Transcript 0:00 [rock music] Hello and happy Friday, everybody. 0:41 Welcome to Seminole Sidelines. My name is Nick Carlisle, staff writer and recruiting writer for theosceola.com. 0:47 And joining me today, sitting right no- well, not literally sitting next to my right, but the camera right here. 0:53 We, we could, we could theoretically be in the same place at the same time, uh, same person really, uh, at the end of the day. [laughs] If you think about it, that, that's Bob Ferrante, head editor of theosceola.com. 1:05 Thanks for joining me today, Bob, and you and I thought we were gonna have an easy Friday, you know, super low-key, nothing newsworthy really happens. 1:14 We're just gonna go about our business, and then wa-bam, around twelve o'clock today, twelve o'clock noon, Florida State has lost their only running back commitment of the twenty twenty-six cycle. 1:27 Uh, a prized, uh, recruit in composite four-star Amari Thomas, who decommitted from, uh, Florida State after being committed for, uh, doing the math in my head. There were English people around here. 1:39 Eight months, seven months since, since January. Um, and you know, it seems like you p- with how that commitment came about, it's like, "Oh man, this is gonna be one strong commitment." 1:48 I mean, visiting back-to-back junior days ended up pulling a trigger on an early commitment to David Johnson, uh, Mike Norvell, and Gus Malzahn. Uh, 1:57 th-this commitment maybe not a surprise in terms of how it came about, as South Carolina made a huge push into the summer, Bob, and, um, really emerged as the team that was probably, 2:08 I'd say the, the, well, definitely the biggest threat out of, uh, out of a host of schools that previously were coming on a little strong for Amari, but South Carolina really emerged as the major threat here. 2:20 It's not the fact that the decommitment happened. I think the timing is the thing that kinda surprised me the most because theoretically, you're in the middle of a dead period right now. 2:27 Florida State may be a little bit concerned about the commitment heading into official visit season, but you thought that they would've made it through that first storm, collect yourselves, get ready for the fall when the results on the field and, and schools start really pushing hard for some of your commitments. 2:40 You would've thought that, uh, Florida State kind of made it through that initial storm. 2:45 How surprised are you by the timing of this decommitment, and kind of where's your head at, uh, in terms of what this means and is for this entire class? 2:56 I think Amari's commitment, you know, looking back to January, came at a really good time because it, it felt like it was an early commitment to help build this twenty twenty-six class to help, you know, maybe show other four stars that this was a, a, a place that's getting back on track. 3:11 And I, I also thought Amari would, would end up sticking early on just because he, he's a, he's a local guy, a Marianna kid from about an hour away. Yeah. Uh, now at Blountstown, just down the road from Marianna. 3:22 So it felt like he had been here so much that he was that, that local prospect that, that had some Florida State, um, kinda in his heart, that this was the, the place that he felt like he was destined to be. 3:34 The bummer i-is did other running backs along the way not come to Florida State and make commitments elsewhere because, you know, they wanted to be the one running back in that class. I'm not saying that to Jay Lamar. 3:47 I'm not saying that to another guy. But a-as the dominoes kinda went, it's not like quarterback dominoes, but I do think running backs sorta look at the depth chart, look at the opportunities. 3:58 You're thinking as a running back, is it a three-year window, this and that. I, I, I wonder if i-it's just bad timing as far as Amari backing off here in mid-July. 4:07 I almost have to question, is this, um, not only a late push by South Carolina, is it a, you know, rev share NIL push, you know, too from, from South Carolina? Is that something that, that could be in play here? 4:19 Yeah, it's something that you have to consider for sure. Uh, I, we of course, we don't know the specifics about any NIL contract or anything, what exact, what exactly the numbers were. 4:28 But, um, I, I mean, that could be one of the possible factors in this, Bob, because what we do know is that Florida State does have a lot of mon-money invested and involved in Usman Chroma. 4:38 You flipping him on signing day was not something that came very cheaply, and obviously you have a, you added another running back in the spring window with, uh, Gavin Salchuck, which a little bit maybe grayer in terms of how much he may be getting, considering he did have production his, his, uh, um, not true freshman year, but his red shirt freshman year obviously dealt with a nagging injury, as we talked about on the last show when evaluating the running backs. 5:03 That, that could... So ultimately, let's say that South Carolina did invest a little bit more money, made him a little bit more of a monetary priority at a position that they maybe feel like they need. 5:13 That certainly could be a factor in things. But I think it's something that you touched on that's really important is that 5:20 Florida State was pursuing a second running back in the class, or at least it appeared like they were gonna make a strong play for some of the bigger fish in the state in both, well, Florida and Georgia. 5:30 But they went after guys that really, I don't wanna call it a long shot, but they definitely were not the clear number one guy throughout the entirety of that recruitment. 5:38 I mean, Georgia was always number one for Jay Lamar. 5:41 Carson Baker, you could argue they were in the lead for him at some point, maybe coming off of that first spring visit, but you-he went to Ohio State, and then he had a visit high, and then he goes to Florida a couple weeks later, and obviously we know now, and that's where Carson ended up. 5:55 I think what makes this so devastating is the fact that you have had him committed since January. 