Florida State's secondary breathes a sigh of relief
by Bud Elliott on Jan 16, 2009 7:00 AM EST
in FSU Football
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PrintYesterday was the deadline for underclassmen to declare for the NFL draft. I have always been interested in the NFL draft and view it as sort of the halfway point between the end and the beginning of the football season.
As I was going over the early entries, I noticed that the Seminole's opponents lose a lot of talent at one position...
http://nationalchamps.net/2009/earlybird/earlynfl/index.htm
FSU's opponents are losing a ton of talent at receiver to graduation and early entries. Let's take a look at each team on our schedule and what pass catchers they're bring back.
Hurting
These teams have a bunch of work to do.
BYU
In 2009, FSU will play a game at BYU. BYU throws the ball around a lot. Their offense is very dependent on timing. They lose a bunch.
Name # Yds TDCollie,Austin 106 1538 15
Pitta,Dennis 83 1083 6 Reed,Michael 49 589 2
Unga,Harvey 42 309 4
George,Andrew 23 219 6 White,Reed 7 70 0 Vakapuna,Fui 10 69 1
Ashworth,Luke 3 49 0
Chambers,O'Neill 3 42
Kozlowski,Tyler 3 31 0
Kariya,Bryan 4 21 0
Hafoka,Spencer 1 5 0
Latu,Wayne 1 4 0
DiLuigi,J.J. 2 3 0
Pritchard,Iona 1 3 0
Team Totals 338 4035 35
BYU would be just fine... if their top receiver, Austin Collie, didn't decide to turn pro early. He was the top receiver in the Mountain West in 2009. This will be a game where Mickey can put his corners on an island and focus on stopping the run and BYU's talented tight end, Dennis Pitta. BYU plays us early on, way before their new receivers will be ready to play.
North Carolina
Nicks,Hakeem 68 1222 12 12 1 *
Tate,Brandon 16 376 3
Foster,Brooks 30 334 2
Little,Greg 11 146 0
Quinn,Richard 8 97 1 Arnold,James 7 87 1
Elzy,Anthony 7 86 0
Draughn,Shaun 16 81 1
Pianalto,Zack 7 69 1
Rome,Bobby 8 65 0
Wilson,Christian 2 19 0
Thornton,Kenton 1 5 0
White,Johnny 1 -3 0
Team Totals 182 2584 21
The Noles haven't faced the Tarheels in several years, but 09's team looks to have a serious contract between a great defense and what could be a very underwhelming offense. They lost their top three pass catchers, including the ACC's top receiver (yards) in Hakeem Nicks, who is an early entry. Their best returning wide receiver? Thornton (look closely, he's way down the list).
Clemson
Kelly,Aaron 67 722 4
Ford,Jacoby 55 710 4
Spiller,C.J. 34 436 3Grisham,Tyler 37 372 1
Palmer,Michael 12 160 3 Davis,James 14 123 0
Barry,Durrell 5 93 0
Dye,Xavier 6 75 0
Faerber,Nelson 3 46 0
Jones,Marquan 5 37 0
Harper,Jamie 4 21 0
Ashe,Terrance 3 18 0
Macko,Paul 1 14 0
Diehl,Chad 1 6 0
Team Totals 248 2832 15
Clemson dodged a major bullet yesterday when C.J. Spiller inexplicably decided to come back. Losing Kelly and Gresham will hurt this team, as they will break in a new QB. Ford is strictly a slot guy and he doesn't run routes. This is another squad I would like to play early.
Florida
Murphy,Louis 38 655 7
Harvin,Percy 40 644 7
Hernandez,Aaron 34 381 5
Thompson,Deonte 18 269 3
Cooper,Riley 18 261 3
Nelson,David 12 228 5
Moore,Carl 14 184 1
Demps,Jeffrey 15 141 1
James,Brandon 11 95 1 Casey,Tate 4 64 0
Rainey,Chris 3 37 0 Moore,Kestahn 4 36 0
Team Totals 211 2995 33
UF loses their top two receivers, and 47% of their receiving yards.
Maryland
Heyward-Bey,Darrius 42 609 5Oquendo,Danny 29 371 2
Smith,Torrey 24 336 2 Gronkowski,Dan 29 287 3
Tyler,Ronnie 20 225 1
Scott,Da'Rel 21 171 0 Williams,Isaiah 10 124 1
Lee-Odai,Emani 12 115 0
Watson,Lansford 10 115 0
Jackson,Cory 12 106 0
Meggett,Davin 9 79 0
Cannon,Adrian 3 75 1
Brown,Haroon 1 20 0
Williams,LaQuan 2 19 0
Galt,Tommy 1 18 0
Watson,Taylor 1 11 0
Green,Morgan 1 6 0
Team Totals 227 2687 15
The Terms got hit hard here, losing their top two wideouts and their best tight end. Heyward Bey was one of the two major early entries from the ACC (see UNC for the other).
EH...
