Blackman keys Gold win
Quarterback on target in victory over Garnet in ’Noles spring game
TALLAHASSEE — Entering the Florida State spring game, defensive tackle Marvin Wilson promised his Gold squad would earn a victory.
“[We’re going to win] because we’re going to win. That’s it,” he said. “That’s all I got to say. We just have the better team.”
Jordan Travis and the Garnet team made things tough for Wilson’s team, but quarterback James Blackman helped the Gold team pull away for a 27-21 win.
Throughout the spring, various players have noted the Seminoles have pushed the tempo on offense and that was on display early Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium.
Blackman found Tamorrion Terry for a 50-yard touchdown and the game’s first score. The Garnet team quickly answered with several Travis passes eventually setting Cam Akers up for a 11-yard rushing touchdown.
The Gold team’s first scoring drive spanned five plays for 61 yards and took just 54 seconds. The Garnet team’s first was 10 plays for 65 yards and spanned 2:37.
The Gold team had four scoring drives in the first half that totaled 54 seconds, 12 seconds, 2:34 and 3:10.
FSU coach Willie Taggart said he was content with the offense’s speed.
“I’ve been pleased with our guys all spring. They have a good understanding of what we’re trying to do with that and I was really happy with our guys being able to do it without having as much depth because of … the way we split the teams up,” he said. “And for them to be able to go with that tempo and still execute some plays was really good.
“And I think for me personally, it was just exciting to be able to go fast and not have any pre-snap penalty when it comes to alignment.
“I thought our guys did a great job receiver-wise of communicating with each other and communicating with the referees to make sure that we’re not aligned the wrong way, and it paid off for us.”
While neither team had the ball for more than four minutes per possession, both offensive lines gave the quarterbacks time to make plays for the most part, with the Garnet team giving up two sacks to Wilson.
The run game struggled to get going as the Gold finished with 39 yards total on 22 carries and the Garnet with 100 on 40.
With 14 wide receivers on the roster, Taggart said he expected the extensive competition to help
elevate the unit. Saturday, all 14 were targeted and a few emerged as playmakers.
Taggart has credited his defense for “flying around the field” this spring and Saturday was no different. Akeem Dent forced a fumble on the first drive and nearly came up with a few interceptions. The Garnet team got a goal-line stop in the second quarter, with a big hit coming from Asante Samuel Jr.
After the game, Taggart said that while the defense was in the right position, players need to finish making those big plays and come up with the interceptions they’ve been making all spring.
“I think each one of those guys, every freshman that we brought in this spring, has stepped up and shown us all that they can play at this level and that we are going to lean on them this fall,” he said. “… I was a little disappointed with [linebacker] Jaleel [McRae] because all spring long those tipped balls he had today, he was catching those in the spring and he got in front of people and he dropped the ball. But the kid is always around the ball, he’s always doing things like that and at times when you tip balls, sometimes when you’re playing hard, you have a teammate there to catch the tip off of it.
“But it’s good to see him in the position to make a play. [We’ve] got to get him to make a play but he’s shown that he can make those plays throughout spring ball.”
Amari Gainer was active for the Gold team, logging 13 total tackles, followed by DeCalon Brooks with 10, Stanford Samuel with nine and Dent with eight.
The Garnet defense was led by McRae, who finished with 11 total tackles. Hasman Nasirildeen was next with seven and Cyrus Fagen followed with six.
The Seminoles will now shift their focus to offseason training as they push to rebound for a 5-7 season and get back on track in ACC play.