FSU Football Fall Camp Observations: Seminoles Focus On Special Teams, Two-Minute Situations

The Seminoles practiced a little lighter and shorter on Friday morning ahead of their first preseason scrimmage.

FSU Athletics

Florida State practiced for the eighth time in ten days on Friday morning. The Seminoles went a little lighter during this session as the team worked without shoulder pads ahead of its first scrimmage of the preseason.

Head coach Mike Norvell and his staff spent a large portion of the practice emphasizing fundamentals and focusing on special teams. The Seminoles did go through two-minute situations between the offense and defense. The offense was certainly better than Thursday but failed to capitalize at the end of drives with the defense keeping them off the board.

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FSU will hold a closed scrimmage on Saturday. We'll hear from Mike Norvell after things wrap up. Practice will continue on next week with a four-day stretch, including a trip to Jacksonville for a pair of days at UNF.

NoleGameday was in attendance for the session and we've listed some observations from different position groups and players below. This report will be a little shorter than some of our previous editions.

— The Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans, and San Francisco 49ers had scouts watching practice.

— Mike Norvell was fired up after a Jaylin Lucas punt return where he followed his blockers and exploded up the middle of the field. Malik Benson and Micahi Danzy were also taking reps in the period.

OFFENSE:

— The team got started with their first two-minute drill that we've seen this preseason. The ball was placed at the 33-yard line with 45 seconds on the clock. DJ Uiagalelei missed wide on his opening throw to Lawrance Toafili. He responded by completing his next pass to the running back, who scampered out of bounds with 29 seconds left on the clock. A strike to Kyle Morlock working over the middle of the field moved the offense to the 50 with time continuing to tick.

Uiagalelei completed a pass to Poitier later in the drive for a first down. He also connected with Toafili and Elijah Moore to move the offense into scoring position. That set up Ryan Fitzgerald for a 43-yard attempt that ended up going wide right after he was iced with a timeout.

The defense clamped down on Brock Glenn's drive. The redshirt freshman quarterback had his first pass tipped at the line, nearly being picked off by Ja'Bril Rawls on the deflection. Glenn threw too far for Brian Courtney with Conrad Hussey sticking in coverage. He attempted a pass to Deuce Spann on the sideline in what was a contested catch opportunity that was broken up by Edwin Joseph to end the possession.

Uiagalelei got another opportunity to conclude the practice with the possession starting around the 35-yard line with a little more time on the clock. He started off the drive with a completion to Poitier that was short of the line to gain and inbounds. Uiagalelei found Morlock later on for a conversion on third down. Following an incompletion, he found Deuce Spann twice to move the offense to the 24 with 16 seconds left. The offense was ultimately unable to get into the end zone with the defense breaking up two passes to conclude the drill. Azareye'h Thomas and Shyheim Brown made plays on the ball to give the unit a win with the clock hitting double zeroes.

— The Seminoles didn't spend a ton of time working in 11-on-11 along with no 1-on-1's or 7-on-7 on Friday. That made it tough to take many evaluations away with a limited number of reps to process. That being said, DJ Uiagalelei certainly made a couple of good decisions that resulted in completions. He went through his reads and found Elijah Moore for a decent pickup. Uiagalelei also hit Kyle Morlock at different junctures. He did toss an interception late in practice on a throw to Lawrance Toafili on the sideline that had too much air under it, leading to a play by Edwin Joseph.

— Lawrance Toafili came down with a really tough catch in the middle of practice. He was working towards the sideline and had to make a diving attempt with a defensive back right on top of him. Toafili has been really good as a receiver this preseason.

— Jalen Brown caught a short pass on the sideline and accelerated up the field into open space. Got a nice sense of his speed on the play.

— Deuce Spann popped up with back-to-back catches in two-minute drills, including a rep where he beat Fentrell Cypress II over the middle.

— The offensive line did a good job of giving DJ Uiagalelei time to process routes developing downfield for the majority of practice. Not too many sacks or blown blocks.

DEFENSE:

— Another really solid day for redshirt freshman Edwin Joseph as he pulled in his second interception this week. His ball skills stand out in the secondary with his ability to fight for the football when the pass is in the air. Joseph came flying in to pick off a lofting throw from Uiagalelei and took it back the other way for a pick-six. The young defender is making a case to be in the rotation in 2024.

— I felt like Blake Nichelson popped up in a big way with his instincts and decisiveness. There was a stretch in team drills where the sophomore linebacker read a play out of the backfield and instantly got in position for a stop at the line of scrimmage. On the next snap, he slid between two blockers to record a tackle for loss.

— Fentrell Cypress II had a really athletic battle with Malik Benson on the sideline, almost picking off a pass with one-hand. It was a free throw for the offense after a defensive end jumped off-sides.

— Aaron Hester was applying serious pressure on the quarterback. Strength and good hustle from the redshirt sophomore.

— Shyheim Brown essentially played centerfielder on the last play of two-minute drills with the offense needing to put the ball into the end zone for a score. He kept his eyes on DJ Uiagalelei the entire time and got in the right position to deflect the pass and give the defense a win.

— It looked like Patrick Payton batted down a pass at the line of scrimmage.

— Darrell Jackson came right through the offensive line to stop Roydell Williams. He's been pretty good the last couple of practices.

— Sione Lolohea was active for the second day in a row, bottling up a Kam Davis run.

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