6:00 He has been on campus multiple times, and he has been very consistent in how he felt about not only Florida State, but the coaching staff and where they were and how that suited him at the time.The fact that he never shut it down coming off of his official visit, and he did acknowledge that South Carolina, A, is a potential playoff team this year in the SEC. 6:20 They're coming off one of the best seasons that they've had in, gosh, I would say 10 to 15 years. So there's a lot to be attracted about on the field with South Carolina. 6:30 Obviously, the opportunity to play with Lenore Sellers, who's only going to be a sophomore this year, so he's going to have at least one more year. 6:37 All I'm saying is there's a lot of reasons why you would want to go to North – not North Carolina, but South Carolina. But again, it's the timing, Bob, that really feels weird to me here. It's the timing of all this. 6:46 It's in the middle of a dead period. You felt like if you're Florida State, even though you may have been worried about his commitment heading into official visits, it felt like you lasted through that storm. 6:55 And now you're sitting here and you're going to have to open back up the cupboards again and find something else because a lot of your top targets have committed elsewhere. 7:04 Derek Cooper is somebody that I still consider a long shot. There's not many running backs left on the board that are highly recruited prospects. So, yeah, it's very weird. 7:17 It very happened on a random Friday in the middle of the summer. 7:21 You know, I was thinking about this, you know, just after the decommitment and what's next is kind of my next question of, okay, if Amari's out of the picture, I think you still try to recruit him if you're the Florida State coaching staff. 7:35 You still keep on him and hope that that relationship maybe changes some mindset down the road. Maybe the football season goes really well on the field for Florida State and Amari changes his mind. 7:48 But then you also start thinking about, okay, are there other guys you try to flip or, and this is probably plan C, right? But let me just throw it out here. Used to be this thing called walk-ons. 8:00 No longer walk-ons in college football. 8:02 But Florida State had some pretty decent luck bringing in some walk-ons, you know, going back to Treshawn Ward was a walk-on back in the Taggart era who became a really good back at this power five, power four level. 8:16 C.J. Campbell had a really good career over in the Panama City area, was a walk-on, came over here, Florida State, went to Florida Atlantic. Now, not ideal that you're in this scenario in July, but 8:31 you have the extra scholarships to be able to offer. Maybe there's a guy who's committed to a group of five school and he wants to stay closer to home. Maybe he's a Florida guy. Maybe he's a Georgia guy. 8:42 But you have the opportunity as a coaching staff to try and see if there's somebody like that. Maybe a 8:50 lower three star, maybe a little bit of a diamond in the rough, but you watch that film and you say that's a guy who's going to be a good running back for Florida State. 8:58 I have to wonder if you're starting to think about that as a possible scenario if you're Mike Norvell, David Johnson, the coaching staff right now. 9:06 Yeah, and I think the more that I think about this decommitment, maybe it is the fact that 9:12 if there were any doubts on Amari's part about the trajectory of the program and maybe any doubts on whether he wanted this, whether he wanted Florida State to be his home or not, you know, why not decommit? You know, 9:27 open things back up, take the time that you need, go and visit these schools and, you know, don't do all this while you're committed and a lot of stress involved in that. 9:37 So why not just decommit and open things up and kind of evaluate? I would have figured that – I believe he said with an interview either with Zach at 247 or maybe it was some of the on three guys. 9:49 I can't remember who it was, but ultimately that there was a decision to be made at some point. 9:57 So if you're still in that decision-making mode and you're not 100% committed, you open things back up and see where things go. So that's something to consider as well. 10:06 There are a couple of guys off the top of my head, and I mentioned this in the write-up that, you know, I did as soon as it happened. Ladarius Pryor is a guy that they've brought on campus. 10:16 He's a three-star prospect from – I think he goes to Evans in Orlando, which is a pretty decent program, a high school program. He's uncommitted right now. He's been on campus a couple of times. Maybe they 10:29 invest in him a little bit more heavily. But Amari Latimer is also a kid. I believe he's the cousin or nephew or one of the two of former Seminole Irman Lane. So there is a bit of a Seminole connection there. 10:40 And having followed him, there was interest in Florida State there. It just wasn't Florida State wasn't as interested in him with Amari committed to the class and them going after some of the bigger fish in the cycle. 10:52 So maybe that's another name that they decide to go after. But, yeah, it's a bit of a weird position to be in now considering that running back was a position that going into the summer you felt mostly secure about. 11:04 And decommitments happen. Things happen all the time that kind of shake up things, Bob. But I can't imagine that this was one that they were overly worried about. 11:14 And this is kind of, at least in my mind, it probably sprung on them a little bit. I'm sure they had some ideas certainly sooner than we had any idea earlier today. 11:22 But, yeah, again, I keep going back to the timing of everything. It's a little – I don't want to say the word surprising, but sudden. I think sudden is probably the word that I choose. Yeah, and I don't want to 11:38 get too high or too low off of one decommitment in July, right? Sure, yeah. I think at some extent we have to say this is still a darn good class. It's a top 20 class. 