Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
FSU OL confident it can be one of best
TALLAHASSEE— Florida State knows it is chockfull of talent.
They have been told as much often in the past three years. The T-word has been used so much in that time by recruiting services, newspaper writers, bloggers and national columnists that one might think it was the only and most appropriate way to describe FSU’s players.
Though coach Jimbo Fisher will take all the accolades his staff reels in fromthe recruiting trail, he wants his team to knowthe following ahead of its 2013 season opener: Talent alone does not win championships.
He hammered that point home during one recent team meeting.
“He told us that themost common thing is all the successful people in America with talent,” offensive tackle Cameron Erving recalled.
But try to look past that, Erving said Fisher warned. Talent only gets a team — or an offensive line, even— so far. In front of redshirt freshman Jameis Winston, the Seminoles sport a fiveman starting offensive line that could be one of the most formidable in college football. Along with the 320-pound Erving, FSU has likely future NFL talents in guards Josue Matias and Tre’ Jackson, center Bryan Stork and the still teenage Bobby Hart.
As good as the unit may be considered now, it wants to be better.
“There’s room to improve, like anything,” Hart said. “That’s the main thing [offensive-line coach Rick Trickett] imparts on us: five guys working together for one goal. When all of us are working on the same page, when all of us are together, the sky is the limit for us.”
The entire group will be playing, consistently, for the first time together this fall. Last year, the 18-year-old Hart was the only one of the current five out of the starting mix. After injuries forced him to get meaningful snaps as a true freshman in 2011, he mostly came off the bench to relieve Menelik Watson last season.
Watson, a junior college transfer, played the one year for the Seminoles before being taken by the Raiders in the second round of April’s NFL Draft.
“Even with Menelik starting last year, Bobby was still involved in the offense,” Erving said. “He was still getting those mental reps in practice, or during the game, he was aware of whatwas going on.”
Hart spoke recently about the humbling the year on the bench. A conversation with his dad late last season got him refocused.
“He just laid it out on the line for me,” Hart said. “It was a point where I was upset with everybody else, and I wasn’t owning up to everything. He just really let me know it was my fault and that it was time for me to be the young man that he knew I could be.”
The youngest player on the Seminoles’ talent-rich line apparently grew this offseason.
“[Hart] came in as a 16-year-old kid; now he’s a 19-year-old man,” Erving said. “I’ve seen tremendous growth for Bobby.”
Members of FSU’s defensive line said they grew this preseason by squaring off against their offensiveline counterparts. They are looking forward to the season opener Monday night at Pitt when they will be going up against a group that features attributes similar to what they have seen the past four weeks.
Pittsburgh’s immense size mimics FSU’s offensive front, Seminoles defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan said.
“I think their offensive line plays physical, and I know for a fact our offensive line plays very physically,” Jernigan said. “Going up against Tre’ and Josue inside, that makes my job easier as far as transitioning to that game.”