Transcript 0:00 [rock music] Hello everyone, and welcome back to Seminole Sidelines on July 28th, 2025. 0:45 And Bob, my friend, we have made it. Florida State football reports tomorrow. The summer slog is over. The wait is almost over. There's a lot to be excited about. 0:59 Uh, thank you all for joining us on this Monday for Seminole Sidelines. My name is Nick Carlisle, staff writer, recruiting writer for theosceola.com, and that is head editor Bob Ferrante. 1:08 Uh, we hope that you are all staying happy and healthy, and most importantly, hydrated. There's a severe weather warning in Tallahassee today, feeling ninety-six degrees or something like that. 1:16 Obviously not everybody's here in Tallahassee along with us, but, um, it's a steamer outside in a lot of parts of the country right now, so make sure that you're staying hydrated. 1:24 We were talking before the show about the laurels of, uh, uh, being hydrated and why it's super important, just casual conversation. 1:31 Uh, and we hope to have a lot of nice casual conversation today about Florida State football and some other things. But Bob, how are you doing? 1:37 How was your trip back from, uh, Charlotte, North Carolina, and did you value, what is it, your s- your, your fifteenth year [laughs] of going and listening to nothing but coach speak up in the, uh, the, the Tobacco Road? 1:51 Yeah. My, my run of going to ACC kickoff dates back to, uh, I think in Pinehurst when, was it Jalen Ramsey and Roberto Aguayo represented Florida State, so that must have been like twenty fourteen. Yeah. 2:05 Um- At least twelve, thirteen years... of course there's a lot of, a lot of guys that, who have more, more distinguished, uh, you know, streaks. 2:11 Used to have a bus tour, if you can believe it, going from campus to campus back in the, I guess '90s and, and early 2000 where they would literally drive, uh, riders, you know, Tallahassee, Clemson, through the triangle and all that. 2:24 But good, good couple days up in Charlotte. Um, couple unexpected storylines obviously unfolded there, but, but enjoyed the conversation and got a lot of interviews out of it. Yeah. 2:35 One of those interviews that you posted today, uh, Richie Leonard, somebody that we didn't get to talk to a whole much at ACC kickoff or ACC Media Day. He di- he was one of the, uh, players that didn't visit the podium. 2:46 Uh, but a, a really nice story on theosceola.com this morning. Uh, Richie Leonard is, uh, not only a fantastic football player, but a really great human being above all else, and kinda just his story. 2:57 Obviously cancer diagnosis with his mother and what he fights for, what he believes, and how much he pours into community service. 3:04 Just a really, really nice story on theosceola.com about how Richie is giving back to not only his community, but some, uh, South American communities as well in, um, his hometown. Or, or not... 3:14 Well, yes, in his hometown, but also in Tampa more specifically, um, where, where his mother, uh, obviously with the diagnosis and everything, was treated. All of that. Great story. 3:24 Really recommend to go and check it out on theosceola.com. Bob, if you wanna share a few words about that story and kinda your takeaways from your time with Richie. 3:31 Honestly, I can't recall talking to Richie, maybe since he was introduced as a newcomer back in 2024. Maybe we talked to him at some point in, in camp. But again, played four games and, and then all of a sudden injured. 3:45 You start not really thinking about 2025 at that moment, but clearly he was. He intended to fully, you know, come back and be a part of this team. 3:54 I, I just remember not really thinking too much about Richie in the big picture from a football standpoint, but going back to Orlando, Mike Norvell started that booster tour in February and, and he talked a little bit about Richie back then, that that was a voice in the locker room that they feel like they missed in 2024 because of that injury. 4:12 Wasn't around to, to be a leader, to be someone that, uh, that could be vocal during those kind of, kind of hard times. Um, I, I like the community service stories. I like what Richie's about. 4:25 I think they're good reads this time of year. Again, July, it's, it's talking season. It's fun season. Once we get into camp, it's gonna be kinda all football all the time. 4:34 But it's cool to read a story about a guy who's, uh, you know, big into football camps, running AAU basketball teams, was down in Argentina. Um, obviously grateful. 4:43 Mom's a teacher, and, and just r- her cancer battle and then what the Moffitt Center down in Tampa did for them. 4:50 So I, I think it's just kinda one of those reminders o- o- of the big picture from a guy, uh, a guy like Richie. Yeah, a lot of great stories on theosceola.com from over the weekend and earlier this morning. 5:01 Obviously some, some breaking news. Of course, Tommy Castellanos being named to the Maxwell Award watch list. Uh, nom- number of players, uh, uh, nominated for that as a preseason watch. A couple of Georgia Tech players. 5:13 I think Haynes King and Jamal Haynes were both. I think I remember seeing that on the timeline. To- obviously Tommy Castellanos is, um, one of the Florida State guys that got nominated. 