11:49 I'm not about to say running backs are interchangeable parts because running backs wouldn't like that. But I do think there are some running back options out there. 11:59 The other thing that's really tough to do is roster management when it comes to running back. You know, Gavin Sawchuk could have a great year and be gone. He could have a really good year and come back. Yeah. 12:10 Who knows what this running back room is going to look like in 2026. It's gotten almost impossible to map out a depth chart long term.But there are guys who could stay. Um, this, you know, 12:23 there's a lot of fluidity to not just recruiting, but the roster management aspect too. Yeah, and I think it's, 12:31 it's an important thing to note that at least it feels this way is that running back is a pretty attainable position, especially in the transfer portal. So you, you might want to, if you want to think of it that way. 12:41 And of course, I'm not saying neither of us are saying that this is exactly what's going on, but maybe feel a little bit more comfortable if another school is upping the price on your running back commit, if that's what's happening, or he just doesn't like the fit anymore and he wants to go somewhere else. 12:54 I feel like out of all the positions that we've seen in the transfer portal, I feel like running back is one of the more attainable positions. 13:00 Certainly a lot of availability in terms of talent across the country, whether that be G5, Juco, um, another Power Five program like we saw or Power Four program. 13:11 We're still living in the past sometimes like we saw with Gavin Sawchuk. 13:14 I, and Florida State has obviously had a lot of success in the transfer portal at running back, um, Trey Benson and you, you know, you would hope, uh, Gavin Sawchuk as well. 13:23 So yeah, I, I think it's, it is important to note that maybe you shouldn't get too high or too low, uh, in terms of losing prospects, gaining prospects at the high school level. 13:33 Um, just kind of a bunch of word salad and, um, a lot of, a lot of different thoughts on why this could be happening. 13:40 Uh, if you're joining us now about thirteen minutes, fourteen minutes in, uh, composite four-star running back Amari Thomas decided to back off his Florida State pledge earlier today, uh, committed for seven months, uh, as part of the Seminoles. 13:54 I do believe that they still both have a, or they still have a top twenty class in both recruiting services. So, um, yeah, a lot of that breaking news today certainly gave us a bit to think about. 14:05 Uh, we're going to take a quick commercial break and we're going to come back and talk about the position previews for wide receiver and tight end. 14:11 Bob, a couple of positions that saw a lot of turnover this summer or, or last fall into the spring as well. So a lot of new pieces, a lot of new, uh, talking points to discuss. 14:21 We'll be back in about a minute and thirty seconds after a word from, uh, some of our sponsors and a word on the new theosceola.com. Stay here. [crowd cheering] Hey, Seminole fans. 14:31 Alumni Hall is your ultimate FSU shopping experience and has moved to a new location off Timberlane Road in Tallahassee. Shop FSU gear from Nike, Champion, New Era, Yeti, and more. 14:42 Alumni Hall has Seminole gear for the entire family, plus accessories and gifts. 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To get all of the insider knowledge and analysis, upgrade to a paid subscription with three different payment options. 15:42 Take advantage of half off pricing in July and earn a discount on all Alumni Hall merchandise with your subscription. 15:49 Annual subscribers get two months free and founder subscriptions earn two free memberships to give to friends and family. There's no better time than right now to join The Osceola. 16:00 Go to www.theosceola.com now to join a leading source for FSU coverage informing you for over forty-five years. And welcome back to Friday's edition of Seminole Sidelines. 16:15 Nick Carlisle joined by Bob Ferrante here, uh, on this Friday. Thank you so much for joining us and thank you for your continued support of theosceola.com. 16:23 Do make sure to go, uh, to theosceola.com to learn more about the half off pricing for July. 16:30 Uh, there's only a couple of weeks left, uh, but it's, it's certainly the best time to join theosceola.com with everything that's coming up next week with the ACC kickoff or ACC previewed media days, however you want to say it. 16:40 And then leading up into fall camp where these guys are going to be reporting in just a few short weeks. So now is the best time to join theosceola.com. 16:48 And, uh, it's always a good time to talk some ball, talk a little, uh, position previews as we head into fall camp. If you missed the show on Wednesday, we covered the quarterback, running back, and offensive line. 16:59 Now diving a little bit into some of the more skilled positions, wide receiver and tight end. Uh, Bob took care of the wide receiver position, uh, that was posted yesterday. 17:08 Kurt Weiler posted his, uh, analysis of the tight end position, uh, earlier this morning. But I do want to start with Bob with the wide receivers, a position that, let's be frank, it was a huge pain point last year. 17:22 A lot of drafts, a lot of dropped passes when the balls did get to the receiver. Not a lot of productions outside of Jakai Douglas, who of course is now out of eligibility. 17:31 Your other leading receiver, Malik Benson, jetted off to Oregon. But you did get some returns from the West Coast as well. 17:37 Uh, U- USC transfer Deuce Robinson is a guy that I know that Gus Malzahn is extremely excited about. A lot of people are excited about. Is that the guy along with Tennessee wide receiver transfer Squirrel White? 