I know there are other threads but I wanted to lay this out for a side reason. This is not about whether DF is our best choice or not. It's not about whether he should come back or should start. It's about the fact that either FSU and/or DF are making this all worse in the way they either speak or don't speak. And before I move on, I am not saying FSU/WT owe us a play by play on how things are going administratively. This is about only this issue.
I think this issue needs to have some public input from FSU. The reasonable APPEARANCE is that FSU is lukewarm at best on DF but that DF feels entitled to start. I am not attacking him. I am looking at history. Last year we were told there was an open competition and it appears to not have felt that way for certain players. WT first came public about what he needed from DF and he may have gotten some of it, but it not appear he did it all. He grew up some but we still had some off the field issues, and then it sounded like the locker room was a little divided (and I don't see JB causing that because I think he will support whoever is starting and be a good leader).
All season DF did not look like he fit the offense. That is not his fault. It's not his strength and he was coming off a bad injury and was behind a swinging gate line. But, he did not fit. It was very odd to see how JB was used when it seemed it was at least worth trying him. If a RS was desired as a possibility then we should not have wasted any silly minutes with him. We could have tried him for significant parts of 4 games. If he was better, then don't RS. If he wasn't, then it's still there. We have yet to hear anything from FSU about why we used him, or didn't, like we did. That isn't nearly as important when you are playing well, but when you suck it's hard to keep those secrets.
The we have JB play versus NC State and do pretty well. The coaches said there was a competition and DF came right out and contradicted them. I can't stress how bad this was. Whatever growth I had hoped for was basically gone. A player publicly contradicting the coaches is anathema. What was worse was that WT did NOTHING about it. It was like a kid backtalking a parent and the parent backing down. That was the first time I truly became concerned about WT's ability to maintain discipline over the team.
Now we are post season. FSU has not said anything but it seemed to be gently nudging DF out. I get it. They were being nice. But not DF has failed a class and did not graduate so he can't grad transfer. That is all on him. It appears it was not what FSU/WT expected. Such is life, but to make it all worse we then had DF do his IG "announcement" about his return like he was Winston coming back for another year. Some have suggested FSU signed off on this, but there is NO evidence that is true (if there is, please share). Some have suggested this doesn't mean he expects to start, but that ignores ALL historical evidence with him. I see his actions as using social media to set expectations and perceptions that he is the man and we are lucky to have him back.
I think it's an awful look in many ways. It makes our coaches look like betas, unless they have decided he is starting. If that is the case, they should say that and make this simple. If it's not the case, they should tell be telling him to STFU and may need to go public to clarify this stuff. The way it looks now is amateur hour.
I think this issue needs to have some public input from FSU. The reasonable APPEARANCE is that FSU is lukewarm at best on DF but that DF feels entitled to start. I am not attacking him. I am looking at history. Last year we were told there was an open competition and it appears to not have felt that way for certain players. WT first came public about what he needed from DF and he may have gotten some of it, but it not appear he did it all. He grew up some but we still had some off the field issues, and then it sounded like the locker room was a little divided (and I don't see JB causing that because I think he will support whoever is starting and be a good leader).
All season DF did not look like he fit the offense. That is not his fault. It's not his strength and he was coming off a bad injury and was behind a swinging gate line. But, he did not fit. It was very odd to see how JB was used when it seemed it was at least worth trying him. If a RS was desired as a possibility then we should not have wasted any silly minutes with him. We could have tried him for significant parts of 4 games. If he was better, then don't RS. If he wasn't, then it's still there. We have yet to hear anything from FSU about why we used him, or didn't, like we did. That isn't nearly as important when you are playing well, but when you suck it's hard to keep those secrets.
The we have JB play versus NC State and do pretty well. The coaches said there was a competition and DF came right out and contradicted them. I can't stress how bad this was. Whatever growth I had hoped for was basically gone. A player publicly contradicting the coaches is anathema. What was worse was that WT did NOTHING about it. It was like a kid backtalking a parent and the parent backing down. That was the first time I truly became concerned about WT's ability to maintain discipline over the team.
Now we are post season. FSU has not said anything but it seemed to be gently nudging DF out. I get it. They were being nice. But not DF has failed a class and did not graduate so he can't grad transfer. That is all on him. It appears it was not what FSU/WT expected. Such is life, but to make it all worse we then had DF do his IG "announcement" about his return like he was Winston coming back for another year. Some have suggested FSU signed off on this, but there is NO evidence that is true (if there is, please share). Some have suggested this doesn't mean he expects to start, but that ignores ALL historical evidence with him. I see his actions as using social media to set expectations and perceptions that he is the man and we are lucky to have him back.
I think it's an awful look in many ways. It makes our coaches look like betas, unless they have decided he is starting. If that is the case, they should say that and make this simple. If it's not the case, they should tell be telling him to STFU and may need to go public to clarify this stuff. The way it looks now is amateur hour.
