Florida State football started its spring camp on Monday, and some veteran players have had the opportunity to speak with the media after practices. FSU welcomed nearly 50 new players in the spring semester, and with so many new faces, there are many questions.
Luckily, FSU has several veterans returning with years of experience who were on the 2023 team that experienced its undefeated regular season.
What is the mindset of those players after experiencing the last two years? Veteran starting safety Ashlynd Barker spoke with the media and shed some light on several things, including the mindset of the newcomers:
Barker is a veteran player that needs to have production and a vocal leader to help make FSU a player led team
Barker was one of the veterans who expressed frustrations with the program and planned to enter the transfer portal before ultimately deciding to stay in Tallahassee. Barker was on a live stream where he communicated some things in a negative light, which wasn’t the best look. He addressed that in today’s media scrum:
Barker indicated he was frustrated with losing and it was a learning moment, and it came from a desire to get FSU back to its winning ways.
It was good to see he took accountability with that situation even though he addressed a few days after it happened. It's important that the veteran players on the team set the example for these young players to follow.
Speaking of the newcomers, Barker mentioned that they have the right attitude and are "very determined," and "they pay attention and are always on time."
It seems the new group isn't content with just being at Florida State, but want to help the program get back to where it's supposed to be. As an FSU fan, that's exactly what you want to hear.