FSU Football Practice report: The O-line continues to shift around in hopes of finding an answer

It is finally cooling down here in Tallahassee and Tuesday morning started off with an opportunity to speak in length with OC Walt Bell on his positive and negative takeaways from the Seminole’s first two games. Offensive players, QB Deondre Francois, WR Tamorrion Terry, WR George Campbell, RB Cam Akers, RB Jacques Patrick, OL Derrick Kelly and OL Alec Eberle were also made available before practice as well.

The media was able to view twenty minutes of Florida State’s first practice of the week. Practice started off with Nole drills which is FSU’s three-tiered variation of Oklahoma drills. Certain players stood out on both sides of the ball whether that was good or bad. During the middle of the drills, Taggart appeared to be unhappy with the energy in the atmosphere and shut the music down in order to bring the team together. After a quick chat, the team’s energy was noticeably higher and the team appeared to work harder.

Offense

The O-line

The first team offensive line appeared to be LT Jauan Williams, LG Arthur Williams, C Alex Eberle, RG Mike Arnold and RT Derrick Kelly.

The second team unit consisted of LG Cole Minshew, C Baveon Johnson, RG Christian Armstrong and RT Chaz Neal. The LT position was hard to gauge as Brady Scott, Abdul Bello, and Jalen Goss were all rotating in an out with each other. Bello did not dress on Saturday, so it was good to see him out there with the rest of the O-line.

During Monday’s press conference, Taggart said the following when asked how he felt Brady Scott played against Samford, “Okay. He did all right. Nothing spectacular. Can be better, which a lot of guys on that spot really didn’t expect for Brady to come in and just tear it up. Considering the way he had to come in and the position he had to come in to play for which wasn’t necessarily what he was planning on. But again that was -- he had to come in and try to help his team out. He did it to the best of his ability. But we did get some things going there when he came in. And just go back to executing. Need to execute things better there late in the game.” That translated over into practice and Scott showed glimpses of greatness, but struggled at times to make an important play as well.

LT Jauan Williams had an undeniably rough game on Saturday, but looked to improve as he recorded a nice rep this morning and beat out Janarius Robinson during Nole drills.

Baveon Johnson had a tough time when put up against DT Fred Jones, his pads were too high and he planted his feat causing him to get thrown and allowing Jones to tackle RB Amir Rasul.

Freshman Chaz Neal stood out during Nole drills and had two strong reps against Malcolm Lamar and Xavier Peters. DE Peters did not dress out during Saturday’s game.

Tight ends

TE Tre’ McKitty had a strong rep blocking Dontavious Jackson during Nole drills.

TE Alex Marshall was dressed out today after not dressing for Saturday’s game. He was practicing with the rest of the team.

TE Naseir Upshur didn’t dress out the first two games of the season for an unspecified reason, he was seen practicing today with the rest of the team and had nice blocks on both Dontavious Jackson and DeCalon Brooks. He let everyone know via twitter that he will be playing in the Seminoles next game against Syracuse. Coach Taggart confirmed the news during Monday’s press conference.

Wide Receivers

There seemed to be an emphasis on blocking around the perimeter and a focus on short pass combinations. Tuesday morning, Walt Bell singled out Tamorrion Terry and Keith Gavin as the toughest players during practice and attributed that to be the key reason they were so successful against Samford.

George Campbell dropped an easy pass through the middle, but did well in blocking the perimeter.

Freshman WRs Jordan Young and Tre’Shaun Harrison did a good job blocking and D.J. Matthews moved with ease around Hamsah Nasrildeen. Jordan Young did not dress out on Saturday vs Samford.

RBs

It appeared that Amir Rasul slid into the third spot at running back behind Cam Akers and Jacques Patrick with Khalan Laborn out. Anthony Grant and Blaik Middleton followed behind respectively.

Injured/Reserved

In case you missed it, RB Khalan Laborn injured his leg returning a kickoff during Saturday’s game. In Monday’s press conference, Taggart had the following to say about Khalan’s status. “Yes, he’ll be back. Khalan is -- he’ll be back. He had a knee injury there where he dislocated a kneecap. And it wasn’t necessarily as bad as we thought it was when we were out there. But it will be some weeks before he can get going again, though.”

RT Landon Dickerson was not observed at practice once again today, he was seen at the game on Saturday with an ankle brace on his left ankle.

Defense

Hamsah Nasrildeen looked to impress at practice today and got the whole team amped up after lighting up RB Amir Rasul during the Nole drills portion of practice.

LB Amari Gainer was practicing in full capacity today. He sustained a foot injury earlier in camp, but looked healthy when blocking TE Alex Marshall during Oklahoma drills. He was able to break away and slow down RB Blaik Middleton.

Marvin Wilson appeared to edge out Fred Jones and took first team reps with Demarcus Christmas.

Injured/Reserved

DB Isaiah Bolden was not seen at practice. He went down with an apparent shoulder injury during the game against Samford.

LB Jaiden Woodbey sported a non-contact jersey.

LB Adonis Thomas was not working out during practice today, he was spotted with a sleeve on his right knee.

Special Teams

Kicker Ricky Aguayo was hitting field goal after field goal this morning. He missed both FG attempts during the game against Samford and is 1 of 4 to start the season off.

Tomorrow, the media will hear from DC Harlon Barnett and select defensive players.

The Seminoles will travel to Syracuse on Friday for their first away game of the season. Kickoff is on Saturday at noon.