FSU Football 2024 Defensive Preview & Is ESPN Anti-FSU?

what's up no Nation it's the guys from PL the spear back with you for another episode today Michael I'm excited to talk about some defense Florida state has been dominant on that side of the football in the past couple years and we're looking for another big year this year so we just dropped our offensive preview for you guys make sure you go check that out up next is the big one the win loss prediction for the season but right now we're going to talk about some defense we got a couple other things to get into there Mr flipflop mroy we're GNA talk about you a little bit too and ESP oh man we got I they're on they're they're after us Michael I mean I believe it so we're GNA get into that too but man a fully packed episode that we're excited to talk about some football today as we get really close to kickoff but before we jump in how are you my friend I'm good I'm good I'm good man I mean like you said ESPN I don't know what is going on man I've been I've been putting on the 10 foil hat for a long time and it's finally finally showing their true colors and uh you know old Greg Ma Roy who basically won a title by the defense didn't even do anything over here being Florida State's fan and now being against Florida State sounds like the the Puppet Masters are are are spinning their little fingers now trying to get the word out early in the season so yeah let's get into it we got some stuff we got to deal with yeah and for those of you watching on YouTube we got the the Throwbacks today you got the old school Jersey on and of course I had to bring out the Marvin Jones the hit shirt for the defensive preview cuz that's the only way to do it uh before we talk about little defense I apologize if my voice is a little bit off today uh I went it was my birthday yesterday and we went to a little surprise concert that my wife took me to last night and it was like you know it was a them high school days cover band so you know I was I was belting them out thank goodness it was loud nobody could hear me or the cats when came coming or something like that but but it was a good time so uh getting into this man yes ESPN has gone full like anti FSU campaign it's kind of crazy and you know everybody's going to come out and say that you're conspiracy theorist you're putting on the tin foil hat I mean we talk talked about the you know the cfp back in the day we said that we weren't trying to be conspiracy theorists but it kind of feels very much tinfoil hadish right there yeah and then you know again budget cuts air quotes budget cuts is why these moves happen but it is kind of coincidential here that RG3 comes out and defends Florida State that's right the day after Paul fbom who we got into roasting in the last episode he trashed Florida State made of them nav RG3 comes out with a pretty passionate defense I shared it on our social media it was a great statement dude gets fired the next day and then if that wasn't enough to make you put on the tinfoil hat Sam Ponder gets fired as well so you know really just anybody with any FSU connections really kind of seem to get fired so Michael I mean I've been I've been putting it off I'm not a conspiracy theorist guy you know I don't know what they got going on out there at Area 51 or whatnot but you know with this ESPN mess I'm going for it I'm putting on there you go let me let me crinkle this for the podcast listeners so you can hear I'm going full tin hat today buddy cuz I think ESPN is after Florida State I think they are out to get us I think they are uh in fullon full-on take FSU down mode so it's pretty crazy they must maybe they know something maybe they know that we'll be joining RG3 at Fox pretty soon when we go to the Big 10 we'll have to see uh but yeah man and then mroy old flip-flop meloy coming out here and you know he was actually you know the sad thing was man he was a supporter of FSU there for a while his people actually used to send me clips to to share where he would be praising Florida State and then like a light switch again like you said the the Puppet Master pulled the string and you know they wanted to give Nick Sabin his retirement run in the playoffs and then all of a sudden all of a sudden our boy flipped on us and just started badmouthing Florida State and then he comes out yesterday or day before yesterday one and says that he thinks Florida State in Michigan and I ain't going to argue with the Michigan part but he thinks Florida state is going to finish the season unranked and so you know but this was also the same guy to to look at his opinion on on the games and I'm not saying he doesn't know football I mean hey he's done a lot more in college football than I have right but I mean you look at that title game that you talked about six of 11 for 58 yards and no touchdowns I mean minus 27 rushing yards your boy can lose 27 yards on the ground I could handle that so uh you know I might have been one of 11 on the swing pass but it's like that guy it's like that that that that person who shows up to a group project and does nothing but get the a you know what I meany exactly like you were just present on the team exactly so it's it is ridiculous man it's just it's like again I don't want to go full conspiracy theorist uh you know but I already got the tin full hat on so we're already there man it's just all the things that you see point to this being some kind of weird like behind the scenes dark web type of stuff Juju to get Florida State and I just I don't understand it where it's like everybody who kind of has that opinion of FSU either has changed their opinion or been booted I mean I know we're in the lawsuit thing I know that's not good for everybody but I mean we're still playing under the ESPN flag we're still bringing them money they're still paying us money so it just seems weird and and you know again there's are some still good guys out there you know Booger McFarland you better be looking for a part-time job brother because they're coming for you next don't defend FSU so uh man it's just it was really interesting to see some of the stuff that's happened lately and you know it's just I don't know man it's hard not to wear the 10f hat when you see that type of stuff no for sure and I here's the thing I it's it's it's ridiculous for you know for ESPN to to fire RG3 because he came out in defense of Florida State I mean Paul fibon makes makes that comment about Florida State still crying tears he doesn't get fired but RG RG RG3 comes out and says you know this ridiculous if you're making fun of people like that you know something's wrong with you and then boom next day he's fired now here's the thing though we all know one of the funny things I thought was that uh on X or Twitter rgg posted a a meme from uh Friday you know Dad the toilet F like how you get fired on your day off that was so funny which is which is totally RG3 um you know I appreciate the fact that he stands for class he stands up for people you know he speaks it like it is like he's not going to bow down to the corporate monster that says hey these are the talking points and you do as we say listen he was uh speculated I don't know if this is real or not but it speculated that he was making like somewhere near 17 million a year from ESPN so he walked out of that but the thing is he's gonna land on his feet because Fox was pursuing him like intensely so he'll find a job at Fox probably he'll make just as much money if not better and ESPN has been on a roll these last several years they're losing a lot of great like personalities on screen and then you talk about Samantha pner p who you know formerly Samantha steel FSU married to FSU quarterback Christian Ponder former suu quarterback Christian Ponder now I don't think hers is naturally attached to kind of the Florida State thing I think there's been speculation that because of her comments around uh women in title X and kind of how Sports is going that way I think ESPN was pretty upset that she didn't stick to the she brought politics into the to to the thing you know they've had a hard stance on no politics and then yet they did this whole um um segment on Leah Thompson if you know the story of Leah Thompson we won't get into it here but and so then Sam Ponder you know um uh spoke up for uh for Riley who who's been one of the University of Kentucky swim team uh uh women who've been trying to stand up for title X for women and uh Sam Ponder spoke up on that and that's probably why ESPN fight her but still she's an FSU you know we she's FSU family it just looks suspicious it just looks suspicious now I'll tell you this and I'll throw this back to you on this one I love your thoughts on this Jesse is honestly what it looks like again again what it looks like and I've mentioned this before is that if Florida state does not end up in the SEC which I mean every sign is now starting to say it's probably not gonna happen ESPN is trying to devalue that brand either one to make them look bad to the Big 10 SEC or Big 10 fox or to make them make their value go down so that when they do like get eventually get out of the ACC they they'll come at a cheaper cost to ESPN which it's not gonna happen because us SP fans are not gonna let that happen right and see I I don't I actually don't buy that narrative because the reason I say that is because if they were to go to the SEC the the contract calls that they have someone got me for this last time when I said pra it was Pro I said you what I say you say protato I say protato or whatever exactly who cares whatever it is that part of the contract would allow Florida State to come in as a full share member anyway so they can't negotiate the price down the big 10 isn't going to give you full share anyway right now they're going to do escalators and they're going to pay you you know whatever they feel is the necessary rate anyway and no matter what the smear campaign is and also like the TV numbers are there they can't they can't fudge those they can't hide those uh we've seen the TV history to know what Florida State's worth from a brand perspective but I do think you're right with the S Ponder thing I do think it is a lot to do with the title 9 stuff that that she spoke up with um the RG3 that's just the weird one to me you know I think it just maybe it's coincidence that Sam Ponders has ties to FSU and happens to happen the same day uh but RG3 was weird because like you said I mean $17 million a year is ridiculous first off for a sportscaster and and no offense to the guy I mean get yours get yours somebody paid me $17 million right but and I think the thing is though like there are some budget cut things to it I'm not going to argue that because we've seen the history of them negotiating stupid contracts with a lot of their top personalities that are paying these guys millions and millions a year that I just don't know that they're I don't know that you pay that but at the same time he did have two years of his contract left which is what I I think I saw and so it's like the day after you defend Florida State you get fired all of a sudden so maybe it was coming maybe it wasn't I don't know it's just a it's a weird situation and you know again like you said I think it just shows kind of where we're at in society where you can have a guy like Paul fine bomb who comes out and says stupid stuff to get attention because no one actually cares what he says and and can basically make fun of Florida State but then you have a guy defend him and and he's the one that gets punished for it so just a crazy situation man but you know it is what it is I just I had to put on the 10 fo hat for day because it sure does feel like they're out to get us now and you know I mean honestly with all these things going on like we've talked about it before I would probably rather be in the SEC just because of the fun matchups but you know give me Fox into Big 10 let's really let's get out of this inbreds ESPN the and all that so uh but with that being said it's time to talk about some actual football we'll get on to some defensive talk uh first off let me bring you a quick word from today's sponsor and that is Alumni Hall FSU guys we are like two weeks away from a home game in DOP Campbell Stadium you're going