Willie Taggart talks drive-killing mistakes; provides an injury update

With a formidable Boston College offense coming to town, the FSU defense will hope to be as healthy as possible for what Florida State Defensive Coordinator Harlon Barnett anticipates will be a very physical game.

With Eagles running back AJ Dillon healthier and news of quarterback Anthony Brown returning to practice after a big hit sidelined him early against Clemson, The Seminoles will need all hands on deck.

Yesterday, Harlon Barnett sounded confident we would see one defensive player back in sophomore S Hamsah Nasirildeen. However, it seems the ‘Noles will still be missing a piece in the secondary as FSU Head Coach Willie Taggart updated the injury status of CB Levonta Taylor.

“Still slowly. You know, you have a hamstring and playing in that condition is always tough. He’s trying to come back, but he’s still not where he needs to be at.

And while the defense looks to return to the run-stuffing form they were in earlier in the season, the offense is still struggling to get on the same page.

The Seminole offense was able to put together two encouraging drives against Notre Dame. But long, sustained drives have been few and far between this year and while there are a few factors contributing to this, Willie Taggart says miscues by players not on the same page continue to plague the offense.

“It’s not necessarily the same mistakes—it’s someone different,” Taggart said. “That’s why it’s frustrating the we haven’t played consistently enough, everyone, to be on that same page. It could be a good drive and it could be someone with a false start. It could be covering up a potential receiver down field. There are a lot of those little things that stop drives, or turnovers. We have to play cleaner football, not turn the ball over, and stay focused the entire time that we’re out there.”