemble those changes is a former blue-chip defensive back, Akeem Dent. Dent was the highest-ranked signee in the 2019 recruiting class.

The No. 50 player overall expected to come in and make an instant impact. Dent played well as a freshman and probably could have been a freshman All-American had he captured several interceptions that went off of his hands in the 2019 season.

He finished that season with seven passes defended and 35 tackles. However, his sophomore season in 2020 saw injuries and regression, much like the FSU football program. However, the 2021 season saw Akeem Dent begin to flourish after a rocky start and finish the season as one of the better defensive backs in the conference.

Ironically, much like the way the FSU program’ season went. That confidence carried over into the off-season and it’s noticeable as Dent spoke with the media after Tuesday’s practice.

Confidence is a beautiful thing and one of the major reasons Akeem Dent has seen his career ascend. He spoke about how he can see everything clearly during gameplay and how the entire program has changed for the better.

It’s a credit to his buy-in and the staff’s work in getting him to buy into his safety position after going back and forth from cornerback.

Dent would be a prime candidate to highlight the staff’s ability to develop players. It’s something Dent mentioned in the interview, how he depended on sheer physical ability early on before learning the schemes and different nuances in the defense.

One thing that caught my attention was Dent’s confidence in plays getting made in 2022. If the secondary can improve over last year? This defense has the potential to be nasty.