These teams suffer non-major losses but must find some new playmakers.
South Florida
Hester,Jessie 54 579 3Johnson,Taurus 38 498 6
Mitchell,Carlton 28 405 1
Love,A.J. 30 354 2
Bogan,Dontavia 26 354 1Edwards,Marcus 19 259 0 Hill,Cedric 16 194 2 Williams,Benjamin 14 175 0
Busbee,Ben 7 99 2
Richardson,Patrick 7 68 0
Puppello,Trent 2 26 0
Ford,Mike 2 22 0
Plancher,Moise 4 21 0
Alcin,Edner 2 17 0
Allen,Nate 1 16 0
Kelly,Richard 3 15 1
Grothe,Matt 1 14 0
Team Totals 255 3115 18
USF doesn't really suffer huge losses here. Johnson was their big wideout, I believe.
Wake Forest
Wake doesn't suffer any early entry casualties, but they do lose the ACC's 2nd leading receiver in Demir Boldin
Boldin,Demir 81 848 3
Williams,Marshall 26 390 2Brinkman,Chip 22 251 2
Wooster,Ben 24 211 3
Brown,Devon 10 134 1
Pendergrass,Brandon 19 125 0
Adams,Josh 16 120 0
Parker,Andrew 7 106 0
Harris,Kevin 9 103 1
Rinfrette,Mike 8 73 1 Belton,Rich 10 58 1
Ford,Cameron 1 8 0
Williams,Jordan 1 3 0
Team Totals 234 2430 14
Looking Great
These squads don't suffer any major losses and should have the leg up on the ACC in terms of pass catchers.
Boston College
Robinson,Brandon 42 646 3
Gunnell,Rich 49 551 4
Jarvis,Justin 25 274 3 Purvis,Ryan 24 176 0
Harris,Montel 20 160 1
Momah,Ifeanyi 11 149 3
McCluskey,James 19 123 0
Haden,Josh 13 100 0
Larmond,Colin 5 96 1
Anderson,Lars 9 84 1
Megwa,Clarence 9 66 0
Smith,Jeff 5 33 0
McMichael,Jordon 1 9 1
Newman,Brad 1 4 0
Team Totals 233 2471 17
BC does lose their top wideout, but they have plenty coming back.
Miami
Johnson,Aldarius 31 332 3
Collier,Thearon 26 324 2
Epps,Dedrick 22 304 2
Benjamin,Travis 18 293 3 Farquharson,Kayne 18 280 3
Byrd,Laron 21 228 4
Hankerson,Leonard 11 140 2
Shields,Sam 11 124 0
James,Javarris 11 118 0
Cooper,Graig 29 113 1 Zellner,Chris 14 91 1
Johnson,Davon 5 71 1
Jones,Khalil 5 39 0 Thomas,Derron 4 35 0
Gordon,Richard 3 24 0
Hill,Patrick 4 17 0
Harris,Jacory 1 17 0
Thompkins,Kendal 2 4 0
Chambers,Lee 1 4 0
Team Totals 237 2558 22
The Canes really don't lose any important pass catchers.
NC State
Spencer,Owen 31 691 5
Williams,Jarvis 26 432 4Brown,Andre 29 309 2
Graham,Tj 16 251 0 Hill,Anthony 19 234 4
Eugene,Jamelle 26 224 0
Bryan,George 18 201 4
Smith,Jay 7 78 0
Gentry,Taylor 7 72 0
Davis,Darrell 6 70 1
Howard,Steven 2 45 0
Underwood,Curtis 4 28 0
James,Geron 3 22 0
Weaver,Eric 2 19 0
Kushner,Matt 1 2 0
Team Totals 197 2678 20
Opponents 278 3233 20
NC State had no early exit guys. They return most of their receiving corps intact. Losing Brown and Hill will hurt, however, and they will need to find a tight end to step up. Remember that they get Bowens back next year from a neck injury (probably).
Georgia Tech
The Yellow Jackets don't lose a single pass catcher.
Florida State
Carr,Greg 39 542 4
Parker,Preston 40 372 2
Easterling,Taiwan 30 322 1
Reed,Bert 23 295 3Surrency,Corey 12 237 4
Owens,Rod 15 183 0
Fortson,Jarmon 8 137 1 Smith,Antone 10 101 1
Piurowski,Caz 8 83 1
Wade,Cameron 3 59 0
Thomas,Jermaine 6 48 0
Sims,Marcus 8 45 0
Givens,Louis 4 44 0
Dobbie,Josh 1 14 0
Surratt,Joe 1 11 0
Reliford,Bo 1 8 0
Holloway,Seddrick 2 5 1
Team Totals 211 2506 18
FSU loses their "Top" receiver, true, but they lose just 29% of their catches and 35% of yards. That's pretty good. I've been critical of our rotations as I don't know if it gives the QB a receiver he can clearly count upon, but this is a situation where playing a lot of guys helps. Does it feel like Preston has played for 20 years?
