Florida State football practice report 3/27

The Seminoles took the intramural fields Wednesday for their first time in full pads this spring. Jimbo Fisher also decided to do something that I have personally never been a part of - opening the entirety of practice up to the media.

*Demarcus Walker was still present but not participating due to the ongoing NCAA Clearinghouse issue.

*Tyler Hunter and Nick Waisome were also hanging around as they recover from injury.

*Ronald Darby, while not practicing, was running drills with a trainer. He was working on his back-pedal and actually looked pretty fluid. He looks extremely comfortable, so he must be coming along well in the recovery process.

*Still no Marvin Bracy (track)

*Incoming recruits Matthew Thomas and Terrell Lyons were in attendance today and asking some of the older guys questions when watching the defense work.

*Roberto Aguayo seemed to be doing a nice job on kick offs - lifting the ball and pinning it inside the 10 instead of kicking it through the endzone.

*Bryan Stork was back at center with Bobby Hart at right tackle.

*Interesting to see Odell Haggins, who usually has a bigger presence at practice, kind of sit back and let Sunseri do his thing. They're tag-teaming the line, but Sunseri is the guy running that show, or at least he was today.

*Mario Pender was seeing time with the 1s 2s and 3s today, and I thought he looked really good.

Our first look at punt formation:

*Cason Beatty was definitely punting, for those who were asking about that the other day.

*The 1s included Nigel Terrell, Chris Casher, Terrance Brooks, Daniel Foose[snapping], Terrance Brooks, and Lemarcus Brutus up front. And Kevin Haplea, Nile Lawrence-Stample, and Christo Kourtzidis in the bunch behind the line. They were running it without the wide-out guys.

Somebody was asking about the 2s on the D-line:

*This is pretty much the group that was working with 2s today. Eddie Goldman was back and forth, and then they had Derrick Mitchell, Nile Lawrence-Stample, Dan Hicks, and Chris Casher working primarily with the 2s.

First team Nickel package:

*Included the following: Keelin Smith, Lamarcus Joyner, Christian Jones, Telvin Smith, P.J. Williams, Terrence Brooks, and Karlos Williams, Joyner spent some time inside during nickel.

*Made some really nice plays during 11 on 11s.

First team Dime package:

*This group included Keelin Smith, Lamarcus Joyner, Telvin Smith, P.J. Williams, Karlos Williams [in coverage}, and then Terrence Brooks and Gerald Demps running free.

*Gerald Demps actually made a pair of really nice plays during 11 on 11s. One of which included him ripping the ball out right before the receiver reached the endzone.

7 on 7s:

*There were a lot of dropped balls during 7 on 7s.

*Quarterbacks made some good throws and some bad throws. Nobody really stood out during these drills.

*Devonte Freeman, James Wilder, and Mario Pender all made some really nice plays, frustrating some of the guys on defense.

11 on 11s:

*The defense was running some blitz packages from all around the defense. I saw blitzing coming from the LBs and the DBs. Definitely got to the QB a few times, obviously without contact on the QBs.

*Bobby Hart held his own during 11 on 11s, and it seemed as if Rick Trickett was pretty pleased with his performance.

*Both Clint and Jameis made their best throws during 11 on 11s, almost as if they were pushing each other. They hit some tightly covered receivers over the middle and deep down the sidelines.

*As expected, Jameis Winston easily gets out of the pocket and picked up 10-15 yards on a couple of occasions.

*Winston also danced around the pocket on a play where pressure was evident, slipped out and found Rashad Greene deep for a touchdown.

*Another thing I noticed about Jameis Winston is how much love he shows his offensive line. Even when he's not taking snaps with them, he's always the first one out there to greet them and give them a pat on the back. I liked this. Without getting into hyperbole about leadership, Jameis does seem to relate to everyone.

*Jimbo has Winston on a bit of a "pitch count" because of his baseball. And Jacob Coker is not doing QB run plays because he is continuing to recover from the foot.

It seems as if the new coaches are starting to meld with the players. The players seem to be buying into what they're trying to do, and more importantly, they seem excited about it. Coaches like Sal Sunseri clearly aren't going to accept a lack of effort and doesn't hide that. Along with these coaches, you have guys like Telvin Smith, James Wilder and Jameis Winston who are constantly talking and getting their guys in the right mindset.