17:49 Are those two guys... Do, is it necessary for them to have the season that we expect them to have? 17:55 Or do you think that there is a world where the production and some of the younger talent behind those two guys is actually able to meaningly contribute, meaningfully contribute, uh, to, to this room this year? 18:08 I don't think it can be all on Deuce Robinson's and Squirrel White's shoulders. I, I think they have to be the leaders, the productive guys. 18:17 But really, I think this room is going to go as you see a, a Javon Boggs or some of these, uh, now five of the second year Seminoles, when you include a Makai Danzy from, from Florida High being a, a running back turned receiver. 18:30 I think the depth of this room is going to really be, be evident what you see with, uh, Elijah Moore, a, a really tall six foot four.Target, who we really liked a lot of what we saw of him in practice. 18:42 He's, um, there's a lot to like. I, I still question, you know, what these guys look like as perimeter blockers. I think that's always going to be a storyline. Um, 18:54 i- if the run game is going to be paramount for Mike Norvell and Gus Malzahn, how you block on the perimeter, how much you care about that to make sure that the short runs become longer runs, to make sure the short passes to a Jalen Lucas gets sprung a little bit longer, I do think that benefits a taller, more physical receiver such as a Deuce Robinson, Elijah Moore. 19:18 But it's not limited to those guys. I, I think I'll be very curious, you know, as camp opens, um, who really wants to be that blocker type, because I think there's just a, a collection of, of a lot of talented guys. 19:31 But we don't know who's gonna take that next step forward and, and be in the, the, the first team three receiver set, who's gonna be in that next group. I, I think we could almost argue, um, 19:45 how many other guys might be, uh, in the mix week to week. It could change week to week. I think we've seen that throughout the Norvell era, too, that it- it's not just been one guy every Saturday. 19:55 It's been perhaps a couple different guys. In the Keon-Johnny days, it was a lot of Keon and Johnny. 20:03 But without two guys like that who are, are firmly established, it, it, it's a room that's gonna be looking at depth, looking at that depth to provide the production, I think. 20:15 Yeah, this could be a real breakout year, I think, for Elijah Moore. Elijah Moore came in last, last summer as a late enrollee. I guess, well, is it really late? 20:23 I think the traditionalists would've said normal enrollment. Of course, now with early enrollees that get here, uh, late December, early January, uh, uh, skews the lines a little bit. 20:31 But let's just say that he was a little bit late. He still thought when we talked to him last summer that he was gonna be able to crack that rotation. 20:38 Very optimistic, and sure, when, when the youth movement took over that team last fall, we thought, "Well, maybe he actually will see the field," and he did see the field a little bit, but not enough to obviously burn his shirt. 20:49 What, what do you think that the potential is for Elijah Moore breakout this season? Because we know and we have seen in the time that, uh, we were watching practices, Norvell got on Elijah a lot. 21:00 And while you feel like, "Oh, man, Elijah must be doing something wrong," to the trained eye, that shows to us that Mike Norvell is really invested in that player and he sees the potential. 21:09 When he sees that potential in you, he has the tendency to ride you a little bit harder. 21:14 We saw that a lot with Elijah last fall, but it was really a thing of allowing the maturity to start to click in, get a little bit more reps, a little bit more strong... 21:22 uh, a little bit stronger, a little bit more well-developed. What do you think the potential is for an Elijah Moore breakout this season, if there is going to be one? 21:30 I think back in the fall when we were able to watch practices, you watch Mike Norvell, and it's almost like he was the co-wide receivers coach. 21:36 [laughs] Because he's, he's constantly out there- Well, depending on who you ask, he was the wide receivers coach. Um, s- some did a little bit more coaching than others. Uh, anyways, continue. [laughs] Yeah. 21:47 I think, I mean, that, that's tough love. And honestly, Mike Norvell, again, back in the walk-on days, he was coaching up the walk-on receivers like they were on scholarship. 21:55 I mean, that's a position that he cares deeply about- Yeah... how, how they're doing their job in, in practices. I, I think Elijah, his snap count was pretty low. I think it was in that neighborhood of 25 or 30 or so. 22:07 It wasn't all that big compared to like a Lorraine McCoy, who was in the 120, 125 neighborhood. It was just, it looked like Lorraine was a little bit ahead, and maybe part of that is he enrolled early. 22:18 A- and that's, that's just a little bit- Yeah... of a difference there. I, I like Elijah. My, my question, and I know this is maybe partially part of our tight end preview, 22:28 how many tight ends do, do, do they choose to play at one time? 22:31 Do they try to play two tight ends at times to be a little bit more physical in, in those, uh, short yardage, uh, run game situations, or do you stick to one tight end? 22:43 I don't think we have a true answer yet what, what Mike Norvell, what Gus Malzahn would prefer there. If you go two tight ends more, you're pulling a receiver off the field is what I'm getting at. 22:53 A- and also you gotta figure out a way how to get Jalen Lucas out there as a playmaker, um, a guy who's got that creativity. So I, I guess when it comes back to Elijah, I like him. I think he could be a 25 catch guy. 23:07 I think he could put up some good numbers. I just don't know what the snap count looks like, not yet, because you don't know the personnel groupings that this coaching staff might pr- prepare. 