Brady Scott, Alec Eberle, & Cole Minshew speak prior to Tuesday’s practice

On Tuesday morning the offensive line hit the fields for an encouraging practice that saw OL Landon Dickerson make his return. Dickerson has been treating an ankle injury that he suffered in Florida State’s first game against Virginia Tech. It is still unclear when Dickerson will make his return to the gameday lineup. In the meantime, we spoke to three of the five linemen who started the game against NIU.

First was Brady Scott, who achieved his first career start for the Seminoles against Northern Illinois. Scott said he tried to keep his nerves to a minimum after learning he would get the start.

“I try not to get nervous,” Scott said. “Just knowing that I’ve prepared and had all the practice to be able to go out there and do it. To me, getting nervous doesn’t help anything. I just try and focus on what I’ve learned.”

Scott, who came to FSU as a center, got the start at right tackle. He said he played some right tackle in high school so the position wasn’t unfamiliar to him.

“It’s been good. It’s a good learning thing so I can learn all the positions and wherever coach needs me I can go. I’m just excited he’s using me.”

The offensive line faced a tough test in Sutton Smith and the NIU defense. Senior center Alec Eberle said there was a noticeable difference in practice leading up to the game and they are looking to keep that same energy as the year goes on.

“I think the team as a whole last week had more energy and more juice in practice, which i think helped out a lot with the game.”

Eberle continued.

“I think we showed what we’re capable of doing. I think we still aren’t even close to what we can be as an O-line, as a team, as an offense and everything. We just need to keep getting better and doing what we’re doing.”

The final offensive linemen to speak was guard Cole Minshew, who gave us a quick update on his health heading into this week’s practices.

“I feel a lot better health wise than I was in the fall camp,” Minshew said. “Fall camp I was dealing with an ankle and a couple other nicks and bruises. I’m as close to 100 percent as I’ve been in a while.”

Minshew talked about the importance of stringing wins together and what it can do for not only the offensive line’s confidence, but the team as a whole.

“It’s helped a lot,” Minshew said. “Guys have struggled, and to finally have some success it gives them a lot of confidence. It gives them a lot of confidence going to the next game. They get confidence in their technique and their assignment and knowing what to do.”

While the ‘Noles will hope to have Landon Dickerson back soon, the line has yet to solidify itself this year. There has been a different starting line for every game thus far, but Minshew says that isn’t as big of a deal as it’s made out to be,

“It’s important, but even through practice we rotate everybody,” Minshew said. “Everybody plays with different people, so everyone is comfortable with playing with different people. I feel like it’s not that big of an adjustment whenever somebody new comes in.”

Finally, Minshew revealed how special Amir Rasul’s touchdown to end the game was to not only Rasul, but his blockers.

“That was really special,” Minshew said. “Amir came in the year after me, so he’s been here for a while. He finally got his first career touchdown. That was big time for us. We felt that he deserved that. He’s been working for that for a long time.”