After refreshing during the final bye week of the season, the Florida State football team is back at work for its final two-game stretch of the 2024 season. That began on the practice field Tuesday morning where FSU was at work four days out from its Saturday matchup vs. FCS opponent Charleston Southern (1:30 p.m. on ACC Network Extra).
Here are the observations from the day's work:
Here are the observations from the day's work:
- Overall, I thought Tuesday's practice was fine. There wasn't a notable change in energy either positively or negatively in the wake of the coaching changes. Execution was good in moments, but not consistent enough. In reality, it looked like many of FSU's practices have over the last few weeks.
- In examining how the staff changes affected roles at the practice, Gabe Fertitta stepped into Alex Atkins' role as the primary offensive line coach, as expected. D'Mitri Emmanuel seemed to step into Fertitta's former role as assistant OL coach. Both Guy Lemonier and Austin Tucker were getting work in Ron Dugans' former role as WRs coach, leading those players through positional drills.
- A new person observed at Wednesday's practice was Chip Long. He was Mike Norvell's first Memphis OC back in 2016 and was just observing the practice, not getting involved in any coaching.
- In the first practice availability since FSU DC Adam Fuller was fired, there were a few immediately obvious changes under interim DC Randy Shannon. Most obviously, the defense pivoted from a pursuit drill it normally runs in one of the first few periods to a block-shedding drill at the line of scrimmage, working on something that has at times been a weakness of the defense this season. I'm not gonna say the defense was revolutionized in the first practice we saw with Shannon as DC. It's hard to make that statement because they weren't tackling. However, you immediately saw a few ways in which Shannon may have a philosophical difference in opinion from Fuller.
- The offense got off to a hot start to Tuesday's practice. The first three plays in the first team period went for about 30-35 yards on a toss to Lawrance Toafili, a pass to Hykeem Williams and another Toafili run up the gut that found a hole and got to the second/third level.
- There were some high-level passes from the quarterbacks Tuesday morning. Brock Glenn had a stellar three-play sequence in 11-on-11 where he hit a deep shot to Darion Williamson in stride, executed a perimeter screen that was set up by a good Brian Courtney block outside and then did a great job moving in the pocket to avoid pressure and finding Kentron Poitier over the middle of the field. Glenn also had a nice throw to Elijah Moore in 7-on-7 pass skelly. Kromenhoek had a few beautiful passes to Amaree Williams in 11-on-11, one of which was a wide-open touchdown thanks to a defensive breakdown. He also threw an exceptionally tight-windowed pass to Williamson in pass skelly work, rocketing a ball just past a defender's hands and into the receiver's, who made a nice snag. Micahi Danzy also got involved in the passing game, making quite a few catches, including one diving snag on a slightly underthrown pass and a 1-on-1 acrobatic display where he elevated over a defensive back to make a catch while sideways in the air, holding on through the ground.. Play to play, however, there just wasn't enough success in the passing game.
- Sione Lolohea and Darrell Jackson had "sacks" during team periods of Tuesday's practice. KJ Sampson had a batted pass at the line of scrimmage during the first team period. A walk-on DB (sorry, unsure who because he was wearing a scout-team number) had an interception during pass skelly on a pass slightly behind Brian Courtney, returning it for a touchdown.
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