Nole Gameday

Observations from Florida State's first padded spring practice

The pads were popping.

Logan Robinson

For the first time this spring, the Seminoles donned the shoulder pads and padded pants on Wednesday's spring practice. This was a slightly rainy afternoon in Tallahassee so all activities were done inside Florida State's indoor practice facility.

Usually, in football, players are looking forward to slapping on the pads for the first time after a long break, and yeah, the 'Noles were ready to rock. There was a lot of physicality, vocal leadership, and chirps during the competition, everything you like to see from a first day with pads being introduced.

That's enough teasing, let's jump into who impressed from Wednesday.

Veteran Florida State defensive back Akeem Dent grabs a tipped ball from Omarion Cooper for an interception on the first play of team period. Dent did this all last fall during practices and it seems like he's starting to get into a groove this spring. 

Pads coming on for the first day meant I had to go walk over and watch defensive line coach Odell Haggins and his players go through drills. Has there been a size increase with this unit? Yes. Joshua Farmer stands out right away. He looks the size of a senior. Spending over twenty minutes with this group, I got to watch how big of a vocal leader both Fabian Lovett and Robert Cooper are. I'll add, Jarrett Jackson was not letting younger guys walk around, there's no time to slack around in that unit.

Two freshmen Sam McCall and Azareye'h Thomas continue to impress the coaching staff. They're putting themselves in the right position to make plays and causing pass breakups left and right. You're not seeing wide receivers break off far from them. Yes, they're both still learning and developing but you can tell Mike Norvell is excited about these two to start spring.

There were two players that had their best days of the spring thus far: Transfers defensive back Greedy Vance and wide receiver Deuce Spann. Vance came away with two interceptions on the day during one on one drills. If you're looking for the chirpy secondary player on FSU's defense, it's going to be the Louisville transfer. He is vocal and extra competitive. Spann on the other side of the ball made multiple plays throughout the day and seems to be getting into a groove. He has impressive size and speed. Let's keep an eye on these two

As talked about in Monday's practice observations, Johnny Wilson is a serious threat all over the field so far. Once again, he was in a great battle with a defensive back for a contested ball and Wilson came down with it. Wilson's size is a problem but when you add his strength into the equation with speed, he's a special player to watch. Wilson continues to flash.

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There's a reason why Randy Shannon and Adam Fuller jumped right after UCF transfer linebacker Tatum Bethune when he entered the transfer portal. We got to see firsthand what he brings to the table with pads on and hello. Bethune on one run play in team period came up to the line with a serious pop on the running back blowing up the play. He's a brick wall but with great hips being able to go to east and west in coverage. Welcome to Tallahassee, Bethune.

Two offensive linemen impressed me during drills against the defensive line on Wednesday and those two were Bless Harris and freshman Daughtry Richardson. Two guys held their own throughout their drills for a majority of their reps and were receiving a lot of love from the coaching staff.

We can't miss the explosion runs from both Treshaun Ward and walk-on running back CJ Campbell. Those two found ways of breaking open significant runs down the field having the secondary racing after them. Ward specifically has a special day taking the ball twice for 50+ yard gains. To note, Ward seems to have an extra gear to him this spring. Something to watch... 

Lastly, I want to give some recognition to veteran wide receiver Keyshawn Helton. He was all over the field on Wednesday making plays with big gains. Freshman quarterback AJ Duffy threw a gorgeous dot to Helton over the shoulder and somehow the wide receiver came down with it. You couldn't have asked for anything better and it put a large smile on the head coach's face giving a nod to Duffy and running over to Helton to high-five him.

We'll be back on Friday for FSU's last practice before spring break. Below is a list of players that impressed from the first padded practice. 

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Logan Robinson
LOGAN ROBINSON

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