TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The 11th-ranked Florida State football team dove head-long into preparation for its Sept. 2 season-opener at Pittsburgh during Tuesday’s two-hour practice session. The weather was hot and humid as the Seminoles donned full pads.
FSU released its depth chart for the Pitt game, which head coach Jimbo Fisher addressed at the conclusion of practice.
Head Coach Jimbo Fisher Comments:
Opening Statement
“It was a good, hot and hard practice. It’s good to be back in game week. I was proud of the guys – I thought we had a good tempo and focus today on offense, defense and special teams. I liked the way we kicked the ball and snapped it and picked up the blocks and all the different things you work on. I thought it was an overall good day in terms of focus, concentration and preparation. We’re going into a hornet’s nest – this team [Pittsburgh] is a good team. They were 17th in the country in defense last year; they have nine starters back. We’ve watched five games and they’ve given up four or five runs of 10-plus yards. They’re playing well offensively – their quarterback can throw it and they have a big offensive line. We’re going to be playing in front of a sold-out crowd so it’s going to be a crazy environment. We need to prepare well and I was proud of the way we prepared today, and we have to keep going.”
On the progression of the defensive line according to the newly-released depth chart, including Eddie Goldman and Nile Lawrence-Stample
“All those guys are going to have roles and different things, whether it’s nickel or dime packages. They’re big, physical guys and they’ll rotate at times. That’s the group that had the most consistency. There are different packages that we’ll use and we’ll keep a rotation of those guys in all the different personnel groups.”
On Dan Hicks sitting atop the two-deep at SAM linebacker
“Guys, Dan can run. Dan’s the 110 high hurdle champ of Mississippi. You guys forget that. In high school Dan could run and cover. He can stand or get down – he can do both. Just like we did with Bjoern (Werner) last year, we didn’t do it with Tank. It’s the same thing we did last year, it’s nothing different in the phases that we’re doing in terms of standing them up and moving them around. We can do that in a big package or we can get them in a pass-rush package and move them around and get the other guys out and get the faster guys in.”
On the injury front
“We’ve been very pleased. We’ve got your typical sores and bangs, but nothing that should keep anybody from being ready by game time.”
On some of the freshmen stepping up
“E.J. Levenberry, Matthew Thomas, Jalen Ramsey – all three of those guys are very high on the depth chart. They’ve done a really good job, they’re smart and they learn. All three of them have something in common in that they don’t make mistakes. They’re intelligent, they learn very well, plus the athletic ability and size and speed. They learned and picked up the system and competed well and did their job. Those three guys for freshmen did an outstanding job.”
On the competition between Jalen Ramsey and Nick Waisome at cornerback
“Jalen’s been that good. There’s nothing Nick (Waisome) has done wrong, in fact Nick’s playing very good football. But Jalen Ramsey is playing very good football. He’s a big body, can run and is athletic. We feel comfortable with either one of those guys in the football game.”
On Jimbo’s philosophy of playing freshmen right away
“There isn’t an age limit on doing well. Ask (Mike) Trout and Bryce Harper. There isn’t an age limit on those guys. You play well, you perform, you do well. And that’s nothing against the other guys because they’re doing well too, it’s just creating competition.”
On Jameis Winston’s practices since being named the starting quarterback
“Really good. Yesterday was the first practice and the format was OK. I thought today he was very sharp, I really liked how he played today with all the blitz pickups and checks and getting the ball where he needs to. People are going to bring pressure to young guys. We know that and we’ve worked on that extensively. Today I thought he had a very sharp day, and I thought Jake (Coker) had a sharp day. I was very pleased with the way Jameis played today.”
On Jameis’ demeanor
“He’s vocal and he’s loud. He gets loud in games in a good way. Jameis has that outgoing personality and guys respond to him very well. But in saying that, guys respond to Jake very well too. They’re two different guys. As I say you can get the same results two different ways, but Jameis is very personable no doubt.”
On whether EJ Manuel helped in Jameis’ development
No doubt. When you get to walk with the big guy on campus and he’s with you, you get into a comfort zone and it’s like, ‘Hey, this guy’s okay.’ But he helped other guys out too, believe or not. They (Jameis and Jake) took advantage of EJ, both of them did, by watching how he prepared and watching how he played and how he took care of his body and arm during the week. It’s understanding the whole procedure, not just coming out and playing football. They were under his wing the whole time, and EJ wanted to teach them and they watched
