FSU football: In-depth look at Georgia Tech's Tyler Santucci as defensive coordinator

FSU football head coach Mike Norvell announced they had fired Defensive Coordinator Adam Fuller last week, which puts FSU in the market for a replacement going into the 2025 season.

Adam Fuller's defenses were often better than given credit for, but the straw that broke the camel's back was the inability to get off the field on third down this season. It was maddening to watch opposing offenses convert third and long at will.

Adam Fuller wasn't a great recruiter, and his defense this year looked poorly coordinated. That's not ideal for a guy making well over one million dollars a year. Those are two areas that the new coordinator will need to excel if FSU is to upgrade.

It'll be interesting to see what direction Mike Norvell goes. Some folks believe he needs to get a veteran defensive coordinator. However, there are pros and cons to that approach. Older coaches likely don't want to spend the time and energy recruiting with how things work. Also, the game has changed in the last decade and may have passed some guys by. Then there are young up-and-comers.

One potential name mentioned by several folks has been Georgia Tech's defensive coordinator, Tyler Santucci. Santucci is only 36 years old but has defensive coordinator experience with one of the best in the game, Mike Elko. He was the co-defensive coordinator at Texas A&M under Elko and was promoted to defensive coordinator at Duke when Elko left A&M to become the head coach at Duke. When Elko left Duke to take the head coaching job at Texas A&M, Santucci left Duke to take the defensive coordinator job at Georgia Tech.

I think that move was to separate himself from Elko so he could get credit for calling the defense. Let's take an in-depth look at what he brings to the table. Santucci played linebacker in college and has coached that unit as coordinator.