FSU practice report: ‘Noles finish Orange Bowl prep

For the first time in over three months, Florida State opened up practice for the opening 15 minutes to the media on an incredibly hot Tuesday afternoon. Ahead of their Orange Bowl matchup with Michigan, the Seminoles are holding their practices at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale. The Miami Dolphins took advantage of their practice facility being nearby to send 10+ staff members to Tuesday’s practice, including head coach Adam Gase, who was a graduate assistant at LSU when Jimbo Fisher was there as the offensive coordinator.

Injured/Absent

Among those who were in attendance at Tuesday’s practice but were stationed in the injury tent instead of participating were sophomore safety Derwin James, seniors Bobo Wilson and Nate Andrews, Keith Bryant, and Ermon Lane, who was using crutches after breaking his foot at practice up in Tallahassee.

Tight end Jeremy Kerr was wearing a non-contact jersey, but that didn’t stop him from working on the field goal unit. Additionally, sophomore wideout Auden Tate had a blue non-contact jersey tucked into his pants, but he never put it on in the entire portion of practice the media was able to observe.

Offense

Cole Minshew worked as the first-team right guard in Tuesday’s practice along with, from left to right, Rod Johnson, Kareem Are, Alec Eberle, and Rick Leonard. The second team OL consisted of Ethan Frith, David Robbins, Ryan Hoefeld, Wilson Bell, and Brock Ruble.

Dalvin Cook worked as the first-team running back and was backed up by Jacques Patrick. FSU also worked on some wide receiver carries which saw Kermit Whitfield working alongside Cook and Nyqwan Murray playing with the second team.

During the special teams section of practice which he is not involved in, Cook took a short break to take a picture with a child in attendance.

Defense

After being inactive for the final game of the season with an arm injury, true freshman linebacker Josh Brown was a full participant at Tuesday’s practice.

As he has on many occasions throughout the season, sophomore cornerback Tarvarus McFadden worked through catching drills alongside the wide receivers.

Special Teams

Ricky Aguayo and Logan Tyler split field goal duties at Tuesday’s practice with Aguayo getting marginally more reps. The two also split kickoff duties even though Tyler has handled kickoffs all season long without issue.

Up Next

This was FSU’s final open practice ahead of the Orange Bowl. Next up for the Seminoles will be Friday night’s season finale inside Hard Rock Stadium.