to want to refresh your gear for this upcoming season unless you have a lucky shirt or a hat then definitely don't give that up uh but whatever is not your lucky shirt or hat go get you a new one to go with it and at Alumni Hall they have a great selection of all the FSU gear you want and you can get it at a great price by using code spear to get 10% off you can shop online or you can shop in store at 1415 Timber Lane Road in Tallahassee so getting to the defense this is one that you're excited to talk about I know when we talked about offense the other day it was like I'm excited about the offense right of course but there's a lot of like man I hope this works out I hope that works out the defense I feel like you you feel like maybe some things do need to work out now they they do need to pan out but you feel like the floor is just really really high for for this defense and I'm excited to talk about it so with that being said I first think that the thing that we need to do is put some respect on Adam Fuller's name and are you are you ready for this Michael okay I'm coming correct today buddy are you ready for okay I'm ready Adam Fuller the dawn of the defense the honcho of halftime adjustments the steward of stops and if I may the guardian of the goal line oh let's go let's go those were good I had to come correct today and he is not to be confused with Mike noell who is the Emperor of the end zone so that one slipp me that was slipp me the other day so I had to come correct today uh but man I really do think you have to put some respect on Mike or uh on Adam Fuller's name you know this is a guy that a lot of people want to gone for a long time and I think he has really shown his ability I mean just kind of looking back real quick he took over a defense that had been ranked 90th and 66th and yes they took a dip in 2020 again that's you know that was a year that had to coach over zoom and all that crazy stuff they took a dip to 105th but then they they got back up to 67th where kind of he took things over at and in the last two years they put together back-to-back top 20 defenses and that's pretty dagone impressive so uh you got to be happy with what you've seen there I know you know we talked about just kind of making the joke of the halftime adjustments where things may start a little bit slow but man the way they turn it on in the second half it's just hard to argue with and you know you look at the last two years uh in 22 they they gave up an average of 20.6 points per game and then last year was only 19.3 points per game tied for 18th so held him under 20 and again if you adjust for that bold debacle that you know you didn't have half your defense there for it was only 15.9 points per game so they I mean this defense was pretty much Elite last year and I mean you saw that they like the highlights they they had the LSU game where they held the Heisman winner and the number one offense in the country to less yards than basically anybody in the SEC uh even Alabama they also they had the game against Louisville which the defense we know was just unreal in that game Florida I think they held Florida to what negative yards in the fourth quarter or something like that so it was crazy man that was just a really really good defense and you know you lose a lot but I I think it's also very possible that that this defense can reload and you know we're going to get into reasons for that as well but you know even with Fuller he had a top it was tied for 26 defense at Marshall and he took Memphis from uh 94th up to 57th so I think he is he's he's not well he's probably big name now I'm sure he's on some list I I actually thought he was going to go to Boston College when that when that came open so um looking at some other stat rankings here just to kind of see where they excelled at in the in the advanced rankings this is like opponent adjusted and stuff like that it was the 11th ranked defense so right there knocking on the top 10 they have 40 plus sacks in the past two years that's top 10 in both years 46 last year I mean that's just those pressure numbers are insane and that's something that we missed for a long time you you know there for a while it was basically just dermaine Johnson bringing pressure and now we bring it from everywhere uh seventh in tackles for losses uh with a 100 tackles for loss last year six and third down defense and one of the areas that I thought initially wasn't the greatest was 59th in red zone defense but they were 27th in touchdown percentage allowed and I think a lot of that has to do with that Adam Fuller kind of Bend don't break style defense now there is one area when we talk about areas you'd like to see him improve and gets down to strengths and weaknesses so really man this defense this past defense has been lights out the past two years fourth in 2022 11th in pass defense in 2023 and to use really a better metric is feels Phil God this thing every time man like like Miami championships they just don't go together uh and Phil steals past defense rankings which I like because it takes into account how good that passing offense is home away things like that they were number one in his pass defense rankings last year so the pass defense has really just been shut down lock down DBU type of stuff for the past two years and I think it's going to be the same this year yeah but the one area that I would really like to see them improve is in their run defense and I guess if you got to pick one of the two to you know to take away I'd rather probably give up a little bit of rushing yards than than uh the pass and it's not really been bad it's just they were 72nd in run defense last year 75th in 2022 so that's really the one area I'd like to see them improve they did give up a good bit of explosive plays last year which was something that we would also like to see them clean up tied for 82 in plays over 20 yards but again this breaks down to what we just talked about when you look at the pass plays over 20 yards they were 21st in the country when you look at run plays over 20 yards they were 126 so we got eight up by some long runs and I do suspect that has a lot to do with facing what five or six mobile quarterbacks last year that that were real legit dual threat guys and you have a couple this year but not quite as many so I think that has a lot to do with it too so really just looking at the overall defense the past two years man it's been it's been all go it's been all good stuff last year was a really dominant group and I think when you look at the areas that I'd like to see them improve it's just that run defense and then also just not so much improve but stay consistent right in the pressure that they' brought the pass defense that they that they have had over the last few years if you can carry those things over again to this season man this defense is going to be set up for Success yeah absolutely I mean you you look at what this defense was when when Adam Fuller came in like you said after the 2020 season where they Total Defense was 107th in the nation Rush defense was 97th in the nation passing yards allowed was 98th and thir and scoring defense was tied for 105 at the end of 2020 now we all know 2020 was terrible season I like that stuff but you actually saw marketable uh Improvement the next season they went 66 in Total Defense 55th in Rush defense 74th in passing yards allowed and 68th in scoring defense so you saw the Improvement but yet you didn't necessarily see it in the win total and so we were all just frustrated because you know you couldn't sto the Run game you were allowing these big passes you had uh QB scrambling all over the place I mean it was ridiculous and then and then you started in that that the last eight games of the Season remember they started 0 and four in 2020 they went five and three in the final eight games and in those eight games they had a chance to win almost every single game because you saw steady Improvement not just with the offense but but mostly with the defense and then of course like you said the the Dom of of of the defense the the what was the halftime adjustment one the the honcho of halftime adjustments I didn't have anything half time adjustments no the head man of halftime adjustments yeah because that's one of the things has been Adam Fuller calling card you know the the the the the opposing offense will will move the ball down the field they may get a touchdown or field goal and you're just like man are we gonna be giving up yards all day and then next thing you know they come out at halftime and they're completely shutting down the offense they're completely doing things differently I remember that Duke game you know Duke was just going up and down the field um at do Campbell Stadium on that night game and it was just like okay this is gonna be a shootout the offense is struggling right now oh no and then next you know they come out after halftime and boom the the strip had flipped even that's why in that game if you remember uh Mike Elco goes for it on fourth down why does he go for it on fourth down right there he could have kicked the field go because he understood that his team was tired that defense was wearing them out he knew if they didn't make that play that fourth down right then and there it was over and sure enough he was right it was over it was over it was over and so you have seen this markable Improvement I mean right now Florida State goes into the season I know we're going to get to position previews but right now Florida State goes into the season as probably one of the top five uh uh defensive back fields in the country like we we people are afraid of our back field now you got AZ on one side you got uh French Cyprus on the other side I mean and then that defensive line yes they lost um they lost Jared verse and uh Braden fist but it it wasn't a like a um it wasn't a uh retool it was a Reload basically you know they bring Patrick P Patrick pton back they get Marvin Jones Jr there they get Salo Lea in there they get uh ge from West Virginia I mean they just reloaded on that defense they get the linebackers in Justin CER uh Cam Riley they get all those guys in so it this is a chance for Florida State Defense to be they're I say just slightly a bit better than they were last season which is crazy to even think about yeah and I think that's an interesting point because when you talk about the rebuild versus reload I think he start looking back to like the alabas of the world and you're like okay well there's no way they're going to be as good they lost all this NFL Talent they lost their coordinator they lost this coach or that coach or whatever and they were just good again right and so it's like you just you know I I think the perfect example of that is like okay look who's this Germaine Johnson guy is he gonna be any good bam he's NFL caliber guy all right well surely you're not going to get two in a row with Jared verse bam first round NFL draft pick all right well I don't know this Patrick Payton guy may be you know probably going to be a first round NFL draft pick so it's like man I mean it's just you can never say never with being able to reload and I think that does speak back to you know even with Adam Fuller in the beginning when you talk about like what we talked about with Mike noell you have an offense built for Playmakers you didn't really have a lot of Playmakers right it was the same thing here I mean they had a little bit more I think leftover defensive Talent there but I mean this is where like you have a guy and this is again this is no dish on the guy because one was an unreal player at the time and one I think will be an unreal player by the time he's done with his career at Florida State but you know you bring in Germaine Johnson on the defensive end and we'll get into position groups in a minute but like this is a guy that was your defense he was your defense was the defense he was him and Jamie Robinson and Kier Thomas were literally that was it was probably 90% of the defense right there now you bring in a guy who's basically the same position a rotational player from Georgia and he's probably not going to start he's probably going to be your defensive end number two behind Patrick pton so it just speaks to the level