We were out there bright and early on Friday morning for Florida State's second spring practice of the season.
And before we go any further, you need to realize: This bad boy isn't going to be nearly as long as the opus Ira wrote on Wednesday. Besides, this is a basketball school now anyway. Nobody really cares about football around here, right?
Anywho, off to my thoughts and observations.
Hey, DJ
We're two days into camp and you could make a strong argument that D.J. Matthews has been the star in both practices. The sophomore wide receiver, who couldn't see the field for most of his freshman year, has apparently gotten worlds better in the last three months. He's really, really elusive. Like Peter Warrick elusive. Trust me, I don't make that comparison lightly and I don't think in any way, shape or form that he will have anything close to the career P-Dub had here. But he's got that wiggle. It's pretty extraordinary. And I get the feeling, after watching two days of practice, that Taggart wants to get him the ball as much as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if he legit had 60-70 catches this season.
Here, McKitty, Kitty
Tre McKitty is a physical specimen. And the 6-foot-5, 241-pound sophomore tight end showed an ability to go get it that we haven't seen from a tight end around here in a good, long while. He had one long touchdown catch during team drills and also had two spectacular one-handed grabs. His last one, on a ball thrown behind him by Blackman, legit looked like the Odell Beckham catch from a few years ago. It was sensational. He looks to have some serious tools to work with.
The defense
It's hard to tell without the pads on obviously. There's no tackling (except by freshman Amari Gainer - more on that in a moment) so the defenders can only get so physical with the running backs and receivers. Keeping that in mind, though, one player that caught my eye on both days was linebacker Decalon Brooks. The redshirt freshman, whose dad played here in the 1990s and was reportedly a decent linebacker himself, made some flash plays on both Wednesday and Friday. He's listed at 5-10 and might not even be that big. But he can move. And he showed off some pretty good instincts in both the run game and the pass game. He was running with the starters (or what we assume is the starting lineup) for most of both practices.
Also standing out was true freshman Jaiden Woodbey. He got beat a couple of times - like all defensive backs occasionally do in 7-on-7 drills, but he also had a pick-six on Friday and was around the ball multiple times in pass coverage.
A freshman with something to prove
He was the best recruiter of the 2018 class. He's been a lifelong Seminole. And apparently Tallahassee native Amari Gainer can't wait to put on the pads. The four-star linebacker, whose dad Herb was a wide receiver for FSU in the 1980s, was part of multiple collisions on Friday. Seriously, I think I saw three ball-carriers or receivers hit the ground during the practice and all three were by the hands of Gainer, who apparently doesn't have a "hold up" switch when he's practicing. None of the offensive players were hurt, and the collisions weren't brutal by any means, but it was obvious Gainer arrives to ball-carriers with bad intentions. He's rangy. And fast. And judging from Friday at least, quite physical. Which, you know, isn't a bad thing when it comes to a linebacker.
Fast, fast, fast
During the 11-on-11 drills at the end of practice I made a habit of counting the seconds between snaps. It usually ranged from 11 to 16. Even after a big gain. The quickest snap I counted was nine seconds. And it was only that long because that's how long it took the referees to spot the ball. It was remarkable just how fast the offense was going. ... And from what I could tell Blackman was the best quarterback of the two on Friday. Bailey Hockman did make a really impressive throw during 11-on-11 at the end of practice, rolling to his left and ripping a perfect 25-yard throw to a well-covered walk-on receiver, who promptly dropped it.
The playlist
If you don't care about this, then stop reading! But I was a much bigger fan of the music selection today than I was on Wednesday. Not as much slow country. Not any Warrant. It was a lot of 90s rap actually. We also heard some Outkast. Some Stevie Wonder. Some Young MC. The Humpty Dance. And, just to get you in the mood for the post-spring game concert, we heard "It Takes Two" from Rob Bass, Vanilla Ice's dumb song and "Push it real good" by Salt n Pepa. Good times at the practice fields, baby.
Taggart on the hoops team
I talked with him for a few seconds before he met with the rest of the media. Said he didn't stay up to watch the game on Thursday night but made sure to check his phone as soon as he woke up to see if they won. He said it's been really cool to see them playing so well on the national stage.
And what he was really impressed by was how together they seem to be. How they play for each other and celebrate each other's success. Which, as we all know, is something he's devoted to making a part of his program as well.
Anyway, that's all for now. Not sure if we'll get to see any more practices this spring, but if we do, we'll be sure to leave more observations for you fine folks.
