Florida State Linebacker Blake Nichelson Discusses Difficulty Of Focusing On One Position

As Nichelson shifts his focus to a single position, he's beginning to consistently display the talent that made him a blue-chip recruit.

After a third conference win over Virginia Tech and 11th consecutive victory, the No. 4 Florida State Seminoles are 5-0 for the first time in eight years and are now the only undefeated team in the state of Florida.

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While he has yet to start a game, true freshman linebacker has been seeing his role continue to grow as the defense goes into its sixth contest. In the two games he has seen the field, Nichelson has six total tackles, one coming in last week’s game against Virginia Tech and the other five coming from the week two game against Southern Miss.

As he continues to make the transition to playing only linebacker after suiting up on both sides of the ball in high school, Nichelson has impressed the Florida State coaching staff a great deal since arriving in Tallahassee in June.

“To do all the things that we do, to not have that extra five months in the spring, to come in and learn just so many things fundamentally in the position, I think coach [Randy] Shannon has done a great job with him as well and bringing him along, but he’s going to be a fun one to watch as he continues to grow up,” Head coach Mike Norvell said about Nichelson after Tuesday’s practice.

In addition to sending shockwaves throughout the coaching staff, the former four-star linebacker out of Ripon, California continues to impress himself as he excels on the field while simultaneously learning everything that comes with the position of linebacker.

“I feel like it’s been a very hard process, especially because in high school I was mostly playing running back, safety, stuff like that," Nichelson said. "Now actually having to have responsibilities and plug fit stuff, it’s all brand new to me and I’m just getting ahold of it, but I feel like I’ve caught on to it pretty fast by now. I feel like from here it’s only going to keep getting better and better, but I like putting all of my talents into one position.”

While Nichelson may be improving fast, he is a member of what might be FSU’s most talented position groups with Kalen DeLoach, Tatum Bethune, and DJ Lundy all in the mix, one could argue that the talent in the room would hurt Nichelson’s chances of improving as he would get less playing time, however, he has a different mindset on that topic.

“All of the linebackers are all progressing well, even the older guys. It’s good to have guys like Lundy, DeLo, and Tatum in there to kinda help me out throughout the process.”

The true freshman has already made an argument that he is one of the most talented newcomers on the team and it seems that Nichelson has only scratched the surface of his ability to play the linebacker position. If he continues to improve at the rate he is, there might just be a chance that Nichelson joins the other 294 Seminoles who have taken their game to the NFL.

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