FSU Football Practice Report: The Seminoles take on Wake Forest this weekend

It was an overcast morning here in Tallahassee and the wind invited a more fall weather feeling this morning. Defensive Coordinator Harlon Barnett and defensive players were provided before practice commenced and Janarius Robinson spoke with the media for the first time since the destruction of his childhood home in Panama City Beach. He posted a GoFundMe account on his twitter where people can donate to help him and his family rebuild. The account can be found here. NFL scouts from the Chicago Bears, Pittsburg Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens were also in attendance this morning.

Offense

During ’Nole drills there there was a lot of celebrating and trash talking amongst the players. The team appeared to be enjoying getting more competitive with each other and the team seems to be getting more confident and uplifted.

TE Naseir Upshur has stepped it up this week during practice and spent time working with the first-team for the second time this week. The work he is putting in appears to be benefitting him in practice. During ’Nole Drills he lit up linebacker Amari Gainer and drove him to the ground, which led to a huge celebration for Upshur from Francois, Blackman, coaches and other teammates.

OL Mike Arnold pancaked DT Malcolm Lamar during ’Nole drills.

OL Arthur Williams tested Robert Cooper’s limits and followed up with words of encouragement after Williams dominated the rep during ’Nole drills.

During tempo drills, the first-team OL unit appeared to be: LT Derrick Kelly, LG Arthur Williams, C Alec Eberle, RG Baveon Johnson, RT Abdul Bello.

Injured/Reserved

Cole Minshew was not observed during the open portion of practice.

Landon Dickerson remained absent and his status is still unknown for the rest of the season at the moment, but Taggart did not seem to be confident that he will make a return this year during Monday’s press conference.

Defense

During ’Nole drills DE Xavier Peters completely dominated OL Chaz Neal. At the conclusion of the drill, Peters was amped up and taunting Neal in response

The defensive unit worked on stripping the ball and recovering the fumble once again today. Assistant coach Mario Edwards, Sr was unimpressed with the effort to recover one of the fumbles and quickly responded with “that’s why we have 12 balls on the ground so far this year.”

Injured/Reserved

The bye week appeared to assist most of the defensive unit in recovery from their injuries and DB Cyrus Fagan and LB DeCalon Brooks were both no longer sporting non-contact jerseys.