BLOGGIN'
Signing Day
Posted by Lynn on February 6
No news will be broken here, but if you're at work and just want to occasionally have a one-place catchup on the signings, we'll pass them along here. A summary list will be posted at the bottom.
6:15 p.m. -- Just updating with the last of the faxes that were received some time ago.
2:55 p.m. -- Reports have Imeokparia and Hill signing. Imeokparia's fax has been confirmed.
Unless we hear differently, FSU is probably done today.
2:20 p.m. -- FSU confirmed Gehres' fax a little while ago. Still waiting on word from Hill. Latest news is that FSU did offer Ed Imeokparia, we should know soon who he signs with.
1:30 p.m. -- Pressley, Arnold, Smiley and McCloud added to the FSU list. That leaves just the Lincoln pair of Gehres and Little outstanding. The only other expected signing I know of is Anthony Hill, which should happen later.
1:00 p.m. -- McCray's LOI is at FSU, as is Carlton Jones'.
FSU reportedly will get LOIs from a couple of Thomas County Central players -- Anthony McCloud and Debrale Smiley. They are not expected to qualify academically, but whether that means sign-and-place or juco is not clear. This is probably a tactical move to help rebuild a pipeline into South Georgia.
12:40 p.m. -- Josh Gehres and Jabaris Little signed with FSU; alas, T.J. Bryant did not, signing with USC. Manwhile, Julio Jones went to Alabama. Bummer.
12:30 p.m. -- Moses McCray has supposedly signed his LOI with us. Over on ESPNU, Jamie Harper signed with Clemson. Julio Jones and T.J. Bryant upcoming.
12:10 p.m. -- Faircloth and White added to FSU's list. Announcements from Julio Jones and T.J. Bryant should be coming shortly. Jamie Harper is expected to sign with Clemson, we think.
11:40 a.m. -- FSU's site has added Spurlock, Carr and Corey Surrency. Surrency's juco teammate, Tavares Pressley, has also reportedly signed.
11:25 a.m. -- Garrett Faircloth has supposedly faxed in. He's expected to greyshirt.
11:15 a.m. -- More from FSU: Fortson, Commack and Sanders confirmed, Rhonne Sanderson also in the house.
11:00 a.m. -- Travis Arnold, Zebrie Sanders and David Spurlock have all reportedly signed.
10:50 a.m. -- Jarmon Fortson reportedly signed with FSU.
10:45 a.m. -- Jermaine Thomas' LOI added to the FSU-confirmed list.
10:40 a.m. -- Reports are that Markus White and Carlton Jones have signed with FSU.
10:15 a.m. -- Ryan Baker signed with LSU. No surprise.
One word on today's reporting -- if you remember last year's situation with Markish Jones, the NCAA essentially declared that the signing of a LOI made it official. It used to not count until it was faxed to the school. So various sites can, in good faith, report "official" signings that FSU has yet to confirm. I'm continuing to separate the confirmed/unconfirmed below but as long as the LOI was signed it shouldn't matter.
9:45 a.m. -- Blake Snider, who is expected to greyshirt last we heard, has faxed in.
9:35 a.m. -- E.J. Manuel's fax is in.
9:30 a.m. -- The First Coast trio signed with FSU (including Jermaine Thomas). We'll add them to the list when FSU confirms receipt of the faxes. Meanwhile, Corey Liuget reportedly signed with Illinois.
9:10 a.m. -- Jenkins to WVU official.
9:00 a.m. -- A.J. Alexander and Toshmon Stevens in the house. Multiple sites report Josh Jenkins will sign with West Virginia.
8:50 a.m. -- First list of signees posted by FSU.