Thanks for reading. Thanks for being you.
And before we go any further, you need to realize: This bad boy isn't going to be nearly as long as the opus Ira wrote on Wednesday. Besides, this is a basketball school now anyway. Nobody really cares about football around here, right?
Anywho, off to my thoughts and observations.
Hey, DJ
We're two days into camp and you could make a strong argument that D.J. Matthews has been the star in both practices. The sophomore wide receiver, who couldn't see the field for most of his freshman year, has apparently gotten worlds better in the last three months. He's really, really elusive. Like Peter Warrick elusive. Trust me, I don't make that comparison lightly and I don't think in any way, shape or form that he will have anything close to the career P-Dub had here. But he's got that wiggle. It's pretty extraordinary. And I get the feeling, after watching two days of practice, that Taggart wants to get him the ball as much as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if he legit had 60-70 catches this season.
Here, McKitty, Kitty
Tre McKitty is a physical specimen. And the 6-foot-5, 241-pound sophomore tight end showed an ability to go get it that we haven't seen from a tight end around here in a good, long while. He had one long touchdown catch during team drills and also had two spectacular one-handed grabs. His last one, on a ball thrown behind him by Blackman, legit looked like the Odell Beckham catch from a few years ago. It was sensational. He looks to have some serious tools to work with.
The defense
It's hard to tell without the pads on obviously. There's no tackling (except by freshman Amari Gainer - more on that in a moment) so the defenders can only get so physical with the running backs and receivers. Keeping that in mind, though, one player that caught my eye on both days was linebacker Decalon Brooks. The redshirt freshman, whose dad played here in the 1990s and was reportedly a decent linebacker himself, made some flash plays on both Wednesday and Friday. He's listed at 5-10 and might not even be that big. But he can move. And he showed off some pretty good instincts in both the run game and the pass game. He was running with the starters (or what we assume is the starting lineup) for most of both practices.
Also standing out was true freshman Jaiden Woodbey. He got beat a couple of times - like all defensive backs occasionally do in 7-on-7 drills, but he also had a pick-six on Friday and was around the ball multiple times in pass coverage.
A freshman with something to prove
He was the best recruiter of the 2018 class. He's been a lifelong Seminole. And apparently Tallahassee native Amari Gainer can't wait to put on the pads. The four-star linebacker, whose dad Herb was a wide receiver for FSU in the 1980s, was part of multiple collisions on Friday. Seriously, I think I saw three ball-carriers or receivers hit the ground during the practice and all three were by the hands of Gainer, who apparently doesn't have a "hold up" switch when he's practicing. None of the offensive players were hurt, and the collisions weren't brutal by any means, but it was obvious Gainer arrives to ball-carriers with bad intentions. He's rangy. And fast. And judging from Friday at least, quite physical. Which, you know, isn't a bad thing when it comes to a linebacker.
Fast, fast, fast
During the 11-on-11 drills at the end of practice I made a habit of counting the seconds between snaps. It usually ranged from 11 to 16. Even after a big gain. The quickest snap I counted was nine seconds. And it was only that long because that's how long it took the referees to spot the ball. It was remarkable just how fast the offense was going. ... And from what I could tell Blackman was the best quarterback of the two on Friday. Bailey Hockman did make a really impressive throw during 11-on-11 at the end of practice, rolling to his left and ripping a perfect 25-yard throw to a well-covered walk-on receiver, who promptly dropped it.
The playlist
If you don't care about this, then stop reading! But I was a much bigger fan of the music selection today than I was on Wednesday. Not as much slow country. Not any Warrant. It was a lot of 90s rap actually. We also heard some Outkast. Some Stevie Wonder. Some Young MC. The Humpty Dance. And, just to get you in the mood for the post-spring game concert, we heard "It Takes Two" from Rob Bass, Vanilla Ice's dumb song and "Push it real good" by Salt n Pepa. Good times at the practice fields, baby.
Taggart on the hoops team
I talked with him for a few seconds before he met with the rest of the media. Said he didn't stay up to watch the game on Thursday night but made sure to check his phone as soon as he woke up to see if they won. He said it's been really cool to see them playing so well on the national stage.
And what he was really impressed by was how together they seem to be. How they play for each other and celebrate each other's success. Which, as we all know, is something he's devoted to making a part of his program as well.
Anyway, that's all for now. Not sure if we'll get to see any more practices this spring, but if we do, we'll be sure to leave more observations for you fine folks.
Thanks for reading. Thanks for being you.
