Seminoles still have hole in middle
Taggart, FSU staff to evaluate QBs during final scrimmage ahead of season opener
TALLAHASSEE — Florida State coach Willie Taggart and his staff are making their final evaluations as they close preseason work and begin shifting their focus to next weekend’s season opener.
The starting quarterback battle is still ongoing, Taggart said Thursday.
“Those guys have been competing,” he said of the Seminoles’ three quarterback candidates. “It has been fun to watch, a lot of fun to watch. We feel really good about where we are at for the quarterback position.”
The Seminoles will hold a team scrimmage Saturday, giving Taggart and his staff one more chance to evaluate players before setting a depth chart.
“We are always going to count reps. You are going to count reps. You are going to count how a guy walks over here, how he is with his teammates,” Taggart said when asked how quarterbacks will be evaluated. “You are going to count it all. I think this is one heck of a position, to be the quarterback at Florida State University. That don’t just come with just anything. You need to have it all. That is what we are looking for.”
Taggart noted the scrimmage will be played like a game so that players can start getting acclimated ahead of the season opener against Boise State on Aug. 31 in Jacksonville.
Beyond the quarterback competition, Mike Arnold and Dontae Lucas are battling for the starting guard job.
“You want guys that are going to be in there and be consistent. Being consistent in executing and also being disciplined,” Taggart said when asked how he would be evaluating Arnold and Lucas. “You just have to be disciplined and make sure you don’t do anything that is going to hurt our football team. Make sure we know exactly what we are doing. Looking for some consistent play and a guy to separate himself.”
After a handful of players who suffered minor injuries returned to practice this week, Taggart said the Seminoles are healthy.
“We are actually doing pretty good. Guys who hadn’t practiced, they are starting to practice now and looking pretty good out at practice,” he said. “We are bringing them back slowly, but surely. But the things that we are asking them to do, they are doing a good job at it. I think overall we are pretty healthy, other than the normal bumps and bruises that you have in camp. I think we are pretty good.”
FSU held practice Thursday without receivers coach Ron Dugans, who announced on Twitter his mother died cancer.
“I spoke to coach Dugans, and again you can only imagine what he is going through. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family,” Taggart said. “We will get him back when coach Dugans is ready to come back, and I think it will be sooner rather than later. But we want him to take care of what he has to take care of. Just think about it, he has to bury his mom. He is an only child. It is tough.” after battling