Changing it up
FSU, which had only 17 sacks last season, plans to improve its pass rush by going with more of a 3-4 scheme this season.
TALLAHASSEE — Florida State is leaning on a remarkable freshman, a Tasmanian devil and a player with a 7-foot-3 wingspan to spark its stagnant pass rush in 2015.
The Seminoles finished the 2014 season with 17 sacks, tied for the fourth-lowest total of any Power 5 program. Jimbo Fisher believes other factors — such as applying pressure to quarterbacks or disrupting passing lanes — are as important as racking up sacks, but the coach acknowledges FSU was not in the opposing backfield enough last year.
“I think that’s going to be a key for us,” Fisher said. “I think getting our depth, getting our health, but getting more fasttwitch guys on the edge.”
FSU’s sack total has declined annually since Fisher took over as head coach in 2010, prompting a newfound emphasis on not just finding better rushers, but exploring ways to put them in better positions to disrupt quarterbacks.
One step FSU took this offseason was bringing in Brad Lawing to replace defensive ends/outside linebackers coach Sal Sunseri after he left to join the Oakland Raiders’ staff. Lawing’s list of pupils includes firstround draft picks like Jadeveon Clowney, Dante Fowler Jr. and Melvin Ingram, and he’s routinely coached teams at South Carolina and Florida that ranked among the nation’s leader in sacks.
Lawing works with edge rushers and interior linemen alike on pass-rush techniques daily, but he also plans to help maximize FSU’s talent.
The Seminoles regularly lined up in a 4-2-5 defensive scheme last year and that did not necessarily accentuate the strengths of second-round draft picks like end Mario Edwards Jr. or tackle Eddie Goldman.
“You have got to be able to bring your guys along within your scheme, maybe your scheme changes, or go find the guys that you want to play in a certain scheme,” Lawing said. “The guys we’ve got here, we’ve kind of taken our defense and kind of tinkered with it a little bit. We are asking them to do things they can actually do.
“Don’t ask a guy who is a power guy to be a finesse guy and vice-versa, a finesse guy to be a power guy. There comes times where they may have to do some of that but as a whole, to be a great defense collectively, you have got to have guys doing things that they can actually do.”
That is where the second part of FSU’s plan to improve its pass rush comes in. The Seminoles are going with more of a 3-4 scheme, a philosophy secondyear coordinator Charles Kelly is familiar with from his time at Georgia Tech in the late 2000s. FSU began making this shift in 2013 after hiring Jeremy Pruitt as defensive coordinator, but acquiring the talent to fit that approach requires patience.
Sophomores Jacob Pugh — who defensive end DeMarcus Walker calls a “Tasmanian devil” when it comes to rushing quarterbacks — and 6-foot-7 Lorenzo Featherston are expected to bring more speed off the edge as outside linebackers. Inexperience prevented them from seeing the field regularly as true freshmen, but Pugh and Featherston — who is recovering from a knee scope — showed glimpses of greatness.
True freshman Josh Sweat is also going to see the field frequently this season, despite coming off a catastrophic knee injury during his senior year in high school. Fisher described Sweat’s recovery as “freaky” and has raved about raw strength and speed exhibited by the 6-foot-5, 237-pound end and linebacker.
Finding players to apply pressure from the edge is key for FSU, but interior defenders such as Walker Derrick Nnadi, Nile Lawrence-Stample and Rick Leonard are also tasked with finding ways to get the pass rush back on track.
So far, other FSU defenders have noticed a difference this preseason.
“I like the way the D-line is getting to the quarterback, but it’s not just the quarterback. It’s that they get there and then chase the ball downfield,” FSU linebacker Terrance Smith said. “It affects everything. . . . It gives people a chance to make plays.”