23:17 Um, not prepare, but prefer, sorry. Yeah. A- and I think the... 23:21 you bring up a really good point, is that there's actually a lot of younger guys on this offense, especially in the wide receiver and tight end room, that could be very flexible in both of those positions, almost hybrids, if you will. 23:30 I mean, recruiting services didn't know exactly how to class- classify Tayshaun Gelsey, uh, whether he was a tight end or a wide receiver. 23:37 Same with Chase Loftin, who really, he, he was more characterized as a tight end, but he definitely has the body and he's definitely more of a pass-catching guy to where, okay, you line him up at the o- outside or maybe put him in the slot as a really dominating, uh, bigger guy, especially in run sets that are run to the outside or swing plays or however you wanna use him. 23:58 W- how, how they use these bodies that are kind of just in the middle, I think that's gonna be something that's really interesting. 24:04 Uh, I think Lorraine McCoy is somebody that maybe we often forget as he was a vital part of kind of that youth movement last year. 24:11 And we're talking about Deuce, we talk about Squirrel, we talk about some of those younger guys that, uh, may have a chance to shine like BJ Gimson. 24:18 What's he gonna look like after, uh, missing some time earlier this spring to obviously pursue football? And what's Mekhi Danzy gonna look like obviously shaping or, or coming over from, uh, the running back room? 24:29 I do wanna go quickly through here, because there was actually a lot of departures, uh, and arrivals in that room over the, uh, the, the fall and the spring. Hakeem Williams transferred to Colorado. 24:41 Uh, that one certainly has to sing- sting for Florida State fans. It's just so much promise and potential that-Whether hampered by lack of development or injuries, it just didn't work out for him here. 24:51 Jordan Scott arrived in December, uh, via a junior college and then transferred to Maryland, uh, into the spring. 25:00 Uh, definitely disappointing from that, from that regard, but, you know, if he doesn't have what you need, what it takes to, to make it here, um, and you can't make that tradit- tran- transition as easily as, as you, as you thought you were gonna be able to, um, you know, best to move on. 25:16 Malik Benson transferred to Oregon. Deuce Span transferred to Pittsburgh. Darion Williamson transferred to Miami of Ohio. 25:23 Jalen Brown transferred to Arkansas after being, uh, kicked off the team for, um, some mischievous activities, let's just put it that way. Uh, Kentrel Portier, eligibility expired. Jakai Douglas, eligibility expired. 25:34 And then of course we already talked about Deuce Robinson, Squirrel White, uh, coming in from Southern California and Tennessee. A transfer that we haven't talked much about is Gavin Blackwell. 25:43 Rob, what are your expectations for Gavin this year? 25:45 Because his production, and I think he would even agree with this, definitely not where he would've even wanted it to be at North Carolina, whether that'd be due to injury or, uh, just the lack of an opportunity. 25:58 You, you bring him in with the possibility of getting more than you actually bargained for in terms of the production that he can provide. 26:03 He's gonna be that veteran presence in the room or s- or one piece of a veteran presence. Where do you... What is the ideal situation for Gavin Blackwell? 26:12 What do you think the Florida State coaching staff would be, um, would accept to getting out of him, I guess? What, what's that limit? 100 yards, 200 yards, 300 yards? 26:20 Where, where do you feel like they're kind of sitting at in terms of expected production? I think the big thing with Gavin Blackwell is if he's healthy, he's going to be able to learn and contribute. 26:32 That's what's slowed him down has been injuries throughout his career. I think he listed off, you know, a bunch of them early in his interview with us, uh, what, a month or so ago. 26:40 I haven't penciled in Gavin as a starter just because I, I feel like that's, that's Deuce and Squirrel. Like, truly- Yeah... to me they're going to start in a two receiver set. 26:50 They're gonna be two of the three in a three receiver set. To me, the question with Gavin is how much, how fast can you learn this offense through the workouts in the off-season with Tommy Castellanos? 27:01 How quickly can you get acclimated? Um, I know he said there's some similarities in North Carolina's offensive scheme. Um, I think his coordinator at UNC had worked with Gus Malzahn at, uh, at UCF. 27:15 So there are some similarities there that I think would, would help Gavin. I don't... I, I called it a low risk addition just because I think he, he can only do well for you. 27:27 At the worst case is he's taking some snaps away from some younger guys, but if you feel like the younger guys are ahead of Gavin Blackwell, I, I think, I think we could see those younger guys get those opportunities at least early. 27:39 So this is how much, how much is he available still becomes my, my number one question for Gavin Blackwell. 27:46 And one of those younger guys that we've heard a lot about is Jayvon Boggs, who I think is quietly one of the more interesting options or one of the more interesting developments of this off-season, that, uh, the coaching staff has, like, had a lot of positive things to say about him. 28:00 Um, obviously he flipped to Florida State very, very late in the cycle. Was originally committed to UCF after being committed to Mizzou after being committed to Ohio State. 28:08 So he bounced around trying to find a home for a little while. And you know, Florida State took a while to actually offer him, but they were really concerned about hi- hi- uh, his lack of speed, uh, over the top. 28:18 And but, but you, but you can't take a look at his production and can't deny that he is a productive wide receiver at Cocoa. Uh, uh, obviously multiple championships at the, at the high school. 