FSU football: Impact of D’Mitri Emmanuel’s waiver approval for 7th year

FSU football received great news Tuesday morning when starting offensive guard D’Mitri Emmanuel’s waiver for a seventh year got approved.

FSU coaches have used the transfer portal to flip the offensive line from a weakness to a strength over the past few seasons. Emmanuel came to the Noles from Charlotte, where FSU offensive line coach Alex Atkins coached him for one season.

He teamed up with Notre Dame transfer Dillan Gibbons to fortify the interior of the offensive line last season

It was thought FSU could lose both players, which meant they needed to hit the transfer portal once again and did so, bringing in several players with experience. However, the waiver approval for Emmanuel means FSU returns major experience at the right guard spot.

Emmanuel started all 13 games for the Noles last season, which means he helps with continuity and familiarity with the offensive scheme.

That’s a huge boost to a unit that was already nearly 10 players deep from a depth perspective. That’s something FSU coaches used to dream about when they first arrived in Tallahassee.

Now it’s like they have an abundance of options with players that can play multiple positions at a high level. The Noles were one of the best rushing teams in the nationl last season. According to their press release:

"The Seminoles led the ACC in third-down offense, yards gained per pass, yards gained per play, yards gained per rush, total offense per game, yards per completion, rushing offense per game and scoring offense per game. FSU was one of two offenses nationally, and the only one in the ACC, to average at least 270 passing yards and at least 210 rushing yards per game."

I don’t know. It seems like everything is finally going in favor of the Noles after four or five years of bad injury luck and poor results on the field.

All of the experience and production returning on the offense is one of the biggest reasons most folks expect the Noles to contend for the ACC championship for the first time since 2016, when they would have beaten Clemson if a referee didn’t blow the whistle for a bogus penalty.

Congrats on a seventh year D’Mitri!