that that defense has gotten to and I will say before we get into 2020 one of my favorite things about this defense is you know when they got here when Adam Fuller got here he said that they looked at the defenses of old you know Mickey Andrew style defense fast physical aggressive man that is The Narrative of this team now they play Fast physical and aggressive they will come up and hit you in the mouth they make big plays and so like it's it's a fun defense to watch they get you excited and so that's why I'm thinking that you know as we transition into 2024 I think this turns into a good part of the conversation where you do talk about that returning production and you know we've had this conversation before on a different subject not necessarily about our defense but where returning production is great don't get me wrong like that usually if you bring all your starters back you expect to be as good or better the next year that's right but it doesn't always guarantee that you know we talked about the offensive line in the offensive preview had the most experience in all of college football and they took a step back that's right if you bring back 100% of production on an 0 and2 team that's not as good as 50% production on a 12 and0 team and so I don't necessarily hang my hat on returning production but it is a big part of the game and so as we look at 2024 I do want to kind of the defense is going to be a little different like I'm I'm more excited about the defense probably than I am the offense about just whe where their ceiling is at but I do think there is a little bit of cold water you got to throw here I think just to be honest and you know again we we definitely try and be positive on the show all the time and I think but you also have to be real and you have to to talk about some things for what they are and numbers don't lie I mean we can incorporate some Garnet gold glasses on here too but you know you look at your returning production it is 60% 62nd in the country your returning tackles are down at 50.2% 95th in the country your big play defense which are uh is like sacks tackles for loss interception stuff like that is down at 48.3% which is 88th in the country you lost a lot of really really good guys on this defense you already mentioned Jared verse Braden Fisk uh Fabi love it as a guy I think that very underrated that's going to be missed even some of the depth in there um that you lost on your defensive tackles guys that are just looking for more play in time you also Lose a Guy like your your two linebackers that were great linebackers for you I mean they weren't you know great in the sense of of being great but they were great for your defense they were the best we've had in a long time right you also lose a couple NFL guys out of the secondary there's a lot to replace there now I love a lot of the guys that you're bringing in to replace them and we're going to get into Personnel here in just a few minutes but you know you do have to keep in mind that there is some replacement value in there that that you have to factor in you know are these guys we think Daryl Jackson's going to be a a monster right we haven't seen it yet though you know what I mean so there's still that in a little bit but you know I was telling you before the show knowing that like you have some pieces to replace but I think again I think the floor is high with what you got and I think the ceiling is really high with what we've seen this defense turn out to be but I was telling you before the show I think honestly man the most important segment of this show is the one we're about to talk about right now and I think that is when you look at the different slate because strength of schedule plays a really big factor in how your season goes and so when I get to digging in and doing my research and whatnot on things I let the numbers speak to me and try to keep my feelings out of it and this is this was a bit of a red flag for me I'm not going to lie and so this is where I think it's important so when you look at the 2023 scoring offenses and you if you remember we did this yesterday for the or or the the last show we did for the offense is where I think it was like the scoring defens that as you had to face got a little bit tougher from like 63rd to 59th or something remember it was only like five spots or something like that so when you talk about the scoring offenses that you faced last year to this year of course again remember teams are allowed to get worse teams are also allowed to get better and so when you look at the average scoring offense ranked last year it was 68th in the country this year it is 39th that is a sizable jump when you look at top 25 offenses that you faced last year it was only one this year it's four when you look at the the top 50 offenses last year it was only three this year it's seven so you have a significantly tougher slate of De or of offenses that you're going to face this year and this is also one of the reasons why when I say they can get better or get worse that I think is this is kind of crazy man so this is the part that I was talking about was important when we look at the de the offenses and we said okay well we suspect they're going to be harder this year because you have different teams on the schedule those teams played better offense whatever whatever but some of those teams could still get worse or better so looking at last year you have LSU was the same quarterback year two guy won the Heisman Miami was the and this is the order of the offenses the scoring offenses they finished ranked so yeah Miami had a freshman backup second start ever uh Louisville was a year one quarterback in that system but he was a veteran guy Clemson was a year one starter at quarterback he did play a little bit prior to that but it was as a freshman uh Virginia Tech was a year one quarterback that did not start that season Florida was a freshman backup quarterback in his first start Duke was a year two quarterback Who got hurt and then went to their backup Boston College was a year one quarterback making a second start Syracuse was a year three quarterback we know shraer was very experienced Southern Miss year one quarterback wake Force year one quarterback pit year one quarterback on his fourth start now again looking at 2024 remember we just said they have three more top 25 offenses and four top 50 offenses Memphis same quarterback four-year starter Notre Dame new quarterback but it's Riley Leonard an experienced guy SMU same quarterback now in year two as a starter uh UNCC new quarterback but you have one guy there who's played at multiple schools Miami uh new quarterback but it's cam Ward very experienced guy Georg Tech same quarterback now year two Cy same quarterback now year two Clemson same quarterback now year two Florida same quarterback now year two Duke new quarterback it's Malik Murphy I don't think he's going to be any any better or worse uh than than Riley Leonard was and then BC same quarterback now year to so almost every team on your schedule has a either a returning quarterback or a veteran quarterback in place Malik Murphy is really the only one that hasn't played outside of the the quarterback battle at UNC and and they're the two guys have played before one of them hadn't played a lot so you have a tougher slate of offenses that all have returning quarterbacks so I think what you're going to face this year is going to be a lot tougher you know when we talked about that pass defense and how good it's been it was always a fair argument to say that you didn't face a lot of tough passing offenses you know you didn't get the UNCC uh last year and some of the better passing offenses in the ACC so man I I I mean I'll kick and you to share some thoughts on that but I think to me that is when we talk about everything that this defense can be you know a lot of times when we go in and do the preseason predictions and all this type of stuff and and you know again this is not like a brag this is just a a m show in the research I pretty much picked Florida State in every game the way it turned out to be over the last two years and a lot of that is because I know what we have but then I focus on what the other teams have and I think a lot of people just they see the name and they associate that and they're done like oh we're gonna beat them because they're and then you don't look at that actual team and so I think when you do look at the other team you have a lot of good offenses this year with a lot of experience quarterbacks which is something that you just did not face last year so I think the defense is still going to be good I'm not saying they're not going to be good I'm just saying that it may not be as good as last year even though it has the potential to be better on paper you're facing a much tougher slate of offenses in 2024 yeah yeah I mean the the the off the defense is going to face you know um more advanced offenses this year and depending on whether their starting quarterback at the beginning of the season is still in the game when when Flor State plays them yeah the the level of difficulty is going to go up that's to be expected I think where the optimism comes into play though is that while Florida state did lose production last year it got better in Talent um so yes it lost production and so production is down but as as every year every team loses production so you look at like the Alabam and the georgas right back when when Alabama well they're still kind of technically on their run and Georgia's still technically on their run but every year they lose significant production but what is the difference why do they keep coming back every single year and still being one of the best defenses in the country is because they replaced the Lost production with good talent right Talent that's been in the system that's been developing over time so that way it become it be it has become a true plug-and play for for those teams Michigan's the same thing you know for the for the run it's been on Ohio State's the same thing for the run it's been on right they lose this they lose these significant Productions to NFL but then they also replacing that with Talent well I would say Florida state is beginning to do the same over the last three years every time they've lost significant production they've been able to replace it with enough talent to to to make the defense get better and every year the defense has gotten better and better and so yes I agree with you the offenses that they're facing this year are a lot tougher than the offenses they faced last year on a whole the quarterbacks that they're facing this year are going to be second third you know most of them um returning quarterbacks you know I mean the the quarterback that they're facing to start the season was at Texas A&M and transfer it had a you know started the year Rocky but then kind of had the year uh close the year pretty good I know we're going to do that preview here soon but again he was a turnover machine last year too so like they're also bringing back their own issues as well and Florida State yes they lost production but they also added Talent they backed it up with talent and I think that Talent if if if coached well and put in the right schemes in the right play can compensate for the production that they lost and of course you know we'll have to see how it turns out on the field yeah I mean I don't disagree with that part I I do think they have reloaded the talent in here I think that again the reason I bring up the returning production numbers is because it can be hard to to replace a lot of NFL draft picks now I think they've done a good job with that uh but you know I think some of those are are TBD until we see it get done you know I mean it's like I said with the offensive preview with the TJ Ferguson like that's a massive freaking human who moves well and does great in Fall Camp I what I'm hearing I think he's going to be a great impact lineman for us I don't always love relying on other fall Camp reports that I haven't seen with my own eyes so like I go back and I look at the numbers and some of his numbers just weren't that great and so it's like I like to you know you just don't know until you know you know we think Sam Riley is GNA be good