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The Seminoles took Bobby Bowden field on Saturday, to give us an early preview of what the 2022 squad might look like.
Over thirty thousand fans poured into Doak Campbell Stadium eager to see if FSU looks like can get things turned around this season.
It wouldn’t be fair to bet the house, or bury any team based on a spring game. However, we were still able to glean some insight into what we may see out of the garnet and gold this coming season. Here’s a few that stood out to us.
FSU has not been shy when it comes to getting talent from the transfer market, and this year appears to be no exception. There was already a handful of impact transfers on this team, but the duo from Oregon looks to add even more names to that list.
In his short time on campus, Mycah Pittman is proving that he is going to be an impact player for FSU. He brings a level of dynamic play making ability and some “what for” that has been absent from the receiver room in recent years.
After leaving the game early on with an injury, Pittman returned to lead the team in receiving yards on the day. While we didn’t get to it live on Saturday, Pittman is also a skilled returner and may play a significant role on special teams this season as well.
Oregon running back transfer Trey Benson was another stand out on Saturday. He showed an impressive running ability despite some initial concerns coming off an injury. Benson looks healthy and ready to contribute in 2022 further bolstering the Noles already deep stable of backs.
Filing the shoes of potential first found NFL draft pick Jermaine Johnson would be hard for just about any player in college football. But that is what transfer DE Jared Verse has been tasked with and he is already making some noise.
To be fair, Saturday’s matchup was against a patch work offensive line. However, throughout spring Verse has shown why the staff went after him and could end up being quite the find coming from a small school like Albany.
On Saturday we saw several ups and down on the offensive side of the ball. Keep in mind the offensive line we saw was missing a lot of key pieces in Darius Washington, Lloyd Willis and Dillan Gibbons. None of which played on Saturday.
Jordan Travis was also not able to take advantage of his dynamic running ability which is a big part of what made the Seminole offense tick last year.
The offense was able to get the ground game going as they tallied over 100 yds rushing on the day. FSU does appear to have a healthy stable of talented running backs going into this season.
The passing game, however, was plagued with dropped passes and pressure on the quarterback. Something FSU fans are all too familiar with seeing on Saturdays.
In the first half, the offense only managed to go 11 of 27 for 105 yards through the air, but was able to put on a better performance in the second half of the scrimmage.
Once the starters are healthy, able to play and have time to build continuity, I expect there to be a good amount of improvement by the fall.
After all, it is year 3 under head coach Mike Norvell who is an offensive minded coach. But It is somewhat concerning to see a lot of the same issues that have plagued FSU is recent years still showing up in 2022.
The defense had a solid performance in the spring game despite being without two of their top players in Jammie Robinson and Tatum Bethune.
Newcomer Jared Verse, who I mentioned before, was all over the place including blocking a field goal that transfer DB Greedy Vance would haven taken to the house if not blown dead.
We’ll have to wait and see if Adam Fuller’s defense put it all together this fall. Depth may be a concern for this unit, but the starters have the potential to a very solid defense in 2022.
As we close out spring, there’s a lot to be excited about for FSU fans in 2022. We’ve seen some of same old struggles, but also a lot of what “could be”. Potential is great, but doesn’t always translate into wins. They still have to put it all together on Saturdays.
There is a lot to develop still going forward, but this team should be talented enough to get things somewhat turned around.
I’m not saying go buy tickets to the national championship game, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Noles went bowling this year. Now comes the hardest part of all…waiting until the fall so we can see how it all unfolds.
If you want to get an preview of what’s in store for the Seminoles in 2022, take a look at our week-by-week schedule breakdown here.
Thanks for reading and go Noles!
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