Signed Today, Faxes Confirmed
A.J. Alexander, Travis Arnold, Nigel Carr, Avis Commack, Andrew Datko, Everett Dawkins, Ed Imeokparia, Garrett Faircloth, Jarmon Fortston, Josh Gehres, Anthony Hill, Carlton Jones, Jabaris Little, E.J. Manuel, Anthony McCloud, Moses McCray, Nick Moody, Tavares Pressley, Zebrie Sanders, Rhonne Sanderson, Debrale Smiley, Blake Snider, David Spurlock, Toshmon Stevens, Corey Surrency, Jermaine Thomas, Markus White
Previously Signed, Already In School
Nigel Bradham, Terrance Parks, Vincent Williams
Signed Elsewhere
Josh Jenkins, Corey Liuget, Ryan Baker, Jamie Harper, T.J. Bryant, Julio Jones
BLOGGIN'
Stand Up
Posted by Lynn on December 29
It's been an interesting last couple of weeks for everyone who follows FSU football. Make it doubly interesting if you've spent the last two weeks in Nashville and Kentucky, as I have.
A few sports-talk hosts and writers here, including some I like and respect, have said some things I've disagreed with, but they're primarily motivated by the good of the Music City Bowl, and if they don't like it that FSU is showing up well under full strength, can't say I blame 'em.
Some Kentucky fans have been idiots about the whole thing, but they're fans and we all have our idiots. They were looking forward to playing FSU, now they think they won't get any credit for winning the game but will be mercilessly ripped if they lose. They're fans. Can't really blame 'em.
The people that have irritated me most over the last couple of weeks are FSU fans, if they are in fact FSU fans -- the ones who are so "embarrassed" to be FSU fans right now they can't help writing into the newspaper or calling sports-talk shows and pouring another can of gasoline onto the fire. Lift out the obligatory "I'm a Florida State fan/graduate/supporter, but..." and their statements could be dictated word-for-word by Gator fans. And not the reasonable ones, either.
I'm not saying anyone has to excuse anyone's actions. Myself, I was wondering when people stopped getting kicked out of school for this sort of thing, but apparently modern-day academia is more forgiving, at least for a first strike.
But people, it is possible to disapprove of what happened at FSU without turning your back on the school or going out of your way to trash it. Educated people are supposed to be capable of such things. It's what stand-up people do. If folks are so concerned about FSU's reputation, perhaps they should act reputably.
I can say for sure there's no quit in the local Seminole club.
BLOGGIN'
Here We Go Again
Posted by Lynn on December 23
As we go through the latest Where's Jimbo Going To Be installment...
I love Bobby Bowden, but we're basically pickled as long as his retirement is open-ended. Maybe Fisher stays, maybe he goes. But the situation will remain the same. No matter how energetic and reasonable we are, no matter how lucrative we make coach-in-waiting, it's still not as good as a real head coaching job at a school that can win. We can put up with the attempted raids, or we can just hire an offensive coordinator that lacks talent or ambition.
Yes, I know Fisher has a contract, a very good one, with a significant buyout. But contracts are written to be broken, and for all the breath we might expend on his alleged lack of integrity should he leave, it's an unwritten rule in the coaching business that coaches are allowed to go up the ladder. And we'd probably replace him with someone currently under contract somewhere else. 'Tis the nature of the business.
I have a pretty good idea, though, that this is the tipping point. WVU can pay a top coach's salary and they can win. If he turns down that job, we're probably safe with our coach-in-waiting.
If he doesn't turn it down, then we have issues.
Edit for new news:
Statement from Florida State offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher:
"I know media reports are circulating regarding the possibility of West Virginia's head coaching position. I am a native of West Virginia and love the state but I want to make clear that I am staying at Florida State. I am committed to this university, this program and these players. I am excited about where I am and where Seminole football is headed."
-- Seminoles.com
BLOGGIN'
Much To Consider
Posted by Lynn on December 7
Thinking out loud on the season and the future...
Eleven months ago, I shared the viewpoint of many Seminole fans that we still had exceptional talent, and all we had to do was coach them better. Not that I expected an immediate return to being a national championship contender; as I've said before, "well-coached" is a process, not a switch. It would take some time, but I was secretly hoping for big things.