5:21 Uh, in addition to some of Kurt's thoughts on Luke Loucks, we got our first look at that new improved fast-paced Florida State basketball offense during an open practice, uh, over the weekend. That was something to see. 5:33 I think a lot of Florida State basketball fans are gonna be excited about, you know, what we were able to see and, and what came outta that proct- uh, w- what came outta that practice, really just turning over a new leaf. 5:43 I think there's a lot of excitement, um, over at, uh, the Tucker Center right now in terms of what Luke is building in his first season. 5:50 Um, camp competition stories from Pat Burnham, and then, uh, I wrote a story over the last couple weeks just talking about how this recruiting class has come together for Florida State football, and it did get another addition prior to that story coming out. 6:02 We'll talk about that a little bit later. 6:04 Uh, but really just kind of diving into the idea of whether or not, given the circumstances of their last season, whether or not Florida State really got the most that they could have, given their circumstances, uh-Uh, with, with this 2026 recruiting class, I think it's a... 6:18 Well, obviously I'm a little bit biased, I wrote it, but, uh, I do think it's an interesting think piece in terms of how we should view the, the success of this class, especially considering the fact that this is not a staff that has recruited particularly well over its six-year tenure. 6:33 Um, definitely could leave a lot to be desired at some point. 6:36 But I think the recruiting news that everybody wants to get to at this point, um, four-star, composite four-star offensive lineman, Da'Ron Parks, committed, uh, over the weekend. A big recruit, literally, Bob. 6:49 Uh, 6'5", 350 pounds. Florida State is gonna try him at tackle initially. You know, we've heard that from him, we've heard that internally. They're gonna try him at tackle initially. 6:59 Probably projects as a guard down the road. Unfortunately, like all of Florida State's commits on [laughs] offensive line, y- they're really, really missing that premium position, that, that true tackle. 7:10 That is also something that we ta- that I tackled in, uh, the recruiting article. Uh, r- interesting kid. Originally from West Virginia. 7:18 Uh, played his first two seasons of high school ball at Hurricane in West Virginia, and, uh, was at Cardinal Mooney down in Sarasota for his junior season. 7:26 That allowed, uh, obviously the staff to get a little bit more presently involved in that recruitment. 7:32 Gus Malzahn and Herb Hand, the two, the two bell cows here recruiting him when, uh, they were at UCF, didn't stop picking up that phone and giving, and giving Parks a ring when they came to Florida State. 7:44 Uh, now we're at four commitments, Bob, on the offensive line. 7:47 How do you grade how Herb has done on the recruiting trail, uh, over the past seven months, understanding that they're missing that true tackle, but also understanding the fact that there's a lot to replace? 7:58 Um, and they, they've got some, they've got some guys that are flexible, versatile, and maybe, maybe a little bit under the radar right now, but they certainly have a ceiling to get to. 8:07 I think the big thing with, with Herb Hand is those prior relationships from UCF has really come in handy. 8:13 Now, the, the argument can be to some extent, you know, i- is UCF recruiting one tier of offensive lineman when Florida State is maybe, needs to be swimming in a different tier of offensive lineman, right? 8:24 But in the end, Florida State needs to get the guys who want to be in Tallahassee in, in the big picture. And I, I think it's, I think it's probably this issue everywhere. 8:33 It's probably easier to get guards and centers, and, and the tackles are gonna be the high demand guys, the high price tag guys. I, I think everybody wants to see Florida State develop a homegrown tackle. 8:47 It would be great if, if Lucas Simmons gets a little bit of playing time here and there, um, in garbage time, not because of injury, not because of anything bad, just because it'd be great to see, um, tackle development of somebody here on campus. 9:01 It'd, it'd be great if, if Da'Ron does end up being a tackle. I think this is a very much a down the road discussion, see how somebody fits. 9:11 Even, like, Jake Rizi came in from Harvard, and we heard, "You know, this is a guy who can play tackle. He can play tackle." 9:17 And you watch him run at tackle in practice, and he's got experience at the FCS level, and you go, "Not a tackle." Yeah. Yeah. 9:24 Can play guard, can probably help at center if needed, but really, it's hard to say this guy truly projects at a tackle position until you see him in, in a, I think a college setting. 9:38 That's what makes this, you know, projection from high school so difficult. Um, you know, you've covered these big man camps. You've seen what, what an edge versus- Yeah... a tackle looks like. 9:48 I think you have a better feel for some of those guys. But for, but for me, just looking at the big picture, it's, it's bring those guys in, develop them, a- and just see where you can kind of slot them. 9:59 Yeah, and I think specifically with Da'Ron, it's, it's also how well does he start growing into his body? I mean, w- you led off this, we led off this point, this is a big kid. 10:07 Could lose 20, 25 pounds when you get into college conditioning. Or maybe they wanna keep him and, and build around, muscle around that. 10:15 Obviously, you gotta build down to build up to some degree in terms of these body types. But how much, how much weight would he have to lose, or do they want him to play at a heavier weight? 