Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher and the other head football coaches in the Atlantic Coast Conference participated in a spring football teleconference on Wednesday. Here are some highlights from that session with the media.
FISHER EXCITED ABOUT MATTHEW THOMAS' FUTURE
After a solid spring that saw him participate fully except for a brief illness, Matthew Thomas is once again penciled into Florida State’s starting lineup and has his sights set on playing a complete season for the first time since signing with the Seminoles in February 2013.
The former five-star recruit missed most of his first year with a shoulder injury. He had to sit out the first half of the 2014 season due to a suspension. Then he was ruled ineligible for all of 2015.
While Thomas certainly is responsible for some of his shortcomings, FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said the Miami native also has had to cope with some difficult family situations, including the death of his mother.
“He had a tough road, not all of his doing,” Fisher said. “But yes … he had a good spring and has done a good job so far. So hopefully we'll continue and be able to have him coming into summer and into fall camp.”
When it comes to Thomas’ efforts on the field, Fisher said the Seminoles have been very pleased. The 6-foot-3, 227-pound junior can play inside or outside linebacker and is a very gifted pass-rusher. He is expected to team with fellow junior Ro’Derrick Hoskins to give the Seminoles an extremely athletic pair of starting linebackers.
“As he gets back into playing, he's very easy to coach, great young man as far as being very respectful with things he has to do,” Fisher said of Thomas. “So hopefully he'll continue to develop.”
THE TALK ABOUT TATE
After catching six passes for 100 yards and two touchdowns in the spring game, sophomore wide receiver Auden Tate has been a popular topic of conversation among FSU fans and media.
Given his rare combination of size (6-foot-5, 218 pounds), body control and soft hands, it would seem to be a given that Tate would become a significant part of the Seminoles’ offense in 2016 – at least in the red zone.
Fisher seemed to tap the brakes on that excitement after the spring game, when he explained that Tate ran the wrong route on one of his touchdowns and had other parts of his game that he needs to clean up. But when asked about Tate on the ACC call, Fisher downplayed the receiver’s miscues.
“He didn't miss [many] assignments, but his techniques have to clean up for what he does, and that's the encouraging thing -- that there's still a ton of technique work to do and he can still be productive,” Fisher said. “But he's a very big guy, got great hands. He's a great kid. He works hard and is learning to be very disciplined in routes.”
Fisher added that Tate is not unlike most elite wide receiver prospects, who were able to dominate opponents in high school because of their athletic ability. At the highest levels of college football, Fisher said, they can’t physically overwhelm the defensive backs they are facing, so they have to become sharper at their craft.
“Big guys like that almost always have a chance to catch the ball, and he's got great ball skills,” Fisher said. “But he's got to learn to become a technician with routes and things and really understand how to create separation and create leverage and use his body. And that's the big thing. Playing fast without the ball as a receiver is more important than even playing fast with it because that's the way you get it and be able to create separation.”
UPDATE ON COOK
As he stated when star running back Dalvin Cook underwent shoulder surgery in the final week of spring drills, Fisher said again Wednesday he is confident Cook will be back in plenty of time for the Seminoles’ season opener on Labor Day against Ole Miss.
“His recovery is going very well,” Fisher said. “He'll be in that sling for another week or so, and then he'll start the rehab stuff. But everything came out great. They were very happy with the surgery, and he'll be running full speed in training when June comes in. … He'll be ready to roll.”
RICHT HIGH ON KAAYA
Former Georgia head coach and longtime Florida State assistant Mark Richt doesn’t necessarily have a total rebuilding job ahead of him at Miami.
In the Hurricanes’ final season under Al Golden, they finished 8-5 overall and won four of their final five games in the regular season. Richt also will have the luxury of having a talented and experienced quarterback in junior Brad Kaaya to build around.
The 6-4, 210-pounder led the ACC with 274.5 passing yards per game last season, and Richt said Kaaya has been a quick study under the new coaching staff.