I was wrong. Truth is, the rot on offense had set in worse than I thought. For instance:
Rick Trickett pretty much blew up the line he found. A few brief injury subs aside, we went through the season with six guys. How bad is that? Two of them weren't on our OL last year; Rodney Hudson is a true freshman and Ryan McMahon was redshirting at defensive tackle. And from all indications, they're the two best linemen we had. Reading between the lines, some of the guys we redshirted are better than the guys we were playing. At least, we'd better hope they'll be.
Quarterbacks -- No point going over the whole Xavier Lee fiasco again, and Drew Weatherford? He played better, but it still seems like some of that spark he showed as a freshman was beaten out of him along the way. It's questionable as to whether it can be found again in the eligibility he has left, which makes me hope that either Ponder or Richardson takes a big step forward in the spring.
Antone Smith played most of the year dinged up, but he's another guy who seems to have suffered for experience. Fortunately, this position seems to be well-addressed in recruiting with backs that better fit what Jimbo Fisher wants.
By the end of the season, I think I was more disappointed in the wide receivers (Preston Parker excepted) than any other position on offense. De'Cody Fagg remained inconsistent, Greg Carr remained intermittently motivated, etc. Again, we were redshirting some potential players, but Parker aside, there just wasn't any playmaking going on. This is another position where we need a big jolt of recruiting juice.
Chew on this for a minute: There's not a single upperclassman on offense that had a really good year.
Now, let's talk coaching. I completely respect Fisher, Trickett and Dawsey's ability to school players. If a player they inherited isn't progressing, I'm comfortable saying it's the player and not the coaching. I wasn't quite as impressed with the offensive scheme. I'm hopeful, though, that it was a matter of trying to make chicken salad out of chicken something-else and it'll look a lot better when we have the right players to run it.
As for the defense, they had some problems, too. But they were more specific and less systemic than the offensive issues.
We were way too susceptible to long passes.
We gave up way too many long third downs.
Tackling was sometimes very good, sometimes not good at all.
Some of that needs to be fixed with scheme tweaks, and some of it needs to come from improvement from the defensive backs (and safeties in particular). Another year of experience will help the linebackers, too. The recent trend toward spread/misdirection offenses puts a premium on the linebackers' ability to take the first step in the right direction.
We'll have to replace Gary Cismesia, and that stinks, because we're FSU and a field-goal kicker that just goes out there and kicks the ball through the dadgum uprights is not to be taken for granted.
So I'm left with the inescapable conclusion that the talent level wasn't what I thought it was. I guess this shouldn't have surprised me. Fisher supposedly made a comment about Preston Parker back in the spring, something like "he could play for LSU." In retrospect, the unspoken implication was, "And most of these other guys couldn't."
There's really no point in trying to figure out who to blame. It's not going to change anything. We just have to accept that we're going to have to coach AND recruit our way back to the top.
And now, on to the transition plan: I don't know the real transition plan. But I'm generally in favor of what FSU appears to have arranged. Despite what we want to believe about how we'd have our choice of coaches to succeed Bowden, there's some truth to the old coach saying about, "I want to succeed the guy who succeeds the legend." One legend is rarely replaced with another. Given that, maybe the next-best thing is to take a talented guy like Fisher and have him slowly make the team his, in advance of actually being the head coach. At that point, the coaching change is more ceremonial than actual, and if he's doing a good job we'll already know it. And if he isn't, well, supposedly there's an out.
If nothing else, the past several years have been a good reminder not to take championship-contending years for granted.
BLOGGIN'
Stay The Course
Posted by Lynn on October 16
As crummy as I felt after the Wake Forest game, I'm a little relieved that there doesn't appear to be a sense of panic within the FSU program. I have a feeling they knew better than we all along that this was going to be a long, rough trip.
And now, on to a team that will never be on the receiving end of enough payback as far as I'm concerned. I'll settle for a win however we get it.
Go Seminoles!