10:25 At 6'5", you know, how, how well does he grow into his body? So, you know, that, you're right, that is absolutely something that is a completely down the line thing. 10:33 Uh, but, you know, I, I do think it is worth noting that, you know, Florida State really did strike out on some of their tackle targets this cycle. 10:40 And, um, ob- obviously, there, there's no knock in taking as many offensive lineman as you can. You want to take as many offensive lineman as you can. That's just the nature of the, of the position. 10:50 Um, nevertheless, a good prospect, a good get at a good time for Florida State, and that is actually the final, uh, official visitor that visited Florida State this summer that has made his decision. 11:01 So, everybody else has either gone somewhere else, stuck to their previous school, or, uh, became a Seminole over the, over the summer. So I guess, Bob, your, your thoughts on kind of the class as it is now overall. 11:14 Um, is there, is there something glaring that you, that you like or dislike? 11:18 You know, now that things have kind of calmed down and you're gonna start getting into fall and having to start really battling out some of these recruit- re- battling these recruitments again and getting into, uh, decommitment season, the, that famed period in October and November where decommitments just start flying. 11:35 W- where, where, where do you grade things? How do you view things heading into, heading, heading into preseason camp here? 11:41 I think there's been this, this discussion, this maybe push for why there should be an August high school signing period. 11:47 [laughs] And I think if Mike Norvell, Mike Norvell would be in favor of let's sign everybody up- Absolutely... on August 1st, 'cause this class looks really good, although incomplete. I, I mean, we've, we've hit on 11:59 lack of a defensive ends, lack of offensive tackles, et cetera. But I mean, you look at just about everywhere else, um, receiver. Yeah, the Omari Thomas thing i- is a, is a bummer, right? It, it's not complete. 12:12 It's also late July. 12:14 So if you could sign them in August, I think Florida State would take this class and, and keep building toward a later period.But with that being the result, y- you got work to do on the football field. 12:25 And again, we've, we've all hit on this if Gus Malzahn's offense looks fun and Tony White's defense looks fun and it's productive, it doesn't have to be all wins. It really doesn't. It just has to be, "Hey, that's fun. 12:37 I can see myself playing in that offense and defense." How many Sundays have we talked to high school prospects through the years and they just said, "I love the atmosphere. I, I feel like I can be part of that team. 12:51 I, I liked game day. I liked walking in the locker room afterwards." 12:54 Y- you start hearing things like that and, and if the development lines up with, with the money and everything lines up really well it, it's gonna line up pretty well for Florida State. So it's... 13:05 You're, you're now in take care of business territory I think for, uh, for the coaches and the players. Yeah, for sure. First step is showing a pulse against Alabama on August 30th. That is the first step. 13:15 Uh, but the first step before that first step, as we mentioned at the top of the show, preseason camp on Wednesday. Uh, Florida State reports tomorrow. 13:24 We're gonna get a chance to talk to Mike Norvell with his, uh, pre-ca- or preseason, uh, press conference, and we're gonna be able to talk to some of the assistant coaches as well. Really excited about that. 13:32 It's always good to, you know, pick the brains of, of the guys that know it best, really. Y- you can't get any more personal than the assistant coaches, and obviously they're... 13:40 what they're gonna tell you is gonna be a little bit tailored. But, um, good to ask the specifics, "Hey, how is this kid looking? How is this guy? Are you happy with how much weight they've put on this summer?" 13:50 You know, "Where, where do you see this going from here?" And especially some of these newer coaches now that they've had a little bit more time. Because that's the thing, it's like you, you get here in December, 13:58 how much you know, actually know about your football team is really gonna be established in that spring. And you, you can have an idea about what you're looking for, what things are gonna look like. 14:07 They've been here seven months now. You're g- really gonna have an idea of what the holes are, what the weaknesses are, but some of the strengths are as well. Um, and it's gonna be good to talk to some of those coaches. 