I have a pretty important final tomorrow and didn't really have any idea of what to write for today.  That being the case, I've decided to feature a fanpost that TDChrisdavis wrote.  It's sort of an extension of something I was pondering the other day.  I think there are some other names that should be on this list.  Enjoy.  

I'd like to do a little thinking about the state of FSU football and how we have arrived here. Obviously there have been many problems in these last 8 years - poor QB play, poor OL play, inconsistent defenses, lack of playmakers, etc. But what the question is, is what lead to this?

I think we have to take a serious look at how well poorly we have developed our players. There was a recent blog post on this, but I'd like to look further into the past.

Let's take a look at our starters/big PT guys in the past 7 years, and how many years they had significant PT during that span.

QBs: Rix(4), Weatherford(3), Lee(2), Ponder

RBs: Jones(2), Washington(4), Booker(4), Smith(2)

WRs: Boldin(1), Gardner(1), Thorpe(2), Sam(1), Stovall, Reid, Davis(2), Carr(4), Parker(2), Fagg, Easterling

TEs: Henshaw(2), Irons, Carter, Warren, Graham, Piurowski

DL: Dockett(2), Johnson(3), Jackson, Emanuel, Womble, Bunkley(2), Wimbley(2), Fluellen(3), E Brown (3), Guion(2), Boston, Griffin, Moffett(2), Thacker (2), Stewart

LB: Pope(2), Boulware(2), Augustin(2), Nicholson(3), Sims(3), B Davis(3), Timmons(2), Hayes(2), D Nicholson (2), Watson(2), Verdell

DB: J Carter(3), Samuels(2), Ward(2), Hall(3), Watkins(4), McFadden (2), Cromartie (2), T Carter(4), MRG(4), Williams(3), Rolle(3), P Robinson(2), McClure

I don't have any OL data and the defensive data is a crapshoot, this is the best I could come up with from the defensive stats I got from seminoles.com

Anyway, there are a few distinct patterns in this data:

1. Lots of multiple year starters

2. Lots of freshman and sophomore starters

3. Lots of guys who started a bunch of years who were not that good of a player by their final year

Let's take a closer look at the multiple year starters/big contributers/players of note:

QB:

Rix - His best year might have been his freshman year

Lee - Never showed any improvements from the day he stepped onto campus

Weatherford - Like Rix, never took the next step after year 1 and might have even stepped back

Overall Improvement grade: F

RB:

Jones - Was a strong runner for 02 and 03, injuries plagued him

Washington - Steady contributer, never really broke through

Booker - Most impressive as a freshman

Smith - Showed potential early, never reached it

Overall improvement grade: D

WR:

Thorpe - Broke through for junior year, injuries hurt his senior year

Reid - Got better each year at FSU

Davis - Freshman year looked okay, by senior year he still wasn't anything special

Carr - Stat-wise, freshman year was his best

Parker - Breakout sophomore, not as good as a junior

Overall improvement grade: C

TE:

Henshaw - If he got better we wouldn't know with the way we use TEs

Piurowski - Bounced postions too much, still isn't a weapon catching the ball

Overall improvement grade: C

DL:

Dockett - TFL monster his last couple years

Johnson - Same as Dockett

Bunkley - Same as Dockett

Wimbley - Turned into a top pass rusher but got hurt

Fluellen - Looked good as a sophomore but couldn't continue or DT dominace

E Brown - Better each year, now is an AA

Guion - Decent contributer when he was out there

Moffett - Freshman and senior years were probably his best

Thacker  - Not any better than his first crowd pump-up as a freshman

Overall improvement grade: B+

LB:

Pope - Pretty good player as an upperclassman

Boulware - Turned into a star

Augustin - Same as Pope

Nicholson - Good as sophomore, got a bit better

Sims - Freshman year was great, soph and junior was more of the same

B Davis - Almost left team, turned into our best player

Timmons - Big freshman year, turned into a great player

Hayes - Looked lost as a freshman, than turned into a pretty good LB

D Nicholson - Some improvements

Watson - Breakthrough as a freshman, injuried plagued junior year

Overall improvement grade: B+

DB:

J Carter - Decent safety in final years

Samuels - Turned into a good corner

Ward - Mostly a kick block specialist

Hall - Did show improvements, had a good senior year

Watkins - Freshman year showed promise, never lived up to the hype

McFadden - Very good corner by junior year

Cromartie - Decent freshman year, strong sophomore year then got hurt

T Carter - Looked great as a frosh, never got much better

MRG - Got WORSE after freshman year

Williams - Same as Carter

Rolle - Strong freshman year has shown almost no improvements

P Robinson - Breakout sophomore, step back his junior year

Overall improvement grade: C-

Now, lets take a look at at our Rivals 5 stars since 2002:

Booker - no improvements

Platt - never played

Stovall - no improvements

Davis - very little improvements

Watkins - no improvements

Washington - solid improvements

Sims - little improvements

Lee - no improvements

Rouse - brought back the funk!!

Smith - very little improvements

Bright - never played

Rolle - little improvements

Warren - 1 decent year

Overall improvement grade: F

FSU football has been the same painful cycle for years now. We start young talented guys, they show their skills, then they never get any better. The list of these guys goes on and on - Rix, Weatherford, Booker, Smith, Carr, Rouse, Lee, Davis, Thacker, Moffett, Fluellen, Sims, Watkins, Carter, MRG, Rolle, Williams to name the obvious ones.

In some cases you could even argue our guys got worse - Carr, Rix, Weatherford, Carter, MRG, R WIlliams to name a few. Clearly our player development is terrible, and it's hard to see just what the problem is. It can't be that ALL of our positional coaches were so bad? And it can't be that Coach Bowden held back our players that much? I'm searching for answers.

The 2008 team showed lots of talented youngsters we should be excited about - Ponder, Thomas, Jones, Easterling, Reed, Fortson, Bradham, etc. But with our recent track record, that fits in with just about every other year since Richt - good looking underclassmen who never got any better.

What do you guys think has been the problem? And don't just say "Bowden," if you're going to go that direction at least expand on it. Why didn't Bowden hurt our development in the late 90s when he coached the same way?

Also, Is this year different or is it just another promising group of young guys who show their potential but never get coached well enough and never turn into the type of players they should become?