Walt Bell addresses progression of Florida State’s offense

Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Walt Bell talked to the media Tuesday morning where he was asked a number of questions regarding the progression of the players in the offense, particularly Deondre Francois and his ability to make the correct reads consistently. The major takeaway: practice makes perfect, and nothing beats lives reps.

“There is still room for improvement,” Bell said. “A lot of the things that he is executing on game day— and trust me we’ve been practicing them over and over again— but, there’s no substitution for live reps. Some of these things are really the first times that he’s ever done them in harms way. He’s gotten better every week. I thought he was much better in week two then he was in week one.”

There is certainly work to be done to get this offense where it needs to be, but Bell was particularly impressed with redshirt freshman Tamorrion Terry. Terry flashed in the Samford game with two touchdowns before he was seemingly utilized less often. Bell said the two touchdowns were not the only thing the young receiver contributed to the offense.

“I think the things he did exceptionally well on Saturday had nothing to do with the two touchdowns,” Bell said. “I mean, you want to talk about a guy that blocked and played hard without the ball, and was an unbelievable teammate. He was unbelievable without the ball. That is a lot of things people don’t notice. I was proud of his effort. If we can get 11 guys to play like he and Keith Gavin did without the ball on Saturday, we’re going to be pretty good.”

Bell is candid when talking about aspects of the offense that are struggling. He is also optimistic the they can right the ship and get the offense where they need to be,

“There is a standard of play here that we have to live up to no matter who is out there. Again, we’re close. We just have to get it going.”