I think we're going to need to hit on a few pieces this year that we brought in just because of that tougher slate of offenses but I think my my point with segment was that this defense they lost a lot they can still be really good like you said because they reloaded with talent I think it's just more I guess what I'm saying is this defense may not finish as statistically high as last year's did but that doesn't mean it wasn't maybe a better defense they just had a tougher slate of offenses that they're going to have to go against and a lot of experienced quarterbacks and I will say that a lot of these teams are returning 70 and 80% of their production I didn't want to bore you guys with a lot of numbers but a lot of them are and and the game one that you're coming out with again is a returning starter with 83% of uh production and game two is another returning quarterback with 80% of production so coming back around him so you're going to have to and that's on offense that's not the entire team you are going to have to be ready you know Memphis gain three 74% returning production same quarterback so it's going to be tough out of the gate and I just think that they may not look as good on the stat sheet but that doesn't mean they still can't be really good for Flor yeah they they they they that absolutely true they first of all they're going to have to show up every game right I mean they they can't just show up and think that you know the the the the spear on the helmet's going to scare the team away no they have to show up they have to be ready to play they have to scheme it upright Adam F's got to call the right plays those players got to make the right plays remember the helmet uh the the the play them make the helmet the helmet makes the play or however Jimbo used to say that the exact opposite of that exact opposite of that exactly and so like they're going to have to get on the field and do it and yeah their stats might not look at they might not be a top five you know uh potentially not a top five passing defense they might be you know top 10 top 15 whatever it may be the the the the the fact of the matter is that while the stats might be different the talent has gotten better and if the talent can show up on the field then you feel confident that that defense is going to be able to hold these offenses that are that'll be much better I absolutely agree with you there to a space to where our offense can can make some damage as well yes I think there I think there'll be more games than we saw last year that'll be a lot closer um but I have confidence that um this defense can can be can hang with the best of them if not be one of the best of them oh I definitely agree and I think this will be you know I did a uh I have a little side project that I've been doing once a week the fourth in Florida show with some other guys talking about college fo the State of Florida and we were ranking our defenses yesterday and and I put Florida State on top in the state and that was even above Miami now I know that has a lot to do with the offenses but you know again I think it's I think really what I'm what I'm maybe trying to do here is because we just did our offensive preview now we're doing our defense and next we go into the schedule I think it's painting that holistic picture so if you're watching this episode make sure that you watch all three so that way you can understand in the next one why we're saying some of the things that we're saying because again when you look at you know the defenses should be slightly better this year that's what that's kind of what we looked at in the offensive preview the offenses that going to face should be probably I would say almost significantly better this year with a tougher schedule with a lot of stuff to replace you know there's a lot of people when when and we're not going to spend time on this because we're going to get into that on the next episode but when people are like oh 12 and0 you know we're going 16 and0 into the national championship I'm like you got to understand how hard it was how you know that Miami game was close I know it should have been another you know that fluke touchdown at the end or whatever but you know some of those games you know we got the scare against BC and whatnot last year and that un real team against a not super great schedule and so this year you have a team that's replacing a lot against a tougher schedule that's right it's going to play into the win loss predictions but that'll be next episode so I'm just kind of painting a complete picture here yeah but as we look further into what this 2 24 defense can be the snpp plus projection which is like an advanced stat model does for like I don't know what all it does some SC some college football science uh but either way it's a pretty good one bill Connelly his stuff is usually pretty good uh he does project Florida State to have the 10th the 10th ranked defense in the country and I mean if you can have a top 10 defense forget about everything I just said because you're doing that's G doing something right right that's gonna be a dag on good defense because if you can finish top 10 against that slate of offenses I mean this defense is going to be all that and a bag of chips and and of course we do I mean I do think they're going to be good I do think they are going to be a top 25 defense in the country uh now looking at let's try and get through this one Michael Phil steals look at you got it nailed it uh projections for or his unit rankings so he has our dline ranked at 15th in the country number two in the ACC I would say with that I I probably would go maybe a little bit higher on the defensive line um I think top 15 is probably Fair maybe from a depth standpoint in the entirety of the room but I think man your starting four is probably top 10 in the country uh when you look at linebackers he has them at Top 40 he did have Cam Riley in there number six in the ACC you know man I guess if you got to have a a top 40 linebacking crew you'd like to see it maybe a little bit better but considering where we probably thought we were coming into the season with Lundy in the portal Noam Riley and so I guess I can take top 40 there uh again 425 defense is your primary set so you only need two you only need two uh defensive backs he has us at number seven in the country number one in the ACC uh tied with Clemson at number one in the ACC see I think that's pretty fair I would probably put our DB unit in the top five um I also understand that there's a lot of other good secondaries out there so you're getting competitive at that top end you know we don't really know who our second safety is yet right right but I do think they are top 10 secondary by all means and the best in the ACC so I agree there um and then we are going to wrap special teams into this as well he does have special teams at number 13 in the country number two in the ACC which again keep in mind that's going to be a big part when we just talked about all the things that equal closer games that's a pretty that could be a big part of it now his stat projections for the year points per game last year we gave up remember 19.3 or 15.9 adjusted with the bowl he has us given up 26.6 points per game that is plus 7.3 points on the regular total and plus 10.7 points on the adjusted without the ball total and if you look back at last year that would be the 68th rank scoring defense so man that's a that's a tough pill to swallow um it's the crazy thing is I mean even if you if just for the Orange Bowl it's over 10 points that's a that's a pretty big difference um if if you leave the Orange Bowl in there that's only about a Sixpoint difference so that's not super hard uh to understand there I just man I don't know that Florida State's gonna have the 68th best scoring defense that just doesn't feel right to me um you know I'm thinking you're probably going to be able to to you also don't really have a whole lot of easy games this year either you know what I mean you don't have North Alabama and Southern Miss right you got Charleston Southern who's still an FCS but you you get Memphis this year that's no joke that's a good offense so I still would maybe go around the 24 Point range uh I don't know that you hold the teams under 20 this year but I don't know man 68th in scoring defense I'm not buying that I think you're going to have at least top 40 top 50 uh in your scoring defense and you know hey Total Defense all the yards and stuff that's great don't matter like we said yesterday if you have 800 yards and and three points you probably lost the game so congratulations you didn't do anything with it um pass yards per game 28 this year his projection last year was 180 that's plus 28 yards a game that I think is probably fair with the quarterbacks that you have coming back Rush defense giving up 155 last year was 152 so actually three less yards hey that's an improvement that's what we wanted to see maybe they can keep some teams under that as well I think not having so many mobile quarterbacks even though you have a number of them between freaking castalanos who tore us up last year that's right and then like you said Hayes King in game one maybe you maybe you could see it yards per game 363 we gave up 332 last year down 31 yards a game so it's going to be you know again man or excuse me plus 31 so it's going to be those numbers are interesting you know I I again I have to argue with the 68 than scoring defense of course you know you don't know what that would have ranked in 2024 but that's where it would have been uh but you know I think there's a lot of people that do look at what you lost and then the offenses you're going to have to face that are kind of forming what we were talking about earlier but still overall just in those predictions I mean S&P plus has you in the top 10 so I'm liking those numbers as well and again I mean all of your position groups are are are top 40 top 15 and top 10 so that looks pretty good there and again you're you're number one number two and number six in the ACC and at the end of the day you're really just trying to win the ACC this year right now listen Jesse I'm not saying that Florida State's going to be you know number one across all defensive categories that would be yeah I I I don't know if there's ever been a team that's been number one on all the major categories across maybe that Georgia team from 20 what was that team 21 I think 21 that was like uber like the most one of the most dominant teams i' ever seen maybe even the 99 uh you know undefeated Flor State Defense that was a defense too yeah um but I'm not saying they're going to be number one across all categories but I I will say that if you look at the trend okay on of of an Adam Fuller defense every year they've gotten better right yeah and every year they've lost a significant piece of the defense to and everybody including me would say well how are they going to replace this how are they going to replace that okay there there definitely has to be a step back this year right there definitely has to be a step back this year but they they they went from 107 66 14 and okay maybe kind of a step back to 28th in Total Defense uh that what I have the numbers the research I have here they went from 98th 74 fourth and 11th in passing offense 97th 55 74 70 in Rush offense which we've already said needs to be better and then tied for 105th 68 20th and 18 in scoring defense third down defense they went 104 86 in the country to 36 to six they were the best they were top 10 uh third down defense last season okay like and so I I just maybe right now maybe when when game one happens and if Georgia Tech starts throwing all over them and running all over them I might be like all right there might be something wrong but until I see it I have to go with the numbers like you you go with the numbers I go with the numbers and the numbers are showing that there's a trend of getting better and better and not even just getting better but replacing talent that has left with Talent that's coming in talent that that Germaine Johnson came in with very little stats uh uh Jared verse came in with like d80 stats right um and and and so did Braden Fizz and so you couldn't really count them as like oh these