Two Florida State defensive linemen impress Senior Bowl Executive Director

The Seminoles defensive line was dominate at times in the win over LSU.

Florida State came away with a win over the LSU Tigers on Sunday night. Plenty of plays were made across both sides of the ball by the Seminoles but the most impressive unit in the victory was probably the defensive line.

READ MORE: Recruits react to Florida State's thrilling victory over LSU

The standout of the group was defensive end Jared Verse, who recorded three tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, and a blocked field goal. His performance overshadowed a solid outing from interior defensive linemen, Robert Cooper and Fabien Lovett.

While Lovett and Cooper both came away with just two tackles on the stat sheet, their impact reverberated far beyond that. The pair created plenty of havoc in the middle of LSU's offensive line to open up lanes for linebackers, Tatum Bethune and Kalen DeLoach, to shut down the Tigers' running backs.

In a game that was attended by six NFL GMs and countless scouts, an important figure took notice of how Lovett and Cooper played. According to On3, Senior Bowl Executive Director Jim Nagy identified the two as part of a ten-player list of seniors that impressed in week one.

“Two difference-makers in the game Sunday night was the Florida State interior defensive line duo of Fabien Lovett and Robert Cooper. The Seminoles held LSU running backs to 38 rushing yards, and the main reason was the stout play of Lovett at three-technique [outside shoulder of guard] and Cooper at one-technique [shaded on center]. Lovett and Cooper are different prospects, with Lovett being longer and twitchier and Cooper being thicker and harder to move, but they both project right now in the early-to-mid Day 3 range. Cooper, in particular, looks like he’s made a nice jump from his junior tape.”

Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett, UCLA running back Zach Charbonnet, and Florida safety Trey Dean were some other players that appeared on Nagy's list.

While they both came to Tallahassee by different routes (Cooper signed with the Seminoles in 2018, Lovett transferred to the program in 2020 from Mississippi State), they returned in 2022 for the same reason; to boost their draft stock. Two of the most dominant defensive linemen in the conference, each player will have plenty of opportunities to make their mark before the end of the year.

Lovett went down on the final drive against the Tigers. The BYE week comes at the perfect team as Florida State looks to get him healthy before a road trip to Louisville next week.

“We’ll continue to evaluate where things go with Fabien," Norvell said on Wednesday. "He played extremely hard in the game, went down there in the end. He’s a tough human being. As soon as we get him back on the practice field and rolling, he’s going to be rolling.”

READ MORE: Former Penn State running back enrolls at Florida State

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