FSU Football Practice Report: The Seminoles return from spring break in decent shape

The Seminoles resumed Spring practice Wednesday morning following a brief break for Florida State’s spring break. The ’Noles have five practices left in preparation for the rapidly approaching spring game that will be on Saturday, April 6th at Doak Campbell Stadium. Practice was packed with plenty of recruits, boosters, high school coaches and former players. FSU commit QB Jeff Sims was in attendance along with 4-star WR E.J. Williams. Former Florida State players also scattered the sideline as the guys prepare for the Seminoles’ Pro Day on Thursday. This included OL Derrick Kelly, OL Arthur Williams, DL Fredrick Jones and DL Demarcus Christmas. Former DT Derrick Nnadi who plays for the Kansas City Chiefs was also present and even Seminole legend Charlie Ward was seen on the practice field.

Offense

RB Khalan Laborn is no longer wearing a non-contact jersey and if that doesn’t get you excited, I’m not sure much else will. Laborn participated in ‘Nole drills for the first time this spring and excelled overall. It was nice to see him finally take off the blue jersey. Fellow RB Cam Akers also looked much healthier after dealing with an ankle injury for much of last season. Akers looks much leaner and dodged defenders with ease.

The wide receiver corp isn’t messing around this year and has become an increasingly exciting group to watch. Redshirt Freshmen Warren Thompson and Jordan Young continued to flash during Wednesday’s practice. This comes a day after Willie Taggart mentioned that they were among players that have caught his eye this spring.

Redshirt freshman Warren Thompson:

Redshirt freshman Jordan Young:

Redshirt freshman OL Chaz Neal is consistently getting better in the off-season and turned heads during ’Nole Drills this morning.

The first-team offensive line was LT Jauan Williams, LG Brady Scott, C Baveon Johnson, RG Mike Arnold and RT Chaz Neal.

The second-team was LT Jalen Goss, LG Christian Armstrong, C Andrew Boselli, RG Dontae Lucas and RT Landon Dickerson.

Overall, the quarterbacks threw with much more accuracy and confidence during today’s open portion of practice. They were of course throwing against the air so not too much can be made out of their performance, but is good to see that the quarterbacks seem to be meshing well with the new offense and are becoming much more comfortable.

Injured/Absent

OL Dickerson appeared to be limited, but was still practicing.

TE Gabe Nabers was absent.

OL Cole Minshew is still out for the Spring.

Defense

There isn’t really much to say about Marvin Wilson that hasn’t already been said, but I’m definitely ready to see Big Marv wreak havoc on the field come fall ball:

The defensive backs worked on back-pedaling and tracking the ball through the air during a portion of practice. Cyrus Fagan made a very impressive one-handed catch over his right shoulder and fellow teammates Stanford Samuels III, Asante Samuel Jr, and Akeem Dent performed well during the drill as well.

The linebackers were split up into three different groups.

Hamsah Narildeen and Amari Gainer worked in at the star position with a graduate assistant.

The weak-side linebackers were Josh Brown, Leonard Warner, and Adonis Thomas. The group worked out with coach Mark Snyder.

The middle linebackers consisted of Jaleel McRae, Dontavious Jackson, Emmett Rice, DeCalon Brooks and Raymond Woodie Jr. They worked out with coach Raymond Woodie.

Injured/Absent

LB Dontavious Jackson is still limited.

Jaiden Woodbey is still recovering from off-season shoulder surgery, but practiced today in a limited fashion.

LB Emmett Rice and DT Cedric Wood are still sporting casts, but both were participating.

Florida State will return to the practice field on Friday, but practice is not open to the media.