are D1 power five power four stats and again they proved over those year just get better and better and better and so I I'm sitting here today saying yes the offense is going to be harder the stats are saying that there's a potential for them to struggle a little bit feel still you know who who basically says we're gonna give up 7.3 points more points than we did last year okay that might be the case but is he also accounting for the fact that is he just basing that on the fact that the talent lost or is he also thinking about the talent Comm in and the production of the hit rate as we've talked about before on previous shows of how they've been hitting on these players so you know that to me that's where I kind of like yes those numbers are important and they're good to keep your eye on but man just by touching field just by touch and field which doesn't always win your games it this defense could be just as good if not slightly better than it was the previous season yeah and I will say that Phil steel does spend about an hour on the phone with every power five or really every head coach so they go over the entire yeah the whole ordeal and so he does have a good understanding and I'm not trying to sound like a pessimist here I don't want to sound like I think Florida State's defense is going to be bad because I'm really excited about this defense I think it's going to be the strength of the team I think it's going to be defense special teams running game and then we'll figure out the rest I think that's where you're going to build your foundation this year um like I said I just think my point is you may find yourself in closer games this year yeah because you still are replacing people and I still think there are some areas where frankly you have to stay healthy you don't have a choice or this defense is going to be in trouble if you lose one or two guys and so I do think that like your interior defensive tackle as we transition into basically the the position groups now that is that is the one we can start with um but I do want to say that I am keeping an overall positive sentiment because I do think that this defense is going to be the leading unit of this team uh I think it's just again it's like painting that whole picture like we talked about where you just have a tougher slate that you're going to face so yeah again when you when you hold the tickets up at the end of the year and you're like okay it was 20 or 18th this year it might be 28 this year yeah but that doesn't mean your record wasn't still as good because you just maybe you won that game 3128 instead of 34 to 20 last year something like that you know so getting into the position groups is why this is where you do start to get excited when you talk about the guys on this roster because you know again like you talked about you can focus on the guys that left I think really the talk has to be about the guys that are here now they have big shoes to fill so we're hoping that they do that but you know starting up front with the defensive line I will say one thing that that does give me some hope because this is kind of the area where I feel like you you maybe got hurt the most with what you lost good thing is no defensive lineman last year played more than 50% of the snaps so one you have built more depth by having more playing time for those younger guys and then two the weight of the guys that are leaving isn't going to be as heavily felt it's not like you know Jared ver is leaving after playing 90% of the defensive snaps and Braden fist played 90% of the defensive snaps so I think that does help your case to be like okay well 50% of our snaps was not with those guys last year the defense was still pretty good uh but when you look at the defensive line you're starting four to six guys this is probably I mean it's hard to be more excited than that secondary but this man it's close I get giddy when I talk about this this defensive line I mean first off let's start in the interior you have Josh farmer who has 790 snaps of experience 6'3 318 pounds second Team all ACC last year then you have Daryl Jackson who's played 681 snaps 6 fo5 330 pounds both of these guys were on Bruce felman's college football freaks list for how big they are and how they move so I think you're going to have one of the best D tackle Duos in the country now the thing to remember about Daryl Jackson too is he did play at Miami did play at Maryland then he ended up at Florida State where we know he could not play last year he was not eligible until the Georgia game but the thing is he still practiced it's not like he was sitting over there eating popcorn and and you know waiting on the NCAA 25 video game to come out he was you know he was working right he stayed engaged he stayed working he could have left you know with those measurables he could have tested the NFL draft so he stayed in shape he has a year of understanding of how this defense Works he just couldn't do it on Saturday so you're not it's almost like he's not even a transfer at this point it it's almost like he's a guy that like he's a red shirt guy coming into his first year at FSU so I like that as well again you know you're you're talking about almost 1600 combined 1500 combined snaps here I mean over 650 pounds of grown man in the middle uh that that is going to be a lot for any team to deal with uh now are these two guys like full-on you know like a penetrating chaos machine like Braden fist probably not but I think with that size and the strength and the athletic ability ility they're you're not going to be able to do much up the middle against this defensive line now behind them I do get a little bit concern with who you have there but I do think while no defensive lineman played more than 50% of the snaps last year that might not be the case this year just because I don't think you don't you know you don't have Fabian love it coming in anymore uh you but you do have Grady Kelly uh he has played over a thousand snaps in college at Colorado State 62 300 lb so he's got size and you know again I know we said we weren't really excited about him in the spring after the performance that we saw but again you know some guys turn it on on Saturdays and and we talked about this before if you can get 10 to 15 snaps a game from him I think that's probably good enough uh Daniel Lions has 182 snaps of experience 64 290 that's another guy uh KJ Samson did Play 50 snaps last year 63 300 pounds we saw him have a good spring so I think you have some some backups in the middle duraj of course 64 278 292 snaps can slide into the middle to help you a defensive tackle my concern with that group is that past the ones the T the step down is pretty sizable and I think that's where we say you know when I said earlier that I think you have to have one or two guys that have to stay healthy there is no ifans or buts about it these two have to stay healthy because if they're not your starter I think you're gonna that's going to be a little bit of a weakness in the middle but I love that interior defensive group um and and then when you look at the defensive ends again Patrick pton man I just think Patrick pyton is gonna be a like he's going to be the next great one out of out of Florida State at the defensive end you know 65 254 he's added some Mass this year he's got 991 snaps of experience now ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year is freshman year I saw thing I think he has the most pbus of like you know because he's so long and yeah yeah gets the blocks I think he had more most pbus of any defensive lineman in the country probably more than half our defensive backs to be honest which is crazy um I think he can be that first te all ACC type of guy I think he's going to step into that role I think starting across from him is going to probably be C loha to start with uh over a thousand snaps of experience 63 260 second Team all Pack 12 selection last year you know this is a guy that may not be that home record type of defensive end but he's good against the Run he's uh we we've heard that in Fall Camp he's also he's good at pressure doesn't get a lot of sacks but you know again I think when you look at the guys playing around him Marvin Jones Jr which we talked about 300 snaps of experience I think he's just one of those quiet workers man I think he's going to when the lights come on I think he'll be ready you know he may not be Jared verse year one Germaine Johnson year one it may take him some time to to get into that role but I think he's going to be an impact player for you this year that's an NFL body type of guy yeah Byron Turner Jr now has 300 snaps under his belt 64 250 at his best season last year where I talked about dur who can play outside for you uh Jaden Jones is a defensive end to to look out for 65 250 Joo guy who was dealing with an injury last year only played 59 snaps um and then you have I mean you have Aaron Hester out there as well some other guys I mean you at the defensive end you have an embarrassment of riches I mean to be honest you have four to six guys I think that could start for division one teams pretty much in any of the power five conferences so man this defensive line it has the potential to be another Havoc creating home wrecking you know just I dare you to try it type of defensive lineup and I can't wait to see it man yeah yeah I mean this this defensive Line's going to be I think I won't I won't go ahead I won't say they're going to be better than last year's version of the defensive line but I think they'll hold their own I think they'll be um dominant I think they'll be they they'll be able to get pressure on the quarterback I I I don't think again one of the great things about last year's defense was because of how good that front four that front five was uh Adam Fuller didn't have to send a lot of Blitz packaging I mean he did Blitz um but he didn't have to send a lot it wasn't like an overly crazy you know uh I think it's the Miami defensive coordinator who they Blitz like 70% of the time if I remember correctly that stat and so like Adam Flo didn't have to do that because he could get pressure with just front for I mean you saw that in the the ACC Championship game that front four was dominating offense Jared ver he hits dudes with dudes with dud exactly exactly now so I don't think they'll I don't think they'll I don't think they'll be as dominant as that defensive line was last year but I think they'll be good I think adding darl Jackson finally into the mix I mean you've heard I mean again yes these are practice reports but if if we're to believe that this offensive line from Florida state is supposed to be you know heads above better then the fact that this defensive line and Daryl Jackson in particular were were wreaking habit on that I mean either that gives you great uh great confidence for the defensive line or great worry about the offensive line I this is just I I heard one person say this is like a NFL level defensive line all the way through like you not that every person is a first-round draft piic but it has defense it has NFL level skill on the on that defensive line I think uh I think darl Jackson's gonna be huge part of that I think p uh Patrick pyton of course is going to be anchoring one of the ends there the long arm you know I think this year if they can get a better pass rush last year it was almost as if he was like okay I'm going to be the guy that kind of creates the havoc and then gets back you know gets the pbus and Fisk and uh and and verse are going to get in and get the sacks I think this year you might see a little bit of reverse of that I think the other side is gonna try to do their thing and they're gonna try to free up more of Patrick pyton to get in the back field more but you also know that those offenses are going to probably try to double team him uh or or chip him with a with a tight end or or running back there so he's going to seem extra attention this year so it's going to be really up to uh that other side of the rotation to actually step in and and and make them pay attention I actually think to the I actually think you're going to continue to see the rotation I I would agree with you I don't know if it's going to be as much as it was last season because they had