Tony White has spoken to the media roughly a half dozen times since he was hired as Florida State’s defensive coordinator. His charisma and positivity often light up a room and conveys optimism for the Seminoles.

But that was far from the case on Monday, a day after FSU wrapped up scrimmage No. 2. He praised a few players, but the big-picture analysis was far from what White was looking for on Sunday night.

“There’s some guys who showed out, guys who are building the coaches’ trust and the confidence of their teammates,” White said. “And there are some guys who need to quite frankly step their ass up — it’s unacceptable. We all need to make sure that we’re all on the same page and that we understand what’s asked of us and what the expectations are. Either guys do it or they don’t.”

“We got some guys out there that play hard and play physical and play fast - do the things that they’re asked to do. And it’s fun to watch those guys continue to grow and make plays and then there’s some guys that you’re expecting much more from that are not doing that. They’re not doing what they’re asked to do. They’re not doing what they’re taught to do. And therefore they won’t play.”

White was just getting warmed up. He didn’t call out players by name. He often praised, citing what he had seen from Jeremiah Wilson, Darrell Jackson and James Williams, among others. He feels good about an entire position group: “I like what the linebacker group is doing.”

But when the Seminoles held a scrimmage on Sunday night, starting indoors before moving into Doak Campbell Stadium, what White saw across the board wasn’t nearly good enough. He acknowledged the fundamental limitations of playing defense, that by nature you are going to give up plays, resulting in yards and points.

“The ball is going to beat you,” White said. “I never get upset when the ball beats you. But if you’re not doing what you’re being trained to do and you’re not playing your butt off, then that is unacceptable. That is not right. There’s flashes of that. There’s too much of that. We got to limit that and move forward.”

Scrimmage No. 2 was viewed as an opportunity for the Seminoles to make an impression, and perhaps it was a time for players to solidify a spot on the two-deep depth chart. Or to elevate themselves. White saw some of that, but emphasis on the word some.

“There are some guys who took advantage of that and played their tail off,” White said. “And then there are some guys that people are counting on, people are counting on to be good. And they didn’t show up like they were supposed to.”

Jenkins ahead of schedule

FSU’s coaches had hinted that they were holding Tennessee transfer defensive lineman Jayson Jenkins back, keeping him on a timeline to prevent from re-injuring himself. Coach Mike Norvell had in July said Jenkins would be good to go by the midpoint of camp.

Well, Jenkins is ahead of schedule. And he’s still on a limited rep count. But he’s back on the field — and it’s in large part a result of his work to rehabilitate from a foot/ankle injury that kept him out of the spring.

“He put himself in position to come back this fast and he’s taken live reps,” White said. “It was a very limited number of live reps but you can see it was just knocking the rust off. The more reps he gets the more comfortable he’s going to be. He’s twitchy, he’s explosive, he’s really, really disruptive. Had a really good scrimmage.”

Jeremiah Wilson’s interception

If there have been contrasting storylines from camp, it’s that the defensive backs haven’t grabbed interceptions but Wilson has played consistently well. White again lamented some missed opportunities to produce takeaways on Sunday. But he also sees plenty to like from Wilson.

“Had a great pick,” White said. “The guy is in a lot of spots. Usually when Jerry gets beat it’s just because the ball beats him. It ain’t because he don’t know what to do and he don’t know how to do it. He made a couple really, really nice plays.”

Freshmen turning heads

In another example of the no-nonsense White, he was asked a few questions about freshmen and said: “The criteria is the tape. When you put on the tape, guys show up.”

Among the freshmen he mentioned were defensive linemen Darryll Desir and Mandrell Desir. White said “they play their butts off” and called them disruptive, while also admitting they’ve had freshmen moments.

Cornerback Shamar Arnoux also was cited by White as standing out.

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