NFL Draft

Countdown to College Football Kickoff: Top NFL prospects at Florida State

Cam Akers was the only FSU player selected in the 2020 NFL draft but 2021 promises a return to normalcy for the Seminoles, in "large" part due to imposing seniors Marvin Wilson and Hamsah Nasirildeen.

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Countdown to College Football Kickoff: Top NFL prospects at Florida State
Countdown to College Football Kickoff: Top NFL prospects at Florida State /

College football is scheduled to return Saturday, August 29. Each day until then, NFLDraftScout.com will be evaluating the rosters of the best teams in college football, including all 64 within the Power Five conferences.

Florida State Seminoles

Head Coach: Mike Norvell (first season, previously HC at Memphis)

2019 Record: 6-7

2020 NFL Draft Picks: Cam Akers, RB, Los Angeles Rams – Second Round, No. 52 overall

Featured 2021 NFL Draft Prospect: Marvin Wilson, DT, 6-4, 311, 4.90, SR

It wasn’t long ago that Florida State was considered one of the elite programs in the country, a perennial national title contender and consistent producer of blue chip NFL prospects. Florida State boasted seven first round picks (including Jameis Winston at No. 1 overall) in a four-year span from 2013-2016, when 31 total Seminoles were drafted – a far cry from the three combined picked by NFL clubs the last two years, including just running back Cam Akers in 2020.

To put that into perspective, there has only been one other NFL draft since 1987 that featured a single Seminole and even then (2009), FSU’s lone pick - edge rusher Everette Brown - was picked earlier, going 43 overall to Carolina.

Of course, the Florida State faithful are more aware of this than anyone, which is why the team made the bold move of hiring Mike Norvel, who went 38-15 in four years at Memphis, leaving the Tigers as reigning American Athletic Conference champions.

Norvel’s specialty is on offense. During his tenure, Memphis joined Ohio State and Oklahoma as the only three FBS teams which ranked in the top-15 nationally in scoring offense each of the last four years, producing flashy skill-position NFL talents Anthony Miller (2018, Bears), Darrell Henderson (2019, Rams), Tony Pollard (2019, Cowboys) and Antonio Gibson (2020, Washington), among others.

Norvel was a year too late to work with the wonderfully talented Akers, of course, but holdovers Tamarrion Terry, Khalan Laborn and quarterback James Blackman may be soon signing their head coach’s praises.

That was not the case early on for senior defensive tackle Marvin Wilson, who, like Akers a year ago, is easily Florida State’s top NFL prospect.

In case you missed it, Wilson took exception with Norvel’s initial attempts at rallying his new team around the George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protests, publicly calling out the coach. 

Rather than bristle, Norvel reached out to his senior captain. The duo came up with some pretty impressive changes at Florida State and in the greater Tallahassee community that may ultimately boost his intangibles grade with the NFL, rather than harm it, as some initially speculated.

Wilson’s work off the field is admirable. If possible, his work on it is just as impressive.

Wilson, a Houston native, signed with FSU as a consensus five-star recruit and the top defensive tackle prospect in the country, turning down the likes of LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma and Ohio State to join the Seminoles. He played in 12 games as a true freshman but logged just seven tackles.

Those numbers jumped significantly in 2018 when he played in all 12 games, starting five. He recorded 42 stops as a sophomore, including 4.5 for loss and 3.5 sacks, playing his best against rivals Florida (career-high seven tackles) and Miami (six tackles, including two sacks), as well as the Top 25 teams on FSU’s schedule that year. His seven stops and ability to plug up running lanes was critical in the Seminoles’ 22-21 win over then-No. 22 ranked Boston College, which was the highlight of FSU’s abysmal (by their standards) 2018 season. The victory was FSU’s only one in 2018 that occurred after October 20.

Wilson’s game jumped to a different stratosphere in 2019. Despite missing a third of the season due to a hand injury, Wilson eclipsed all of his previous career-highs with 44 tackles, including 8.5 for loss and five sacks in just nine games, earning First Team All-ACC honors. Wilson would have joined Derrick Brown (Carolina Panthers) and Javon Kinlaw (San Francisco 49ers) as first round defensive tackles a year ago had he entered the NFL draft a year early.

He enters his senior campaign as arguably the top senior prospect in the entire country, regardless of position.

Strengths: Broad-shouldered and barrel-chested, Wilson is built like a boulder and is about as difficult to move. For such a large man, he fires off the snap, bulldozing through opponents with awesome leg drive and using his cinder blocks for hands to break the grips of would-be blockers. 

His game is based on raw power and he can bull rush with the best of them but Wilson is also surprisingly agile, showing the flexibility and balance to get skinny to split gaps and possessing an exciting burst to close on ballcarriers. He is a disruptive and intimidating force, frequently drawing double and even triple-team blocks from opponents and showing impressive use of leverage to draw a stalemate and create a pile which runners have to avoid. Wilson showed vastly improved recognition of passing lanes as a junior, knocking down four passes in nine games after just one in the previous 19… He was voted a team captain as a third-year junior in 2019 and forced real conversations with his leadership this offseason.

Weaknesses: More of a disruptor than a finisher. Quick with his lateral shuffle but has some core stiffness, needing a bit of a runway to change directions with elusive ballcarriers occasionally able to slip by him in close quarters. Stubby frame with a little extra around the middle. A bit inconsistent with his pad level, with them rising as he tires. Missed the final four games of the 2019 season for a hand injury which ultimately required surgery.

NFL Player Comparison: Fletcher Cox, Philadelphia Eagles – Having walked NFL sidelines alongside Cox, I can tell you that in person he looks a lot bigger than his listed 6-4, 310 pounds. The same is true with Wilson, who the Seminoles officially list as 6-5, 310. Both players are naturally large men whose size and raw power stand out, even amongst the behemoth strongmen playing along the line of scrimmage. Wilson has the look of a top 15 pick, which is what Cox was when the Eagles drafted the five-time Pro Bowler (and counting) with the 12 overall pick out of Mississippi State back in 2012. Like Cox, Wilson projects as a franchise cornerstone.

Current NFL Draft Projection: Top 15

The Top 10 NFL Prospects at Florida State:

1. Marvin Wilson, DT, 6-4, 311, 4.90, SR

2. Hamsah Nasirildeen, S, 6-4, 215, 4.45, SR

3. Asante Samuel, Jr., CB, 5-10, 180, 4.40, JR

4. Tamorrion Terry, WR, 6-3, 203, 4.55, rJR

5. Cory Durden, DT, 6-4, 305, 5.10, rJR

6. Baveon Johnson, C, 6-2, 305, 5.20, rSR

7. Amari Gainer, OLB, 6-3, 220, 4.50, rSoph

8. Khalan Laborn, RB, 5-10, 205, 4.40, rJR

9. Janarius Robinson, DE, 6-5, 261, 4.85, rSR

10. James Blackman, QB, 6-4, 195, 4.75, rJR

*All 40-yard dash times are estimates

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