a good really really really good 2D I think that I think your your first your first team is really good and I think your second team is probably just good and so I think you probably see um you'll probably see that rotation kind of shrink just a little bit but I don't think they're gonna I don't think they're going to Veer from that I think Mike nll and Adam Fuller have seen the success of that again we talked about this last season how Georgia and Alabama have they they basically begun this trend and now a lot of teams are trying to follow suit of because if because it allows you to play more and more defensive ends they actually get or def def Del lineman they actually get significant time they're in there on crucial Downs I mean you would see last year that you know the offense would be just driving our defense and then finally they get a third down then we'd switch to the third down and then they'd get out and you're like why did you put them there in the beginning it's because they were preparing them for this season they're they're always looking ahead and so I think this defensive line um is going to be good really good um I don't know if the sack numbers are going to be as good as they were last year I think we'll get pressure I think we'll get decent pressure and and hopefully Force you know timing issues uh bad mechanics all of those things but I don't know if we'll be able to to replicate the the the amount of actual sacks we were able to get last year yeah I would agree with that I don't I don't know that we create as many sacks I do think they will be probably better against the run with having more kind of like Edge Setters uh the massive defensive tackles in the middle and I do agree I think they will rotate I just think you'll see more snaps from the top two because of that Gap or at least in pressure situations I think you would want those two on the field for the big time situations but again I mean that way you build that depth you get those more and sync for later in the season when you got a Clemson to Miami and Notre Dame so I think you got to get them up to speed relatively quick but I think it will be the anchor of the defense you know I I think it's really just kind of flip-flop from last year last year you had two really good defensive ends and then you didn't have a whole lot behind them in the middle yeah but the middle you felt good about this year kind of like the middle you don't have the you have the top two and then kind of a mixture in between them or behind them but the defensive ends I mean you can bring in you got six defensive ends you feel could be a starter so um it just kind of flip-flop from last year to this year but man I still think this defensive line is going to be the anchor of this group I think they'll be better against the run and I do think they're still going to create Havoc when it comes to the pass because I mean that's right you know like you said Patrick Payton's probably gonna get the Jared verse treatment this year that's right where you're G to get chipped and doubled and things like that but that's going to open things up for a lot of the other guys you know and there's a lot of other talented guys this year so looking back behind them with the front seven at your linebackers this is a position where you know coming into the the spring bring camp we were actually like man this is or really at the end of the last season you were like uh well this could be a problem next year um if we don't go get some help and then they right didn't really go get a whole lot of help we we went and got Shawn Murphy at one point and then adding Cam Riley was really the big the big ad I think that and getting DJ Lundy back out of the portal really just flipped your perception of this room I mean when you look at DJ Lundy he has 1460 snaps of experience and that is all at Florida State and when you know I asked Mike Noll at media days like what is the difference between having that talented team or that experienced team DJ Lundy was the first name that came out of his mouth he said' look we are experienced guys like DJ Lundy they may not have been the quote unquote starter but he's played since he was a true freshman and so now this guy has almost 1500 snaps in Adam Fuller's defense so he knows what to do there I would imagine he's probably going to be the guy with the headset in the helmet calling your plays this year but 61240 second highest graded linebacker against the Run per PFF last year uh number 17 in tackle grade number 20 in PFF grade in the power five with a minimum of 200 snaps number five in lowest Miss tackle percentage I mean he's a he's a dagone good linebacker not the greatest in coverage I mean you can kind of look at him and tell he's just a massive human being like I've always said this about DJ Lundy if you could chisel a linebacker out of stone it would look like DJ Lundy like a college linebacker um and he always gets praised for Mike Noll for that but you know the coverage is maybe where you lack a little bit here but against the run right I mean he's a going to be a force in the middle there uh then you look at Cam Riley 948 snaps we know he started his career at Auburn but again man this is so crazy 6 fo5 242 pounds that's a that's a lot of human being bo uh you know and that's going to really help over the middle when you're trying to get them passes over the middle six foot five he can snag those right out of the air uh now looking back at Auburn again like I said the fall Camp reports have been amazing and it feels like he has really elevated this room but I always like to see what you did in a game time situation and his coverage numbers were not the best so we'll see they said he's improved uh in the fall so hopefully that that is something that he improved on but he did have a 5% Miss tackle rate in 2023 which is very low so sure tackler big guy SEC experience I'm loving what I see there uh and then of course you have Omar Graham Jr did play 268 snaps didn't grade out so well so you know but he's got some experience he's still growing in the system you got Shawn Murphy there as well didn't play a whole lot at Alabama you know we kind of heard he's a serviceable guy through the fall Camp right juice CER and Blake Nicholson both played around 100 snaps last year did not grade out that well but they were both really young players uh but both of these guys have had good camps especially juice CER he has been kind of one of the talks of the linebackers in Fall Camp so I think you got two guys that you really like in Lundy and Cam Riley then I think you kind of have the rest that's kind of how I look at this group you have two top guys then you have the rest and and if you can just get another two guys out of that I think juice CER is is a guy that from what we've heard you know and again I hate relying on other people's opinions but when you what you've heard he's a guy that knows the scheme he knows where to line up he's always in the right place at the right time he's just the athletic ability is his only limiter and so you know you may want to be careful with with having him against Clemson Notre Dame Miami and things like that where you get him in coverage with a fast receiver but he can be a big contributor on this defense and Blake Nicholson I mean this is a guy with a a huge ceiling yeah you're just you're like okay man is this when is when are we going to see it come to fruition and we've seen some flashes it's just now you need to do it on a more consistent basis but I think you have two that you really like and I think you have two to three uh between Shawn Murphy Omar Graham juice Cryer and Blake Nicholson that that you feel like can be contributors for you and again like we said this is not to diminish their play or the position but in a 425 defense if you had to pick a weakness it would be linebacker and you know when I was talking about this on that Florida show the other day the thing about the defense is like now that they've got this linebacker position to where it's at I don't feel like you can point to a weakness on this defense you have strengths and you have weaknesses but I don't think it's a weakness overall like the linebackers aren't as strong as the defensive line in the secondary but I don't think it's a weakness anymore I think this defense is good across the board and great in some areas yeah I would agree with you I don't again I don't think the linebacker it I don't think we we don't have a and I don't mean offense to the boys out there you know I love you guys but we don't have Elite linebacker play we don't have linebacker play like we see at Alabama or Georgia or even a Michigan or Ohio State we don't have that kind of play what we've had over the last couple Seasons we don't have Marvin Jones trolling around out that's right we got his boy but we don't have him um we we we what we have is productive linebacker play meaning that they they've done just enough to be serviceable to make an impact I mean you know last year obviously with Caitlin Delo and and and and Tatum bethon um you know they were able to to make significant plays at significant times when we needed them but other than that most of the time you didn't really hear much about them because that defensive line and the de and the and the defensive backs were making all the plays I think this year again I think if I had to project who you're starting to and that 425 is going to be you're looking at probably DJ Lundy and Cam Riley uh that's the mo those are the names we obviously heard the most with even though DJ was out he he was pretty much penciled in as a returning St uh returning player and probably uh most experienced but I think what you got now is you got like you said serviceable debt you have Omar Graham who's who's played uh a lot of snaps last year you got Blake Nicholson who's getting better and better who played a lot of snaps last year you bring in Shawn Murphy who was a serviceable backup last year and then of course juice Cryer as you mentioned you also have him you also got DeMarco Ward who's a red shirt freshman coming into this year who who probably will see more time on special teams but you know in those moments could get some snaps there um and so you're going going to see I would I would imagine that you're going to see a lot of that 425 but then what we did see towards the end of the season more so was Fuller going to that 4-3 and when he goes to that 4-3 that's where you get kind of worried because a 4-3 is linebacker dependent like the the 4-3 it's all about the linebacker play um that's where it becomes worrisome because do you have a true third person that you're you you're going to trust in crunch time if you go to that 43 if you stick with that to then you always have your starters your number ones on the field at that time with what I'm projecting to be DJ Lundy and uh Cam Riley and so I think it's gonna be interesting to see like how well you know one how well DJ Lundy has recovered from the supposed injury or the the the the dinkies had uh throughout fall camp and then also is Cam Riley what what we've been hearing about is he actually the the the linebacker we hear about and then what steps has Blake Nicholson and Omar Graham taken in this offseason and the preseason fall Camp to to even to grow their game more yeah I agree man I I think you still like you said you have you have two good ones that you feel like you can rely on that can elevate your defense you look at DJ Lundy this is the guy that was third in tackles on FSU last year as at with 54 total tackles and I'm looking at him up right now and he played you know 80 to 100 snaps less than than kayin Deo and Tatum Bon so again a very productive linebacker Cam Riley had 32 total tackles last year and what only started one game at Auburn so you know it only played 300 snaps a little over 300 snaps last year so again I mean these guys can be productive in that starting role another year of experience another year in the defense I think it's DJ Lundy kind of like we talked about with to Philly you know he's kind of been that second third type of guy his whole career now it's time for him to be you know lb1 as you want to call it so with the linebackers like you said I I'm not going to sit here