What does Alex Atkins bring as FSU’s offensive coordinator?

With the departure of Kenny Dillingham to Oregon, Florida State head coach Mike Norvell has promoted offensive line coach Alex Atkins to offensive coordinator.

Atkins has already shown off the recruiting prowess that has made him into a rising star in the coaching community but does he have the chops to be an offensive coordinator? Luckily for FSU he already has a body of work to point to in his one year as an OC at UNC Charlotte.

Here is a graph of the offensive SP+ rankings at Atkins’ last stop:

In his single season (garnet dot) as OC he led the 55th best offense according to advanced metrics that factor in strength of schedule. By contrast, the two years before and after have an average ranking of 103.5th. To give some comparison, FSU’s offense in 2021 finished one spot below Atkin’s performance in Charlotte at 56th in the nation.

While Norvell will retain primary play-calling duties, Atkins will still have a significant impact on the offensive identity. So let's jump into the film to see how his offense clicked at Charlotte and how that could impact FSU’s 2022 offense.