Ja'Bril Rawls has to stop Virginia's biggest threat
Florida State's defense has been downright terrible this season. Many fans believed defensive coordinator Tony White already showed he wasn't fit for the role last season when the defense struggled for most of 2025, and that is starting to look truer by the week.
However, college football is a world where narratives can change on a weekly basis, and Florida State is still very much alive in the ACC if they can get their defense to find a way to be successful when it counts.
One of the players who can do that the most this weekend is DB Ja'Bril Rawls. Rawls is one of the biggest faces on FSU's defense and can absolutely serve as a spark for the unit, especially this weekend with what Virginia does on offense.
Virginia quarterback Beau Pribula is off to a terrific start. He has dominated through the air, runs the ball extremely well, and has limited turnovers. Virginia's lone loss on the season has far more to do with their defense than their offense (where have FSU fans heard of that before?)
Pribula is going to feast on FSU's 3-3-5 if the Noles play off in coverage and give the Virginia wide receivers room to get space at the line of scrimmage. To make matters worse for FSU, if their defenders play close to the line of scrimmage to key in on the passing attack, Pribula has the legs to scramble for huge gains.
Enter Rawls. On top of Rawls' need to play extremely well in coverage this weekend to shut down the pass, his position out of the box could lead to plenty of opportunities to shut down the quarterback runs at the next level, something we have seen Rawls do already this season.
The FSU defense as a whole needs a wake-up in the worst way, and perhaps the star defender can be the one to serve as the catalyst for a major turnaround when it counts.
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