and say we got Marvin Jones rolling around out there Derek Brooks I don't think we have those type of guys I don't know that we have any all-americans out there yeah gez but I I would say that at least even Ernie Sims you know but I would I would even say that he's on the coaching staff though right maybe we can suit him up he looks like he can still play too um I do I will say that I think from the spring to now I feel night and day better about this this linebacker so this is another position where I think you're GNA need those top two guys to stay healthy though because I think when you get past them things get a little bit questionable uh which you know that was kind of the way it was last year anyway you had three that you liked and the rest were a little bit questionable too so now going to something that's not really a question mark and that is the defensive backs group this is hang your hat DBU locks and keys no fly zone all that type of stuff this is this is what it's all about this is where I think the strength of your defense the strength of your team is going to be next year and a lot of that has to do with the experience and just the Raw Talent level uh obviously to start with you have AAR Thomas who is a guy that most of us including Mike noell including a lot of people project to be an All-American guy you know you hate to to put such lofty expectations on somebody but there's a lot of jayen Ramsey comparisons going on right now and if he can be that type of player man that's going to be huge for this defense and you know the thing is like he's only played two seasons and he wasn't a you know he played a lot as a freshman uh we saw some of the growing pains with playing him as a freshman but you knew that he just mooved different than everybody on the field so you had to get him on there he's now had 820 snaps in the past two years so he's got a lot of experience uh and he's gotten better both years I mean he had a gave up a 68.8% completion percentage in 22 that number dropped to 48.8% in 2023 and he was targeted 25 more times yeah so you got a lot heavier workload and actually did better with it um like I said he had he went from 41 targets or from 16 to 41 targets and only allowed nine more receptions so I mean he you saw that jump from year one to year two and now if he can take another jump into year three man it's it's going to be good also even on 25 more targets only allowed the same number of touchdowns with two last year uh pbus were up five from 1 to six and his PFF coverage grade jumped from 63.8 up to 78.7 so man he took it was a really good season for him last year even though he wasn't in a starting role but I think this year man it's going to be like AZ Island out there I I mean you're gonna you're GNA see a big season from him I'll be a little bit sad because it'll probably be his last one if he has that All-American type of season uh you know probably go into the draft man I think this is going to be a guy that can lock you down out there uh super excited to see AZ out there and then at the other Corner position we already know it's going to be fentrell Cyprus he played 606 snaps at FSU in 2023 1593 snaps as a college player overall so so much experience and you know there was times where like we talked about what he did at Virginia where he was looking really good and then at Florida State we felt like he was still good maybe not quite as he was at Virginia but I I did some looking and his completion percentage only came up by 5% 45 in 22 to 50 in 23 but he only played nine games in 2022 and he had tougher competition in 2023 so that's just I think tougher competition more games longer season uh but he's had a great fall Camp I mean there's people that are saying he's having like you know I hate to say we got two all well I'd love to say we have two All-American Corners to be honest but that kind of that kind of All-American type of a camp and if he can turn out to be that tight man two lock down Corners I mean this guy's played a lot of football so I'm absolutely loving what you have at the two corners out wide there um and then of course you know behind them you have some guys like quindarius Jones is the name that Mike norell I I swear I hear him say that name every time he talks yeah um and then you know the younger guys too you got a Maran Cooper that can provide some depth out there uh you have a lot of the younger guys Charles Lester is a guy I think you'll see this year some of the other DBS um that that we've heard about through fall camp but man I think like with like with the linebackers those are your two guys yeah and those are two lock down guys I think that's as good as it gets I think that's one of the best cornerback Duos probably the best in the ACC one of the best in the country so man tell me about these corners and then we'll start talking about some safeties and and the nickel position after that yeah I mean obviously AZ fentrell lock it down throw out the pencil throw the keys away they they've they've got those two Corner uh uh positions locked down they're going to be I would suspect that they're going to be even better than they were last season obviously the competition is going to be a little bit harder going up against better receivers this year but um I would I I would suspect they're going to win their Fair share battles I think the the the the the conversation is really around that slot corner you know where where Jen Jones was at last year who who took over that position you know that star Rover kind of corner and locked it down and now this year there's been a battle for it and um based on what I've been reading and seeing in the practice rep I think I think your boy Duke is about to take that position super yeah I mean Mike nille has has mentioned him over and over in that nickel slot there uh and how that he's he he he has felt like he's played a lot better there in that position and so remember before he transferred out he they had moved him to safety which is where he really you know he had that incredible freshman season got moved to safety struggled like boy struggled transferred out came back in and it seems like they've been working him at both safety in that nickel corner but it seems a lot like he might now again opening day it could be totally different but based on this is just my projection based on what I I've heard and seen it looks like he might be opening day starter at that nickel slot uh uh Corner position yeah but I think you actually have good depth Jesse behind them too I mean you got Ricky Knight I mean you got uh you got Kai Bates you got you got all these guys on there that can actually step in and um and and fill in in the rotation there around them and then of course you know I I know we'll get the safety there in just a second so I I I I I really like our Corner situation I like it even better than I liked it last year last year I really liked it you know because Ricardo green was on the other side of that um I I think this is going to be again I I I just have a lot of confidence I know I know the offens are going to be worse or better this year uh but I I still think this is a top 10 at least top 10 uh passing defense yeah I think when when a Thomas when you look at him versus Renardo like Renardo you knew could be good then he turned out to be great his final year AZ was a guy like when you saw him come in as a recruit I mean you were like this is going to be the next guy unless something happens you know along the way and now it's that time and you've seen the flashes you've seen it on on the film that he can be that guy and you're just hoping now with a starting role I mean he was basically a starter last year uh but yeah I think you're going to see him step into that big role and and at nickel it is interesting because you know we had talked for a long time we thought it was gonna be Earl little Jr yeah you know and then now you hear about amaran Cooper and I was just pulling him up yeah I mean in 20121 as a freshman he had a 73.9% grade as a corner uh 83 .4 against the Run coverage grade was 72.3 that was great then the numbers really took a dive in 2022 uh they were little bit better in certain areas in in 2023 out at Colorado which again you know in in the Pack 12 at the time that they were playing there they had a lot of good passing offenses we did talk about that um which you know that's kind of a train wreck out there in Colorado anyway so uh but I think it's good to have that depth you know because when you talk about that position obviously jion Jones was a massive player there and you know again talk about a guy that turned his career around but that's right with Earl little JR this was the one where I was kind of like I feel so excited about what he can be but then you look at he's only played 21 snaps at Alabama so there's just a lot of unknown there yeah but I I will have to say that the word coming out of Alabama when he transferred was there was a lot of people that thought he should have been in that starting position that's right and he just for some reason he wasn't and there was people that thought they made a mistake by doing that so it's kind of like the the talent versus The Experience and I I want to say duke Cooper was a fourstar coming out of high school too I'm not 100% sure on that but this is a guy that has talent I mean we've seen that he he has playing experience he's been in this defense so I think having that that depth and competition is something that you'd like to see because if you know maybe if you feel like Earl little Jr should be out there but then the lights are maybe a little too bright for him you have a guy who's been under the lights right you know if if maybe Duke Cooper starts out there because he has the experience under the lights and that experience ain't good experience right then you have or a little Junior that you can try so I think the good thing is you have two that you're set on and the last one you have two or three guys that you feel like can be you know very good options for you right yeah and and and again now please don't be like take this to the bank you know Michael said that you know Duke Cooper starting no I'm just saying that based on what I've been hearing and reading it sounds like he might get the nod for the opening day now Earl little could could could show up these next couple days before they go and and and dominant and and they're like okay we're just going to roll with him I don't know it just sounds like that his name has come up a lot when they've talked about that slot Corner position and he was as you said in fact a a composite fourstar uh recruit 41st highest uh Prospect in Florida 22nd quarterback nationally in the 247 composite was number nine in America at position and number 20 overall in Florida by ESPN yeah so I mean it's a guy who's talented and that's why like I was a little sad to see him go when he left because I knew the talent that He had and you know now I was kind of wondered when he came back like what they were going to do with him and now that you have like 15 guys at safety battling for one spot you know I kind of figured like Kevin noes probably wasn't moving back so then you just leave him there so I think that makes sense and and I could see him honestly being I could see him being your game one starter just from an experience standpoint and then then you kind of you know because again like we talked about you got two good offenses that you're GNA face early on so you don't really want to be mixing and matching early on you want to kind of lock some things down well and if you're running that and if Georgia Tech is running you know four wide then you're definitely going to see or little cuz he's going to have that other you you would assume he'd have the other slot Corner position as well too yeah yeah yeah so you could see a situation where you get them both on the field but now looking back to safety Behind these guys I'm really excited for the year shahim Brown is going to have I I've been high on shahim for a long time uh I think it was just a matter of getting the experience he now has 1222 snaps of experience the last two years he's had 70 plus PFF grades which you know 60 is about average 7 plus is like that power five starter level