28:29 Uh, records in passing that were breaken, uh, broken or passing yards, receiving yards rather. We, we've heard some buzz about him potentially getting some playing time. 28:39 Is that something that you have bought into as well? Uh, is he a guy, do you think, that can crack that rotation and, uh, get, get some meaningful snaps this year? 28:50 Yeah, cautiously buying stock on it just because, you know, again, he won three state championships at Cocoa. An early enrollee. 28:57 This feels like a guy who was, um, not college ready, but college prepared as far as- Mm-hmm... what was gonna come his way. Familiar with Gus Malzahn, familiar with Coach Harris. 29:08 Um, I think understood what was, what was to come and, and has done the job so far very, very well. I'd still go back to the original, you know, kind of thought to me about w- what's your personnel? 29:19 And it, it will change down in distance and, and throughout a game, but if they're going to three receivers, I would expect to see a lot of Jayvon Boggs, whether that's early, middle, or late in the year. 29:31 I, I think we will see a lot of Boggs. If, if they lean a little bit more, "Hey, let's, let's try some two tight end sets and let's, let's try to be physical in that ground game," 29:41 um, and/or using, uh, Jalen Lucas a little bit more, I, I think then you, you start to question, "Okay, how much can Jayvon Boggs really con- uh, contribute?" I'd hate to put a number on it. 29:52 I'd hate to say he's gonna get 20 catches, 25 catches. I did say in the story, you know, guys, the expectations for freshman receivers are, are really high. Um, 30:03 but not since Travis Rudolph have we seen a 30 catch true freshman receiver at Florida State. It just doesn't- Everybody wants a Jeremiah Smith. 30:11 Everybody wants a Jeremiah Smith, and you're more than often than not not gonna get that unless something has gone horribly wrong. 30:17 Which things did go horribly wrong last year, and even then your freshmen, uh, apart from Elaine McCoy, and even hi- even he didn't have, uh, a tremendous amount of production, not of his own fault, but, um, just in the usage and everything. 30:29 Uh, just quickly one last word on the wide receivers. Do you think just in general, I know you're not trying to place a number or necessarily any specific stock. 30:36 Do you think that this room is better now at this point than it was last year, or is it kind of around the same? Yeah, I think- Without, without seeing any practice or anything [laughs], this is- Yeah... 30:48 complete, complete-Yeah. Yeah, we- we've hit on, um, not just catch the ball, but block and dependability. I think all of that, to some extent, is still a question mark. 30:59 I mean, we can look at what Squirrel did at Tennessee and say it's... It has shown up. And again, if you look at Squirrel's numbers, he's up there approaching top 20. 31:09 If his Tennessee numbers just translated over to Florida State, he's on Florida State's top 20, you know, receptions or receiving yardage list. He's approaching that type of territory. 31:20 These are legitimate numbers that Squirrel has, has built up throughout his career. That's a guy that you think you can, you can count on to be dependable. We think Deuce is dependable. I just don't have a, a great feel. 31:34 Like, I can say I think Boggs and Moore and McCoy will be among those younger guys who will kind of be those dependable ones. 31:42 But at the same time, that's not to say it can't be Fryar and it can't be Danzy and it can't be somebody else. There are just a lot of young options that we haven't seen enough of. 31:52 We haven't seen enough of them blocking, honestly, just, just to make that feel. But to your question of is the room better, I think the room is hungry. 32:00 I would say the room is, is hungry to do the job, and then we'll figure out what the pecking order is as far as actually putting in the day-to-day of the blocking and making it happen. 32:12 Speaking of rooms that I hope are hungry, the tight end room. 32:14 Moving on to the tight ends here [laughs], there's a couple of guys that definitely need to put on, uh, a little bit of weight, uh, this off-season, or we hope that, uh, they put on a little bit of weight, unless your name is Marquise Douglas, then the, the mission has be- continued to be slimming down. 32:28 Uh, moving on to the tight ends, another room that has seen a lot of, of shaking up or shuffling, not only through the fall, but in through the spring as well. Uh, Kyle Morlock obviously running out of eligibility. 32:41 Jaxson West, Brian Courtney, Jerrell Powers all transferring out, uh, of the program to Western Kentucky, Tennessee Tech, and Stephen F. Austin respectively. 32:50 Um, you sign Chase Loftin in, uh, the, the, the, the early signing day. You get Marquise Douglas back from Arizona State in the transfer portal. The big guy coming over from UCF is Randy Pittman Jr. 33:03 who, uh, probably has had the most production out of any of the tight end transfers that Florida State has either ushered out or brought back in over the years. 33:14 I think he, he offers Florida State and more specifically Gus Malzahn something that they haven't had since really Jaheim Bell, which is a versatile, explosive, do-it-all tight end. Just how much has... 33:27 does that addition really help the overall outlook of this room in your opinion? I think he's, he's a guy you can be creative with as a play caller. I think that's what's you have to really like. 33:38 I mean, is he a true traditional inline blocking tight end? Is he that bigger body who's 6'4", 6'5", 250? He's not. I mean, he is a little bit smaller. He's in that 6'2", 235-ish range. 33:54 I, I think you have to be creative with him, and I think the history of Norvell and Malzahn are they've, they've had some good experience with guys who are 34:03 kind of fullback, H-back, um, a little bit of a smaller tight end type. I think this is the guy you can get creative with, and you can get him into open space. He's got that physicality. 34:16 Um, I think he's gonna be a tough cover for a linebacker, for example. 