14:16 In that same breath, um, and, and obviously we'll have a ton of stories on what we t- what we hear from these coaches and from Coach Norvell tomorrow obviously, and, and, um, some of the, the pending questions that you all may have about what this team's gonna look like. 14:31 We're gonna make sure to ask him for you. I, I do want to kind of take a different approach today, Bob, just really conversational in terms of, 14:41 you know, s- some of the preseason camp storylines that we're kind of expecting over the next four weeks, some things that we're gonna be looking for. 14:48 I, I think we're probably going to be ushered out by the bouncer, uh, again unfortunately, uh, this spring in terms of practice, uh, availability, but I'm sure we will get to see the team at some point. 14:58 Um, but I just wanted to go you and I, uh, one for one in terms of one offensive storyline, one defensive storyline, kinda see where each other are thinking and what we're kind of gonna be paying attention to the most, and we haven't discussed this prior to the show. 15:13 Gonna be completely off the cuff, um, and, and random for that matter, so I guess I'll open it up to you if you wanna start with offense or defense. 15:20 What's kind of the, the one storyline that you're gonna be paying attention to in terms of what you're gonna be looking for when, when, uh, some of these kids talk to us or what Norvell says or, uh, just something to pay attention to. 15:32 Uh, so I'm gonna give you the floor. Where, where, where's your head at? On offense, I'm gonna go with who's the difference maker and, and really are there multiple difference makers on, on offense. 15:43 Jalen Lucas was that guy in 2024. 15:46 In spring practice and preseason camp, that injury was a massive, massive bummer for, for this offense as far as the creativity, the versatility, where you could line him up, where you could move him, how defenses have to account for him. 16:01 So I, I think if Jalen is back in a version of that guy, and, and the reviews in the spring were, yes, he was, I think that's a huge, huge positive for finding a difference maker. 16:13 If a Deuce Robinson is a deep threat truly, that's potentially a, a stretch the field guy. If Squirrel White, um, again, he came in from Tennessee banged up, didn't practice as much in the spring. 16:28 If he's a guy who can find some holes in the middle of that defense, um, is he a guy can, who can consistently catch the ball? Potentially. There's another guy who, who is a, a difference maker. 16:40 Um, a- and one more 'cause I'm, I'm gonna stick to the passing game with this theme is, is Randy Pittman. 16:45 Uh, again, not the traditional tight end, not that big end line blocker, but somebody who, uh, very good at finding openings in the defense, catching the ball, and then yards after the catch. So, um, I, I'll be curious. 17:00 If we could watch scrimmages, I would feel differently in discussing- [laughs]... hey, is this offensive line ready to, uh- [laughs]... 17:07 to be physical in the, in the ground, in the ground game or, you know, how does it all look i- in terms of that standpoint? 17:14 But really a lot of things that we can see historically in camps is what does the passing game look like? You know, are guys catching the ball consistently? Are drops an issue at all? What's the accuracy of quarterbacks? 17:28 What is the, uh, the rhythm o- of the quarterback to- Specifically last year, how much are you pushing the ball down the field? Are you hitting three to five yard outs? Are you able to get chunks down the middle? 17:38 That wa- that was something that we saw pretty evidently early last year. Um, so- But I, I know that's a broad one, but I mean, when I think about it I think about difference makers. 17:46 How many does Florida State potentially have? Do, do you think that... 17:51 I mean, 'cause we were all really disappointed when, when Jalen Lucas went down, uh, two games into the season last year, and it, it almost feels like we just never got a chance to see him. 18:00 Like, we saw him every day, right? We saw... Or well, every day relatively speaking. We saw him in practice. We saw him, uh, interact and, and, and work during the off season. 18:12 But when it came down to meaningful reps, we, we hardly saw him. Do you think that Mike Norvell's gonna make it more of a priority to use him, uh, in the first couple of games of the season? 18:20 'Cause, uh, as much as it was about, you know, keeping guys fresh and rotating guys, there was also a level of, "Hey, this guy is one of your difference makers on offense, and he's not out here."And, and that was something that was going to change, and then he, then he got injured. 18:36 Do, do you think that there's going to be maybe a little... 18:38 I don't wanna call it overcompensation, but how much do you think he's gonna get involved early in terms of this new look offense and, and potentially some things schematically that they wanna try? 18:48 I don't have his snap count from that season opener in 2024 in front of me, but his snap count- See if I can find that... w- was so low, it was very, very curious why he wasn't out there more. 18:57 I think it was just a handful of plays. We saw him more against Boston College that second game. 19:03 And so I think how much do we see him i- is also part a question of where is he in this journey back from, from knee surgery. Yeah. And how, how much of a concern do you have a- about his height and weight? 