FSU football: Grading new coaching hires after 2024 season

Defensive Hires

This was a massive hire by Coach Norvell. Tony White fielded back-to-back top 20 defenses the last two years at Nebraska after taking over a defense that ranked No. 91 the year before. He's less than 50 years old and has experience as a defensive coordinator in the ACC, with two years at Syracuse. He's a well-respected guy all around and a capable recruiter. His defenses play hard and aggressive. They are well-coordinated and are multiple out of the 3-3-5 scheme. They are great against the run and cause a lot of confusion for quarterbacks. This is a massive upgrade over Adam Fuller.

I'm not sure we could find many better options to follow in the shoes of Odell Haggins than Terrance Knighton. A former NFL player for multiple years was with Tony White at Nebraska for the past two seasons. He was a vital part of the success of that defense. He's known as a great personality who relates well with the young players. He's known as a good recruiter, but we could see an uptick there as he has access to more talent in the Southeast at FSU than in Nebraska. He's also much younger than Odell, which was one of the major knocks on the FSU legend.
His familiarity with Tony White's defense is a plus.

Evan Cooper is a guy who was a part of Tony White's defense at Nebraska in 2023. He has experience coaching at Baylor and the Carolina Panthers with Matt Ruhle. White is only 37 years old and is known as an excellent talent evaluator. He was the Director of Player Evaluation for the Carolina Panthers from 2020-22. He also has experience as a recruiting coordinator at Baylor. Cooper doesn't have recruiting ties to the Southeast, so I'll ding him for that. However, he has potential there, and the safeties under his direction play fast and physical. His familiarity with Tony White's defense is a plus.