34:20 Um, I'll, I'll be curious to see what his numbers look like, but I think, uh, easy button why you feel better about this position group- Yeah [laughs]... 34:29 i- is in large part because you, you brought in a guy like Randy Pittman that, uh, Florida State coaches wish they had had two years ago in the recruiting process 'cause he was a commitment. 34:38 But now you, you get him and, and you get him having been developed by now your current OC. What do you think the expectations are for this room then? 34:48 'Cause last fall we're thinking, "Okay, Kyle Morlock is gonna go into his second year and he's gonna have a better year, uh, than, than he did before," and boy, did he have us fooled in the first half. 34:58 Uh, you can't even lie. 34:59 Uh, in the fall camp, I don't know if he was just DJ's, uh, favorite target or if he just genuinely was having a good camp or w- or if it was a little bit of both, but that success just didn't translate into the season. 35:10 Uh, what do you think the expectations are for some of these new guys coming in in terms of having that, that year where, uh, they, they should be looking good in fall camp? 35:20 Can they deliver that success over, whether that be Marquise coming back, whether that be Pittman, or maybe Landon Thomas coming into his second year where he actually, I believe, he led the tight ends in receiving yards last year as a freshman. 35:32 Uh, where do you th- what do you think the expectations are for this tight end room? I, I'll be curious, you know, who is that, that maybe second tight end. Who is that traditional inline blocking tight end? 35:44 I- if it is Marquise, and that, that's the easy answer 'cause of his size. Mm-hmm. That's good. 35:48 He's also, you know, pretty adamantly said he wants to go somewhere where he can catch the ball, so y- you gotta make him happy too, I think, there i- in the passing game to some extent. 35:58 I think he can be a red zone, uh, you know, threat, Marquise, having that big body, having that basketball expertise, being able to win some of those jump balls using that physicality. 36:08 Landon Thomas is an interesting one too, 'cause we, we said a lot last year, um, once he gets some weight on him, once he feels confident as a blocker, what is he going to look like? 36:18 And there were definitely times where he was out there, you know, last year just doing the best that he could when, when it's a little bit dizzying and, and you're not prepared as much maybe for the moment. 36:30 Other question is Amari Williams. You know, do we see a little bit of Amari here and there? Um, love the athleticism. Totally understand if he's all on defense. 36:40 If you decide to throw him out there at tight end, I, I think I'd be very curious, uh, what's the situation look like and then how do you use him. Uh, the wild card being Chase Loftin then too, right? 36:49 I, I mean, you watch his highlights and it's enjoyable. 36:52 He looks like a receiver in the footwork and the great hands.I don't buy that he's, he's prepared to block as a tight end at this point in his career, but I, I think you're probably looking at, okay, what four or five games can he get on the field, get a little bit of experience, maybe some special teams, but it doesn't feel like that's a guy toward the top of the depth chart just yet. 37:16 It feels like that's a great guy to build around for the future, though. So again, when you look at this tight end room, you start to feel a lot better compared to last year. Yeah, absolutely. 37:28 And I, I think I- I'm pretty comfortable in saying that I believe Amari's probably gonna stick on defensive end. 37:34 I think they have done enough this off-season at the tight end position, and Chris Thompson has done a really, really good job. 37:41 I, I think they've done enough to where they don't need to use Amari at tight end unless disaster strikes. And again, disaster struck a lot last year, uh, to where you had to force some of these guys to, to play. 37:51 And I think I, I would be pretty confident in the fact that Amari, Amari is probably not going to see the offensive side of the ball very much. I could be wrong. 37:58 That's just kind of my assumption on what I've heard and how things are reading in that room. 38:03 Uh, uh, Chase Loftin is a really interesting point because when you take a look at kind of just the, the height and weight of these guys, he's actually the biggest receiver, or receiver. 38:11 He's the biggest tight end in the room. I mean, he's six foot six, two hundred and twenty-three pounds, as we have him listed. Um, a lot of smaller guys, uh, in the tight end room. 38:19 You're looking at six foot two, six foot, six foot four around there. Still big guys, but he is a huge body, and he, he did say that he did block quite a bit, uh, in his time at Millard South in Omaha, Nebraska. 38:32 So, but, but how built is his body to be able to do that? I think it's ki- that's kind of what you're hitting on there. Um, and then y- we talked a little bit about it before. Is Tayshaun Gelsey a wide receiver? 38:42 Is he a tight end? Uh, they recruited him at wide receiver. I think that was one of the reasons why he decided to flip his commitment from Florida, among other things. Uh, does, does he factor in there, um, as well? 38:54 Just kind of looking through it now, uh, is there, is there... 39:00 I- is it, is it as simple as saying, okay, MarKeith Dixon number two, Randy Pittman number one, or do you think that there's a genuine shot that one of the other guys cracks that rotation? 39:09 You've touched on it a little bit, but are, are you, are you pretty set in thinking that it's gonna be, uh, Randy one, MarKeith Dixon two? I, I would go Randy one, MarKeith Dixon two. I, I like the concept. 39:24 Again, different situations, especially red zone. I, I like MarKeith Dixon being out there on, on the field just as far as the, the physicality and the jump ball capabilities. 39:35 You know, the, the questions I have, and you can't substitute on the fly if you're going tempo, so it's not like you can just shuttle personnel in and out. But I, I do think you've-- Go back to my term from Wednesday. 