Florida State Football: Will Cam Akers reach full potential in NFL?

Cam Akers came to Tallahassee as an elite recruit, but due to poor usage and coaching with Florida State football, he has yet to reach his potential.

One of the many things you could take away from Jimbo Fisher’s wasted last season at Florida State and the entirety of the Willie Taggart era: Cam Akers is very talented and was poorly used and coached.

At Florida State, Akers was playing behind one of the worst offensive lines in the entire country and did not have stable quarterback play, which affected teams’ game plans against the Seminoles and allowed them to stack the box to make sure they stop the most talented threat on offense.

It will work wonders for Akers to play for a team that has good quarterback play, a solid offensive line and a coach that actually knows how to scheme and use Akers in a variety of ways and those are the many reasons that he’s the most slept-on running back in this year’s draft class.

Akers came to Florida State as one of their most hyped recruits since they landed Jameis Winston. He ranked as the No. 2 running back in the country coming out of high school and the No. 3 player nationally.

Florida State was one of the teams that was receiving a lot of hype heading into the regular season and came into the year ranked in the top five and had a big opening game against Alabama in Atlanta. Florida State lost that game and starting quarterback Deandre Francois and that seemed to really put a damper on what wound up being head coach Jimbo Fisher’s last season as the coach of the Seminoles before he left for Texas A&M.

One of the bright spots of that dismal 7-6 season was the freshman Akers. Akers finished the season with just over 1,000 yards and seven rushing touchdowns, while also catching 16 passes for 116 yards and another touchdown.

Taggart was hired as the next coach of the Seminoles and it was a pretty well-received hire at the time and Akers was getting a lot of preseason Heisman hype due to the new coach’s style of offense and the potential numbers that Akers could put up.

The Taggart era started with a primetime showdown against Virginia Tech on Labor Day and unfortunately, it wound up being a sign of things to come for the next two seasons. Florida State was drubbed 24-0 and the 2018 season was an abject disaster as FSU finished 5-7 and didn’t go to a bowl game for the first time in over 30 years. Akers underperformed that season, carrying the ball 161 times for only 706 yards and six touchdowns, while adding 23 receptions for 145 yards and two touchdowns.

Keep in mind, Akers was running behind one of the worst offensive lines in recent memory for a power five school and had a rotating door of average quarterback play.

Florida State hoped that new offensive coordinator Kendal Briles would jumpstart the offense and get the Seminoles back to winning games and while the offense improved slightly, it wasn’t enough to save Taggart’s job and he was fired and FSU finished 6-7. Akers was the lone bright spot in another wasted season in Tallahassee, setting career highs in almost every major category. He finished the season with 231 carries for over 1,100 yards and 14 touchdowns while adding 30 catches for 225 yards and four touchdowns.

Strengths

Akers is a very powerful runner with good size for an NFL running back at 5-foot-10, 217 pounds. One of the biggest strengths of Akers is that he hasn’t been in a place that has utilized his talents. He has played behind the worst offensive lines imaginable and with no reliable threat at quarterback. Akers faced stacked boxes from defense every week because teams knew the key to shutting down Florida State’s offense was to shut him down.

Moreover, Akers showed off his athletic ability at the NFL combine by running the 40-yard dash in 4.47 seconds and that was a big question mark heading into the process. He’s a very patient runner and is an underrated receiver out of the backfield.

Weaknesses

Akers lacks explosion when he is bursting through running lanes and he isn’t the shiftiest of runners. NFL backs need to be able to get free and get in space and be shifty around defenders and Akers really only showed his speed and athleticism in the open field. He has good speed but is not a burner.

Draft Projection

I think that Akers is flying under the radar because Florida State was not very good the past few seasons and he did not quite have the production that many expected when he came out of high school as a five-star recruit. This will cause Akers to fall a bit and a team in the second or third round and allow some team to be able to get a steal and an every down back in the later rounds. Teams like the Falcons, Dolphins, Redskins and Chiefs are some to watch.

Projection: Second or third round