19:18 Like, do you have to manage his snap count because he's out there in the open to some extent and, and he, and he's going to get hit? 19:25 Um, hey, famously, Warrick Dunn was like, "I'm gonna get hit," but he could twist and turn. He never seemed to get injured. He was just that small guy who was extremely durable. 19:37 Now, if Jalen Lucas could become that guy who can take some hits, whether it's, uh... I don't think we're gonna see him a lot between the tackles. You understand what I'm saying? But- Yeah... 19:46 if we see him as a runner out in space, if we see him as a pass catcher in space, um, can he elude some of those tackles? Can he 19:56 get out of bounds, avoid those big, big hits, take the, take the necessary ones, you know, extend the chains? But I, I think I wanna see a lot of Jalen Lucas. 20:06 Like, if there's one guy that I really wanna see have a great camp on offense, I think everybody's looking at the new pieces, and everybody's looking at Tommy Castellanos. 20:16 Again, I think Jalen Lucas has that difference maker quality that, that a lot of Florida State fans wanna see. [smacks lips] Yeah, I... And that's one of my storylines I think is, is... I, I want to see-- 20:28 First of all, I really wanna feel better about the running back room. I know that's, that's more of a generalization, but w- with Jalen and with Roydell coming off of major leg injuries, 20:40 it's something that we've talked about on the show before. Uh, we've heard frequently they like Roydell. You take a look at his production last year, it's like, "I don't really like Roydell that much." 20:51 So what are they seeing in between that we're not seeing? Can we see it on the football? I, I'm curious to know how, how does this look behind an offensive line that hopefully blocks much better? 21:01 And, and that's also a major storyline for me is like for, for all intents and purposes, they think that this is gonna work. 21:08 They, they think that you're gonna have five guys with starting experience come together, and it's gonna look much better than it did. Does it actually click like that? 21:17 That is something that we're gonna have to see over time, and we're probably not gonna know until much later into camp. But behind that offensive line, 21:25 how much is this or how, how good is this running back room gonna be, and what's the, what's the depth chart order there? It's... Y- you would think it's Roydell one, Sawchuk two. 21:34 But if one's not producing, how does that, how does that unfold? And then maybe Usman Chroma just has an amazing fall camp. Maybe Cam Davis just has an amazing fall camp. 21:48 Wi-- How, how, how much are the running backs gonna be used? How are you gonna distribute that playing time? And how good is that... 21:56 I, I guess, is that running back room going to live up to the expectations that we have for them as, as a room that's considered to be conventionally strong, I wonder. 22:05 Um, i- it's gonna be interesting because, look, if, if... and all the stats indicate Gus Malzahn can run the football, right? Top five rushing offen- offenses in back-to-back seasons. 22:16 But what if he can't run the football? You know what I'm saying? Like, like, you have R.J. Harvey at UCF. Does that en- Does that enable one another? 22:26 If Florida State does not have the production that it needs, and this is ki- kind of branching into a storyline across the entire season, if it doesn't have that production in the running back room, what's this team gonna look like? 22:37 This team is gonna be reliant on running the football. How, how is that gonna work? How good is the offensive line gonna be? How good is that production at running back gonna be? That's kinda my major storyline. 22:48 Um, what do you think? Uh, it's- Yeah... it's, it's, it's, it's kind of a bit all over the place, but... which is kinda how ADHD brain works, so you'll have to forgive me. Uh, but [laughs] 22:59 I think if we could see, if we could see the 11 on 11, you know, once the pads are on, if we can see the scrimmages to determine how does it look against what we think is a, a... 23:11 It's gonna be a much better defensive front, we think, and, and Tony White's resume is that they, they, they can stop that run with that 3-3-5. 23:20 Um, so I think let's go back to the Roydell storyline is a lot of Florida State fans, what they saw, it wasn't good enough, and Roydell would probably say the same thing. 23:29 Gus Malzahn recruited Roydell as a kid from Hueytown, Alabama, when he was back at Auburn. 23:35 So Gus knows what, what Roydell looked like in high school, um, knows what, what he's looked like at Alabama, even though, you know, Gus moved on to UCF, right? 23:47 So I think there's a, there's a memory of who that young man was years ago. There's also... Hey, there's a reason why they went out and got Gavin Sawchuk. 23:57 I mean, we had running back as maybe not the biggest need in the portal in the spring, coming out of the spring, but when there's a Gavin Sawchuk out there, 24:05 that's a guy you're, you're gonna take a shot at because, um, I think he had five or six straight 100-yard rushing games to finish 2023. I mean, that's, that's really, really impressive. 