39:45 You've got some varied skill sets there, right? You've got some different bodies, some different talents. 39:51 So I, I think, I think I like that because it allows, again, Norvell and Mozon to be creative in just how you use those, those skill sets, those physicalities. Um, I, I like this tight end room a lot. I mean, 40:08 I don't know if-- Now that we're done with all the offensive positions, honestly, I feel the best about the tight end room- Really?... of any, of any of the offensive positions. 40:17 I know that's kind of crazy because you might look at- Wow, that is kind of-- I was not expecting that. Really? Over, over, like, say, the running backs or... Really? 40:25 'Cause I, personally, I feel, I think I feel best about the running backs, as crazy as that sounds. I mean- I think running backs are up there for sure. I mean, I mean, especially if you get a healthy Gavin Sawchuk. 40:34 I mean, that, the upside there is, is pretty tremendous. But just as far as how bad that tight end room was in the first half of twenty-twenty-four- Oh, God. 40:45 [laughs] I mean, it was such a negative, it, it- I have, I have Kyle Morlock, the ball hitting off of his face mask against SMU game and it turning into a pick six or interception or whatever. 40:57 I have that burned into my skull. Um, it was really bad. [laughs] It was really bad. 41:03 But, ah, you know, like, you, you make a compelling argument because I think purely in terms of what they had versus what they have now, I mean, uh, sure, there was a lot of transfers at the tight end position. 41:12 Jerrell Powers was never gonna get playing time here. You know, Jackson West and, um, Brian Courtney. 41:18 I mean, Brian Courtney had been obviously converted, uh, over from quarterback at one point, and that just never worked out from him either. 41:24 So to, to go from that to where they are now, I do think it's probably the most improved room out of all of them in terms of what they had last year versus what they have now. 41:32 But I think I still feel better about the running backs. 41:34 I'm very, I'm very, uh, giddy on what they have in Gavin Sawchuk, and I think that he does have the potential to, uh, really turn into, to a surprise for s- for some Seminole fans. Um, 41:45 that being said, we have finished all of the, uh, offensive position groups, uh, in terms of position previews. So we've gone through quarterback, offensive line, wide receiver, and tight end today. 41:54 Running backs earlier in the week. All of these position previews wrote by the entire Osceola staff. You can find them all on theosceola.com. Uh, we're, we're gonna be taking a short break on this. 42:05 We're gonna keep working on them, of course. You can expect more position previews over the course of the weekend. But it is ACC Media Week next week. 42:11 Bob is gonna be going to Charlotte along with Jerry, so, uh, who knows when those position previews are gonna be out. We're planning on a couple this weekend. There's gonna be more next week. 42:20 But we're gonna have more content as talking season winds up. Uh, Bob, are, is there anybody that you're looking forward to talking to in particular up there? 42:28 Obviously, there's a, there's a lot of personalities up there at the ACC Media Days and whether that be coaches, whether that be players. Who are, who are you looking to, uh, hear do a little d- do a little yapping? 42:39 I think Tuesday's an interesting day because Florida State's not talking till Wednesday. Mm. So, so Tuesday, I mean, you can pick the brain of a couple of Florida State opponent, uh, opposing coaches. 42:48 You know, Frank Reich from Stanford will be there. 42:50 I'll be very curious just to hear, okay, you're however many months it is now down the road for him, four or five months as far as trying to, um, help strengthen a culture and get prepared for a season ahead. 43:04 I'll be very curious about that. Uh, Miami Coach Mario Cristobal and some of his players will be there too, Carson Beck. And then, yeah, Wednesday will be the big day for Florida State. 43:13 You know, Mike Norvell and the players will take the center stage early on in the morning, so we'll have, uh, we'll have a lot of stories and updates throughout the day, you know, on theosceola.com. 43:22 Looking forward to Wednesday 'cause that's, that's gonna be a big day for us. 43:25 And then, yes, Wednesday afternoon, uh, we'll, we'll do a Seminole Sidelines kind of in part from Tallahassee, in part from Charlotte as we, you know, kind of document the, uh, the, the best of what transpired. Yeah. 43:37 It truly is the best time to join The Osceola, Bob. I know, I know it's an advertisement. I know you're, we're obviously looking for people to join, join the tribe here, but th- this is the best time to join. 43:47 Truly, it is. Uh, obviously half off pricing in July. You have all this content coming in at ACC Media Kickoff next weekend and then into fall camp. 43:54 Uh, if you're hesitating at all, yeah, obviously free subscriptions are available as well to give us a try. 43:59 Um, and, and obviously you can also stay plugged in here at The Osceola YouTube channel where you can hear us talk about the content on the site. Uh, all the content from ACC Media Day is coming up next week. 44:10 Uh, but that should do it for us today on this Friday. Thank you so much for listening and watching and for all your support of theosceola.com. We'll be back next Wednesday with another Seminole Sidelines. 44:18 My name is Nick Carlisle, uh, staff writer and recruiting writer for theosceola.com, and that is head editor Bob Ferrante. Have a great rest of your Friday, a great rest of your weekend. 44:26 If it is raining in your part of the world, [laughs] stay inside, get a nice, uh, hot cup of coffee or, and a snack or whatever, and bundle up and all that jazz. Thank you so much as, as always, for your support. 44:37 Uh, we will see you next time.