“Well, I'm very systematic in how I teach quarterback play, whether it's footwork, timing, progression of reads and when I want the ball out, all that kind of thing,” Richt said. “So he could have been a little resistant or slow to come around to it, but he was not that at all. He was super coachable, super teachable, and he's very, very, gosh, I don't know the word … when you cover something in a meeting and then you take it to the field, a lot of times guys will lose it in that little transition. And he's able to take stuff from the meeting to the field as good as anybody I've been around.
"He also can come back and tell you after a play, after a rep, what happened, what he saw, why he did what he did as good as anybody I've been around. Just very aware of what's going on around him. He can see things that other guys really probably can't see. His peripheral vision must be extremely good, because he does see the big picture, and he can come back and tell you what he saw, what he did, and why he did it. That's a big part of quarterback play.”
LOUISVILLE EMBRACING JACKSON HYPE
Clemson’s Deshaun Watson will enter 2016 as the ACC’s star quarterback, without question. But the hype around talented Louisville sophomore Lamar Jackson is going to build to a crescendo as well following his impressive Music City Bowl performance and then his other-worldly statistics from the Cardinals’ spring game.
Against Texas A&M in the bowl game, Jackson passed for 227 yards and two touchdowns, and he also ran for 226 yards and two more touchdowns. He accounted for 85 percent of the Cardinals’ total offense and all four of their scores in a 27-21 victory.
Then in the spring game, Jackson put up even more absurd statistics – he completed 24 of 29 passes for 519 yards and eight touchdowns in a not-very-competitive scrimmage.
But if the ACC teleconference was any indication, don’t expect Louisville coach Bobby Petrino to douse the excitement.
“I've always felt like preseason polls and early season polls are based off how you finish the year and what you have coming back, and obviously Lamar finished the season very, very strong,” Petrino said. “He matured a lot. I thought he had a really good spring football, and the fact that he understands the offense better, he's making better decisions, and he's throwing the football with accuracy, which is something that we knew he could do. He just has to be consistent with his technique. … But I'm looking forward to it. We're excited about the season.”
FISHER EXCITED ABOUT MATTHEW THOMAS' FUTURE
After a solid spring that saw him participate fully except for a brief illness, Matthew Thomas is once again penciled into Florida State’s starting lineup and has his sights set on playing a complete season for the first time since signing with the Seminoles in February 2013.
The former five-star recruit missed most of his first year with a shoulder injury. He had to sit out the first half of the 2014 season due to a suspension. Then he was ruled ineligible for all of 2015.
While Thomas certainly is responsible for some of his shortcomings, FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said the Miami native also has had to cope with some difficult family situations, including the death of his mother.
“He had a tough road, not all of his doing,” Fisher said. “But yes … he had a good spring and has done a good job so far. So hopefully we'll continue and be able to have him coming into summer and into fall camp.”
When it comes to Thomas’ efforts on the field, Fisher said the Seminoles have been very pleased. The 6-foot-3, 227-pound junior can play inside or outside linebacker and is a very gifted pass-rusher. He is expected to team with fellow junior Ro’Derrick Hoskins to give the Seminoles an extremely athletic pair of starting linebackers.
“As he gets back into playing, he's very easy to coach, great young man as far as being very respectful with things he has to do,” Fisher said of Thomas. “So hopefully he'll continue to develop.”
THE TALK ABOUT TATE
After catching six passes for 100 yards and two touchdowns in the spring game, sophomore wide receiver Auden Tate has been a popular topic of conversation among FSU fans and media.
Given his rare combination of size (6-foot-5, 218 pounds), body control and soft hands, it would seem to be a given that Tate would become a significant part of the Seminoles’ offense in 2016 – at least in the red zone.
Fisher seemed to tap the brakes on that excitement after the spring game, when he explained that Tate ran the wrong route on one of his touchdowns and had other parts of his game that he needs to clean up. But when asked about Tate on the ACC call, Fisher downplayed the receiver’s miscues.