24:16 The, the other storyline for me, you know, beyond what you're saying about block it up front, Florida State's had running back injuries. Everybody has running back injuries. 24:24 Gavin Sawchuk had the hamstring injury at Oklahoma. The bummer of the sport we love is you've got to be able toPut running backs out there, and it's not plug and play. They're not all the same. 24:35 They're not all, not all gonna run between the tackles well, not all gonna pass pro very well, they're not all gonna catch the ball very well. So it's gonna change schematically, 24:45 but you have to be really deep I think at running back especially it's gonna be 13 games with a bowl game, and, and then down the road, um, the college football playoff is only getting deeper, going from 12 to 16. 24:59 You eventually need to have a really deep stable of running backs just to be able to, to mix it up. I, I think historically Gus hasn't used a ton of running backs at UCF, but can that change? Can that change? 25:14 'Cause the pressure needs to be off Tommy Castellanos, the passer, and, and does it need to be on this run game and this offensive line to really push it to be physical? So, um- Which is a good point. 25:27 Which is a good point, because Tommy Castellanos is a running back with a, with an arm, if you w- it... Maybe, maybe we shouldn't make it that general, uh, but 25:35 he, he is something that you account for, and he is a threat with his legs. And that is something that defenses schematically are, are going to be game planning against. 25:43 In addition to s- maybe Squirrel White coming across the face of the offense in jet sweep motion, a lot of motion. Like, like, there, there are more ways to get runners with the football, um, kinda i- it just... 25:56 I- is that, is that going to look as good as we think it's gonna look? Uh, your, your defensive story line, uh, for, for this fall's p- for, for this, uh, preseason camp, where, where's your head at? 26:09 And I kinda wrote it in, in the Darrell Jackson story is that there, there's a danger of the delayed takeoff storyline- [laughs]... because we thought this, this defensive line was going to be incredible. 26:19 Nick Saban thought it was gonna be among the nation's best. Um, you know, in practice we're thinking, "This defensive front is getting after it," and, and you saw it at times. 26:29 You, you just didn't see it with any real, um, consistency forcing the sacks, uh, getting in the back field for a couple of tackles for losses. Uh, they weren't forcing fumbles. Uh, they weren't dictating up front. 26:43 They weren't disruptive enough. Um, I like that term disruptive, 'cause it's not always about sacks. It's not always about bring the quarterback to the ground. 26:50 It's about some negative plays or some, some zero gain plays. So I think if this scheme, this... 26:58 Let's say it's a three-man front of Darrell Jackson, James Williams, and Deontay McCray, and then you throw Jason Jenkins in there, you throw a, a Diamante Diggs, you throw at Jack and Amari Williams. 27:12 If you've got enough multiplicity that, that Tony White loves, um, to throw some different wrinkles at a quarterback on the fly, um, if you can shift those looks, 27:24 I think that's, that's really a good thing for Florida State as far as just being able to confuse quarterbacks, being able to, to make some gains. 27:33 Um, again, how much of that do we see in preseason because either A, we have access or, or it's going to show up as part of conversations? 27:43 This, this might be a, "Hey, this is a discussion for August 30th more than, you know, late July." For sure. But I do think that defensive front i- is gonna be, um, probably... There are other storylines. 27:57 Veterans at linebacker, how does it look? Are they getting after it? Can this team stop the run when Florida State really defensively didn't stop the run for years under Adam Ford? 28:07 There are tons of storylines, but again, for me the can you be disruptive up front is, is pretty close to the top of my list. 28:14 Yeah, I, I think that also, you, you kind of hinted at it, but it, it's something that I'm definitely gonna be looking at more intently is the leadership part. 28:21 It's like w- where, where are their leaders gonna come from in this defense? The leaders that you thought were gonna be leaders last year were not leaders. They were, they were passengers, for lack of a better term. 28:32 Uh, what did, what did Mike Norvell call them? Sidekicks? I don't think he was referring to those in, in particular, but he doesn't want a team full of sidekicks. 28:39 We certainly don't wanna see tea- uh, see a team of passengers where it's very evident that they're kind of just walking through the motions, maybe not putting their full effort into tackles. 28:49 And, um, you know, I, I said, I said it at s- at points last year, it's you're, you're playing with a bunch of people on defense that are... that, that you had to... Well, how, how did I describe it? 29:01 I, there, there was some particular language that I used that I was like, "Oh, that, that's pretty dang good." Um, but yeah, essentially the n- the, the, the idea is that your, you have a bunch... 