Florida State Football: 5 storylines to follow during 2018 spring ball
3. Freshmen that can make an impact
When a new head football coach arrives on campus, one of the first executive acts they undertake is trying to determine who needs to stay and who needs to leave the program. Coaches have their type of football player, and their system that the current roster doesn’t always fit into.
As Taggart arrives in Tallahassee, he will weed out some of the players that don’t fit his mold, but also he will want to bring in his caliber of player to the Seminoles locker room. Taggart likes to grind defenses down with his 11 personnel (one back, one tight end) offense and they’ll employ a 4-2-5 defense. The first order of business will be replacing potential first round safety Derwin James.
Taggart signed California-native Jaiden Woodbey, a four-star safety prospect. He’s a 6-2, 204-pound safety who can run and hit which puts him in the James category of safety. He can play in the box or roam deep and play center field. Defensive back is going to be a place where freshmen can make an immediate impact and FSU signed another great one in Asante Samuel Jr.
Samuel Jr. is the son of former NFL great Asante Samuel. The four-star prospect from St. Thomas Aquinas in Florida will battle for the nickel cornerback job from the jump. Stanford Samuels III and Levonta Taylor are clearcut starters but Samuel can steal playing time if he lives up to the blue-chip hype.
Another position group that the Seminoles needed to bolster depth for is linebacker. Amari Gainer is a four-star freshman with NFL size and ability. Gainer is 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds out of Tallahassee, Fla. Gainer can immediately get on the two-deep at linebacker and even possibly into a rotation before the season is over. He’s good, but the Seminoles linebacking corps is that shallow as well.
On offense, 6-foot-3, 200-pound wide receiver Warren Thompson can also make an immediate impact. Out of Armwood High School in Florida, Thompson is one of five wide receivers Taggart’s staff brought on campus due to a lack of depth and talent at the position.
Deondre Francois and James Blackman need targets with size to go with the undersized Nyqwan Murray and D.J. Matthews. Tight end Carmen McDonald is another freshman that will get an early shot at playing time but we’ll discuss him in more detail later.