“He didn't miss [many] assignments, but his techniques have to clean up for what he does, and that's the encouraging thing -- that there's still a ton of technique work to do and he can still be productive,” Fisher said. “But he's a very big guy, got great hands. He's a great kid. He works hard and is learning to be very disciplined in routes.”
Fisher added that Tate is not unlike most elite wide receiver prospects, who were able to dominate opponents in high school because of their athletic ability. At the highest levels of college football, Fisher said, they can’t physically overwhelm the defensive backs they are facing, so they have to become sharper at their craft.
“Big guys like that almost always have a chance to catch the ball, and he's got great ball skills,” Fisher said. “But he's got to learn to become a technician with routes and things and really understand how to create separation and create leverage and use his body. And that's the big thing. Playing fast without the ball as a receiver is more important than even playing fast with it because that's the way you get it and be able to create separation.”
UPDATE ON COOK
As he stated when star running back Dalvin Cook underwent shoulder surgery in the final week of spring drills, Fisher said again Wednesday he is confident Cook will be back in plenty of time for the Seminoles’ season opener on Labor Day against Ole Miss.
“His recovery is going very well,” Fisher said. “He'll be in that sling for another week or so, and then he'll start the rehab stuff. But everything came out great. They were very happy with the surgery, and he'll be running full speed in training when June comes in. … He'll be ready to roll.”
RICHT HIGH ON KAAYA
Former Georgia head coach and longtime Florida State assistant Mark Richt doesn’t necessarily have a total rebuilding job ahead of him at Miami.
In the Hurricanes’ final season under Al Golden, they finished 8-5 overall and won four of their final five games in the regular season. Richt also will have the luxury of having a talented and experienced quarterback in junior Brad Kaaya to build around.
The 6-4, 210-pounder led the ACC with 274.5 passing yards per game last season, and Richt said Kaaya has been a quick study under the new coaching staff.
“Well, I'm very systematic in how I teach quarterback play, whether it's footwork, timing, progression of reads and when I want the ball out, all that kind of thing,” Richt said. “So he could have been a little resistant or slow to come around to it, but he was not that at all. He was super coachable, super teachable, and he's very, very, gosh, I don't know the word … when you cover something in a meeting and then you take it to the field, a lot of times guys will lose it in that little transition. And he's able to take stuff from the meeting to the field as good as anybody I've been around.
"He also can come back and tell you after a play, after a rep, what happened, what he saw, why he did what he did as good as anybody I've been around. Just very aware of what's going on around him. He can see things that other guys really probably can't see. His peripheral vision must be extremely good, because he does see the big picture, and he can come back and tell you what he saw, what he did, and why he did it. That's a big part of quarterback play.”
LOUISVILLE EMBRACING JACKSON HYPE
Clemson’s Deshaun Watson will enter 2016 as the ACC’s star quarterback, without question. But the hype around talented Louisville sophomore Lamar Jackson is going to build to a crescendo as well following his impressive Music City Bowl performance and then his other-worldly statistics from the Cardinals’ spring game.
Against Texas A&M in the bowl game, Jackson passed for 227 yards and two touchdowns, and he also ran for 226 yards and two more touchdowns. He accounted for 85 percent of the Cardinals’ total offense and all four of their scores in a 27-21 victory.
Then in the spring game, Jackson put up even more absurd statistics – he completed 24 of 29 passes for 519 yards and eight touchdowns in a not-very-competitive scrimmage.
But if the ACC teleconference was any indication, don’t expect Louisville coach Bobby Petrino to douse the excitement.
“I've always felt like preseason polls and early season polls are based off how you finish the year and what you have coming back, and obviously Lamar finished the season very, very strong,” Petrino said. “He matured a lot. I thought he had a really good spring football, and the fact that he understands the offense better, he's making better decisions, and he's throwing the football with accuracy, which is something that we knew he could do. He just has to be consistent with his technique. … But I'm looking forward to it. We're excited about the season.”