29:10 All of your leaders are, are on defense were guys last year that you had to basically beg to not leave in the portal, and you got for all intents and purposes scammed by the portal. 29:21 Where are your leaders going to come from? Are they gonna be transfers? Are there gonna guy- be guys that step up? 29:28 I think that's what I'm gonna be looking for the most, and, you know, maybe, maybe some of those guys that you expected to be leaders last year, they get a mulligan. You get after them the right way. Maybe, maybe, 29:39 maybe something that the new coaching staff is doing is getting through the helmets to, to, to these guys, 'cause I think that was a problem last year. 29:48 I- i- it's, I, I think maybe the c- the perception is, is that these coaches didn't try enough or find new ways to, to, uh, reach their players. 29:58 I could tell you from watching all those practices, they tried everything under the moon, and for whatever it was, there was a disconnect that just couldn't alwa- you just couldn't always get to the guy. 30:08 So have th- have these new coaches has come in with, uh, i- more intensity, more physicality in practice, um, changes. A l- like, like Tony White's, um, he, he's got a, he's got a board or something. Uh, I'm forgetting. 30:22 He's got like a whiteboard or something that he keeps track of, of, of stuff on, um, and it's kind of like a fun little thing, uh, for the defensive room. 30:30 I can't remember the exact s- exact name of it off the top of my head, but is there going to be a way for you to reach your guys this year? 30:36 Is there going to be that clear leadership that you're going to need on a new defense that is going to need to play better this year? 30:44 Uh, I, I think, I think that's where my head goes, and I think that's something you can more easily see-Doing what we're doing, which is talking to players and coaches afterwards, maybe getting a little look at a scrimmage later on this fall. 30:56 I think that is something that you can see. And, um, whether, whether or not that is readily, readily, 31:06 easily, easy to see with your own two eyes, I think that's something that we're gonna, we're gonna pay real, real close attention to over the next couple of, over the next couple of, um, weeks. Because as I said, 31:18 you're, you're not going to have any problem getting up for Alabama. That this team is not going to have any problem getting up for Alabama. It's what comes after that. How can you rebound? 31:27 Or if they win, how do you continue to build that momentum? Um, so just the leadership, where is that coming from? Who is it coming from? Is it going to be somebody new? 31:37 Is somebody going to come back and, and be the leader that we thought that they should have been last year? I think most Seminole fans could probably get an idea of who I'm talking about. 31:45 I'm not, I'm not keeping it too hard. Um, but, but where's that leadership going to come from, Bob? 31:52 And I, I think to the sidekicks thing, the sidekicks of twenty twenty-four are no longer on the twenty twenty-five roster. 31:58 I mean, like what's- Mostly When Mike Norvell says a lot of times throughout this off season, there were some hard discussions or some difficult discussions. Yeah. 32:07 I think that's Mike Norvell's way of saying, you know, the transfer portal is right there. It's, it's really not working out for you or us as coaches. And that's, 32:16 again, this is the reality, um, of the portal, but it's also a, a good reality potentially where Florida State can flip this roster and bring in guys who will be leaders, guys who will hold their teammates accountable. 32:29 You know, I think we talked about this Wednesday last week at, at kickoff is that it is leadership, but it is the accountability that players hold the guy next to them or somebody else in the position room too. 32:41 Um, if I'm looking at leaders, I'm just naming names of guys who I think can or, or should be. I'm looking at Daryl Jackson 32:50 because he, he's come back for a reason and it's not just, you know, college dollar bills when it could be NFL dollar bills. It's James Williams, who's followed some of his position coaches from Nebraska. 33:01 And I think that's big. He's going to be a, um, a teacher of this three-three-five. Um, I, 33:09 I'm big on Stefan Thompson and I don't know how much you get out of him on that knee as far as a productive linebacker, a contributing linebacker. 33:19 Probably not the starter, probably not one of the three best linebackers, but as a teacher of the three-three-five, as a kind of old man in the room who's done it at Syracuse and Nebraska, to me, that can be leadership. 33:30 Teaching is leadership and accountability. So I, I think we know there's a lot of guys there. 33:36 Um, is Earl Little kind of that guy that, that Tony White talked about throughout the spring and, and Mike Norvell's praised and Mike Norvell's brought him to kickoff, um, you know, for a reason. 