For a conference that already has the reputation of being offensively challenged, it has turned out some very good wide receivers. This year, the offenses will feature better offensive lines and quarterback play, but there will likely be some growing pains as the receivers run incorrect routes against some of the better defenses in the country.
As a general rule, I want to play teams from the 1st categoryt early and teams from the last category later on, so that the inexperienced teams don't have time to develop the familiarity needed for an effective passing attack.
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BYU's Pitta
Scares the **** out of me.
FSU’s defense still hasn’t demonstrated that it has a firm grasp of the fact that the TE is an eligible receiver on opposing offenses.
'Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble this football.' John Heisman
BTW
Great write-up, as usual.
'Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble this football.' John Heisman
Like I said when we spoke yesterday,
Patrick Robinson’s return may have saved this defense in 2009.
We should expect to put him on everyone’s best receiver and forget about it. He ought to at least win as many battles as he loses, and it frees us up to cover for some deficiencies elsewhere in the secondary.
Good Point
'Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble this football.' John Heisman
2 things
1. P Rob staying is huge…if he can keep Mincey on track academically, our defense will be just fine ( and if we can get Downs to play S we may be nasty on D).
2. That list should also include the QBs that are leaving or staying. Even if you return all your best pass catchers if you are starting a freshman straight from high school you might not have an efficient passing attack.
I agree that P Rob staying was huge...
….but I’m still not convinced we won’t see a big dropoff on D, for two reasons
1) We’re falling further and further behind scheme-wise
2) Very weak at other corner position — Mangum in particular is very weak.
Well as far as Clemson goes
Cullen Harper leaving hurts FSU big-time.
'Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble this football.' John Heisman
NC State scares me
Russell Wilson is a baller. Is he still going to play baseball?? he was a beast there too.
Great Job FSUncensorred
"I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one gets to the Father but through me"
Preston has been around forever.
I remember watching him early on thinking he had the tools to become a playmaker like Peter Warrick was. So much for that.
I think Florida will use Debose as a fill in for Harvin in a lot of ways. We’ll see how big of a drop off there is.
Miami scares me more than anyone next year. They are going to be FAR more competitive.
Clemson
Please review with me why losing Cullen Harper hurts FSU – is it because Korn is better, but be keep as back-up becuase of seniority?
Better overall is debatable.
Remember, however, that Mickey has no idea how to defend 11 men. With Harper, he only needs to worry about accounting or 10 guys.
I think Clemson has a real shot to win the ACC next year.
by Bud Elliott on Jan 16, 2009 11:06 AM EST up reply actions
a shot yes....
I think Miami and VT are going to be favorites. I actually think we will be the ‘favorites’ in the atlantic for what it’s worth.
Because I think Cullen's ego was bad for Clemson
There was a lot of discontent in the locker room with CH at quarterback, especially with the struggling offense and Willy Korn on the bench.
'Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble this football.' John Heisman
Tommy Bowden
It also doesn’t help team morale when your “ex” starting quarterback sits on the bench with his lip poked out and goes public saying the head coach “deserved what he got” when Clemson fired him. That kid was just bad for the program…
'Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble this football.' John Heisman
Thanks for that correction!
You also may want to think about moving us out of the “hurting category.” No doubt we will miss Harvin and Murphy. But I think we have a fairly large stable of WRs that can partially fill that huge void. We’ve had 3 different leading (pure) WRs that past 3 seasons (Dallas Baker, Bubba Caldwell and Murphy). I think next year, someone else steps in. Could be Carl Moore, David Nelson, Riley Cooper, etc.
There is no replacing Harvin, so our offensive output will surely decline, but with all 11 starters coming back from that defense (plus 2 of the would-be starters who tore ACLs in preseason), I don’t think we’ll need to score 40+ points to win games!
No offense
But until someone does step in next year, you are hurting after losing the top two receivers.
'Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble this football.' John Heisman
I'll be sure to move them in hte...
“Teams who lost their best receivers but are still great on defense so it’s okay” list.
Kidding, of course. How much of those lesser guy’s success was due to teams concentrating on Murphy and Percy? I think Murphy is a great college wideout.
by Bud Elliott on Jan 16, 2009 11:25 AM EST up reply actions
I'm cool with the fact we are losing a lot at WR
But, when was the last time UF was lacking in the WR department? It would have to be pre-Spurrier.
If there is one position I feel pretty good about replacing with talent, it’s there.
Pita
He scares me as well. We obviously cant defend the TE position and he is a very good one. I hope Mickey really focuses on him when we play BYU.
I can see it now...
Our players are going to be so confused after watching game film of BYU and getting their assignments. There will be panic in the locker room and late night collect calls back home…
“Mom, they never said anything about TE’s when they were recruiting me!” followed by “It’s just not fair! The other team has an extra player we don’t have, what are we gonna do?!”
'Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble this football.' John Heisman
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