Technically, Florida State defensive coordinator Tony White runs a 3-3-5 scheme, but that doesn’t mean his unit is always lining up with an odd front. Oftentimes, it’s a four-down front with a JACK linebacker down from the second level. At times, the JACK, last year James Williams, would be one of the three-down linemen, in what was essentially a 2-4-5.
The whole point of White’s amorphous defensive front is to create confusion for the quarterback and the offensive line, and on passing downs, to create one-on-ones for his pass-rushers with simulated pressure packages or more traditional blitzes.
One of the big problems with a defense that ranked No. 67 in points per drive and No. 47 by EPA/play was that White didn’t have anybody to take advantage of the leverage the structure is designed to create. Plainly, there wasn’t much pass-rush juice in Tallahassee, and Williams, who came with him from Nebraska, couldn’t provide it.
There are plenty of reasons his defense might be better this year, and a few reasons it might be worse. But one of the biggest determining factors will be whether or not he can find a player to build his pass-rush plan around.
Tony White needs a reliable pass-rusher
In 2024, White’s Nebraska defense finished No. 23 in points per drive. While that may not have been a great representation of its performance, considering that unit was No. 60 in adjusted EPA/play and No. 89 in success rate, it was enough for Florida State to bring him to Tallahassee in hopes of fixing a defense that fell off a cliff after 2023.
In that 2024 season, White had a dominant interior presence in Ty Robinson to be the focal point of his pass-rush plan, along with an athletic group of edges. James Williams was second to Robinson in pressures, so he wasn’t a complete stiff, but his production came with a very small workload of just 188 snaps and suffered at FSU when he was asked to play significantly more.
He doesn’t have enough first-step explosiveness to consistently win on the edge, and as fatigue set in, what burst he had waned even more. So, when FSU would get an opposing offense into third-and-long and try to manufacture a one-on-one for Williams, he wasn’t ready to win it.
This season, it will be transfers Rylan Kennedy and Jalen Anderson rotating at JACK. Kennedy posted 14 pressures and 3.5 sacks in 72 pass-rush snaps for Texas A&M last season, but his 11.9% pass rush win rate was worse than Williams’ at FSU. Anderson is making the jump from the JuCo level, where he posted 9.5 sacks over two years for Pearl River.
This week, EDGE coach Nick Williams praised both for their “ability to get off the rock” and their “plethora” of pass-rush moves. Is that classic preseason buzz or a meaningful upgrade at the position? We won’t know until FSU’s ACC opener against SMU in Week 1, but even if that duo is better than what the Seminoles have had, it’s hard to imagine either player being a foundational piece for the defensive front.
But it doesn’t have to be an EDGE
Oftentimes, the most straightforward player to create a one-on-one for is an EDGE. White likes to do it with an overload to the opposite side of the line, giving his JACK plenty of room to work on an obvious passing down. But that doesn’t mean you have to build around an EDGE; they can be a beneficiary of a great interior player, and if FSU is going to have an elite defensive line, as QB1 Ashton Daniels claims, then that probably means the preseason hype around Mandrell Desir is real.
Players and coaches cannot stop talking about Desir, who led the team in sacks last season, but who also had glaring holes in his game as a three-star true freshman. He needed to improve his pad level, diversify his pass-rush plan, add strength to keep offensive linemen off his body, and become more balanced through contact. If those improvements happen during his first full college offseason, he’ll become the queen on the chessboard for White.
At 6-foot-4, 270 pounds, he has inside-out versatility and the athleticism to be an attacking defensive end in odd fronts. And maybe it’s not about creating one-on-ones for him, but about drawing attention to free everyone else up.
It would be ideal if Kennedy and Anderson were clear upgrades in their own right. But even if they’re the same caliber of player as White had at JACK last season, if Desir’s improvement is real, they’ll look that much better regardless.
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