33:48 Usually it's because Mike Norvell likes certain guys and the way that they work and their personalities. So not limited to those names, right, Nick? 33:57 I, I mean, you might be able to come up with a couple more too, but I think when we start ticking off the names at the top of the list to some extent, you know, we're, we're thinking about a lot of those names. Yeah. 34:07 The guy I was talking about, and I, I've ripped the band, is Shaheem. Shaheem was somebody that personally, I was really disappointed in last season just from a leadership perspective. Um, I, I don't know. 34:20 I th- I think we can probably tell this story, but I remember, um, I can't remember if it was after Boston College or Memphis. It was either the second, second or third game of the season. We go to practice and, 34:34 you know, when, you know, uh, when you were younger and you did something really bad, your parents were coming home later and you knew that you were about to get spanked or you're about to get a real chewing out of. 34:45 Uh, maybe you've had that [laughs] maybe not recently, at least I hope not recently with your daughter, but, um, you know, when you've- Mine was perfect. No. Yeah, of course. Of course. You know, when you've messed up. 34:56 Yeah. You, and you can tell when mom and dad are going to be real angry with you. 35:00 Like you forgot to, y- your mom's coming home after a long day of work and your chicken hasn't defrosted in the sink yet, and she's going to be real mad. 35:10 I remember one, I remember going to a practice after the third or fourth game of the season and Shaheem was very clearly had more energy that week than any other. 35:19 And you could tell that mom and dad were a little upset with how things were going previously, uh, in terms of the leadership there. I think, and I think it was the leadership. And you could tell that 35:32 the difference between one practice to the other of his energy level and, and how he was, um, 35:40 encouraging teammates and, and being that guy and trying to be a better leader, that, that is kind of something that we, we saw that one week and then it didn't really manifest again, or at least we didn't notice it. 35:51 And I don't want to reflect that ref- to reflect super poorly on him because I think that was in general, a team wide thing. 35:59 There were, there were s- there were a lot of things that they did last season, uh, to try and juice up practices and get guys more engaged. 36:07 There were, remember, do you remember that one week where they were like super into celebrating on the field whenever the defense came away with the takeaway or, or whenever the offense scored, they almost kind of like encouraged like celebrations to the point where it was like getting out of hand almost. 36:22 There, there were like a couple of things that the coaches tried last year to pr- try and bring that juice and bring the fun back into it. And, um, have, have that natural leadership. 36:31 You know, w- Nor- Norvell talked last week about forced team bonding. Yes. You know, maybe, maybe, maybe that shows up in a little bit now that you think about that in hindsight as well. Um, 36:41 I would like to see Shaheem be a better leader this year. I would like to visibly see that. 36:45 And maybe that's not being asked of him again, like it was last year, but I would, I think as a veteran safety presence in a defense that is going to really prioritize good safety play, you need him and Earl to step up. 36:58 You need them both to step up and be leaders of the defensive backfield. And I, I think that's, that's one person. And I think Daryl Jackson is obviously kind of a natural guy that we're going to be looking to see 37:09 take that next step. Um, all of those storylines and more, we'll have plenty of time to talk about over the next couple of weeks and well into football season. 37:18 Uh, but the important stuff, Florida State is reporting tomorrow. We are going to get to talk to Coach Norvell, all the assistant coaches, possibly Derek Ray tomorrow. Uh, 37:30 all your questions, all of your thoughts going to be asked to them. We're going to make sure to write all of it. So this is a good time to join theosceola.com. 37:39 We're going to have all of this coverage of Florida State, uh, preseason camp leading all the way up until the season opener against Alabama on August thirtieth. 37:46 Um, all of that and more, so much to talk about, so much is pure talking season. Uh, but I'm excited to just see you guys in pads again. And, um, you can smell it. Football season is right in the air. 37:58 Uh, that'll be it for today's episode of Seminole Silos. So something a little bit different today, something a little bit more conversational, a little bit off the cuff, uh, nothing planned necessarily. 38:07 So we appreciate your viewership today as always. 38:09 Make sure you go to theosceola.com for all the stories that we've written over the last couple of days, including, uh, new look at Florida State basketball commitment stories, uh, camp storylines like we talked about, um, earlier this, uh, earlier this show. 38:22 And of course, you know, some remaining, um, stories from ACC Media Day that Bob and Kurt traveled to in North Carolina last week. Thank you all so much for your viewership and for your time. 38:31 As always, my name is Nick Carlisle, staff writer, recruiting writer for theosceola.com. That is head editor Bob Ferante. We will be back 38:37 at some point, Wednesday, Friday, where we'll have a lot to talk about and we'll make sure to share it all with you. Thank you so much. Have a great rest of your day.