status and I will say for what it's worth it's too much calculating to do nowadays with all the transfers but um a page called I think it was dog stats or whatever they put out in 2022 alab or excuse me Georgia had the most 70 plus PFF players returning they won a national championship in 2023 Florida state had the most 70 plus players and Dak gonet we should have won Championship right so you know that that that 70 plus PFF grade they're not the gospel but it does mean a little something um and he's had 70 plus in the past two seasons only a 10% Miss tackle rate last year which he cut in half from 2022 um he definitely has gotten better pretty much every year 50% reception rate in 2023 a little bit higher than 22 but he had more targets he also had uh an interception and a pbu last year and the other thing is he's good at the kind of bringing pressure from the safety position 10 pressures six hurries and two sacks so I think he is going to step into that quarterback position you know this may even be a candidate to where wear that play calling uh headset for the defense I think he's going to step into a Keem D role and I think you're going to see him be the quarterback of that defense so I think shahim we've heard he's had a really good camp he's coaching the young guys he looks like he's ready to go um I have you know again that's a a give the lock throw away the key I think you take that one to the bank I think Shah's good to go it's the other safety position that you're kind of waiting to see Shake out and I don't know about you Michael but I haven't we're getting ready to go into Georgia Tech prep haven't really heard one way or the other who it's going to be I mean you know my pick would be Conrad hussy 2133 snaps of experience uh 8.7% Miss tackle rate last year 50% reception rate two bbus one of the craziest interceptions athletic interceptions you'll see I mean this kid I think he is really he's like a Thomas he's that really high ceiling guy uh doesn't have the most experience but he did play a good bit last year then you look at Kevin nolles 1491 snaps 403 in 2023 alone all these are at FSU but this was the one knock we had on Kevin noes 28.9% Miss tackle rate which was basically the highest of any starting player um 87.5% reception rate only one pbu and no interceptions on twice as many snaps as hussy so to me I don't know man and then you also got Devonte Brown in there you got ashon Barker in there that you can throw in the mix I think it's probably going to come down to Kevin noes Devonte Brown and Conrad hussy um I I think you got like two experienced guys that you've seen play on film for multiple years and then you got that talented guy so which one of those went out I really don't know of course you trust Patrick ceran to to pick the winner but I like all three options I will say that I'm probably the lowest on on Kevin NOS because of his tackling you know it's we talked about that before man it's never been that like he's not in the position to make a play he's always in position he just it's like it's like time to tackle somebody and there he goes and it's like he just Ducks his head and misses him and you know I mean it's you've heard good things coming out of Camp about and again that was his first year at safety so it's a different type of deal you know when you're when you're trying to tackle somebody from that position but yeah man I I think you got three good options I'll say that I'm just ready to see who it's GNA be and and if it were me I like hussy but again I'm not I'm not pan so well you know I I I've again projection guys uh I've I've been reading and hearing that it's likely potentially going to be probably hussy uh he would be who I'd put my money on uh to to to start the at least to start the season I mean and and uh you know remember last year he was fsu's Defensive freshman of the year he won the uh freshman of the Year award I mean he had a great game against P obviously that interception you're talking about like like crazy he had two two turnovers uh that he got against um against pit he actually started the Orange Bowl game God Rest his soul that Orange Bowl game uh but he started the orange Bo game he had a you know career-high seven tackles against Georgia there so he he's shown um the ability to step into that role you know I think I think early on if it is him I think they're going to have a you know maybe a rotating piece right there kind of like they did a little bit um was it last year or the year before where they kind of were rotating that other safety position uh I think you're gonna see Kevin Nells I think they're gonna give it a shot again to see if he's gotten better with his tackling I mean that's his problem like you said he was he was always it it was never that he was out of position it was that he was in position but he couldn't he couldn't tackle a wet noodle if it stood right there in front of him like I mean it was just it was bad and so I think you'll see that I think you'll see a little bit of rotating but I would put I'd put a quarter because that's all I got um on Conrad husy probably starting the season off yeah I I I would think so and if I'm not mistaken gosh I can't remember even now but I think somebody might have picked them to have a breakout season maybe maybe we'll see we'll see we'll see so um and I think somebody else picked somebody else to have a breakout okay that's why I'm not giving up on them right so we're going to see where it goes but I do like the depth that you have at safety nothing else you know last year whenever hem Dent was dealing with injury you kind of had one guy I mean you turn to a little bit of hussy but mostly Kevin nolles right at least this year if things don't go great you have a couple guys to turn to so yeah man I think when you go through the position groups I think that's what gets you excited about here you realize that that yes they lost a lot but like you talked about yes they brought in a lot of talented guys and I think they have the potential it's like I talked about with 2021 potential or 2022 season potential equals production if these guys can live up to their potential this can be one of the best defenses in the country they're just going to have a harder slate of offenses to do it again so I think if they do finish as one of the best defense in the country it's going to be even more impressive that's right uh than than maybe it was last year so and just to round this episode out with a a quick minute here on special teams Ryan Fitzgerald shout out to you my friend 90 and a half percent on his field goals last year 19 to 21 18 or eighth in the country 59 of 59 on Pats Master mono an absolute weapon uh 45 .42 average 14th in the country we had two block kicks last year which I think we're going to see more this year we've heard Pat Payton just ain't letting no kicks get off in Fall Camp so you know that length and that burst that he has I think you're going to see some some block kicks this year uh kick returns we were actually seventh in the country 25.4 four yard average two touchdowns and I think you're going to see that get better this year too with duban and Jaylen Lucas Jaylen Lucas was one of the best kick returners in the Big 10 duban has been one of the best in the ACC so you got some weapons back there and like we talked about things get close you might need that special teams and so I think that could be a big part of it so man that it's going to be a weapon this year but overall man just some final thoughts on the defense I feel good about this group I think they're going to be a a really good defense I think they're going to be the anchor of this team I think special teams is also going to be a very underrated weapon for this team when you talk about flipping field position and getting points in the Red Zone even if it's a field goal you know not like you said the other day with what was it seven in the hand is better than three in the bush or something so but I I do think they're going to have to they're going to have to strap up and play this year because you got a tougher slate of offenses but I definitely am excited about what this defense brings this season yeah yeah I am too I'm excited about what they can bring I'm excited about the talent that's come there and yes we you know they've lost production but uh I would imagine that the the potential of of the talent that they have on that on that field uh will help um ease some of the concern in production they're going to give up some more yards we we should we should go ahead and anticipate that uh we should go ahead and anticipate that they're going to give up maybe a little bit more um some more points and they they they did last season but I think overall I think you'll still see a I'm not going to say dominant just yet but I think you'll see a potentially really good defense each and every weekend as long as the coaching and developments there uh and one thing I didn't say about the linebacker uh thing that when we talked about their position the one thing I will give credit to Randy Shannon on is that while the recruiting of the linebackers hasn't been up to par the development and the play of the linebackers have been as we said productive and honestly and a 425 that's what you need you would love to have an elite linebacker play but productive linebacker play is just um is is good and so I will give Randy shanon credit for that also for the for special teams man Fitz magic and I'm knocking on wood here because I don't want to jinx anything okay fits let's do it again this year let's let's be good and of course Alex Masano I mean gosh what a weapon what a the Aussie punting game and and just the whole the whole thing uh just keeps us in the game I mean the punt is basically uh a a critical part of the defense there too so and then of course kick return obviously with jayen Lucas I think yeah let's go I mean let's put let's let's put that man back there and see what he can do yeah I agree and I will say too that I I definitely Echo what you said about Randy the play on the field has been really good um and then also you know I think it is worth mentioning again remember Ernie Sims this year can that's right can help coach so that's going to be that is going to be big man but yeah overall I I just I definitely think that I'm excited about it uh just wanted to touch on Master mono real quick I was just pulling up some of his numbers some more in-depth stuff so yeah I mean you're looking at uh he downed inside the 20 last year 30 punts inside the 20 uh that was more than double or that was about double what he did in 2022 uh with 15 now he didn't punt a whole lot in 2022 scoring that offense was so good 34 points to 67 so um yeah man I I just think I think special teams will be an underrated weapon this year I think you'll probably see a couple kick return touchdowns couple crucial BL kicks yeah and so hopefully man I think the defense will lead the way to a successful season but guys the next one is the big one coming up that that we're going to be recording for you guys that is the season win loss prediction that's where all of this comes together for for a fun one and you never know what we're going to say you never know what we're going to pick it could be 12 and0 I've seen some I've seen some eight and fours out there you know I was listening to some other podcasts the other some some eight and fours and nine and threes out there so we'll see where we stand on it uh go check out our sponsor for today Alumni Hall FSU get loaded up on that new FSU gear 10% off using code spear drop a like And subscribe if you enjoyed this video as well as a rate review on the podcast we've had some of you in the comments tell us that I tell my friends I tell all the s old friends so we sure appreciate that you know tag a friend use the buddy system hey I like this podcast I think you should listen to it too so we appreciate you guys for all your support helping spread the word so shout out to you guys and make sure you check out that offensive preview the Deep dive we did on dju as well as get ready for that win loss prediction so Michael we're getting close to the season man this is this is where it counts so uh until the next one we appreciate you guys tuning in [Music]