Fisher challenges freshmen
Members of top-five recruiting class must earn playing time.
TALLAHASSEE — Six months ago, Jimbo Fisher and his coaching staff celebrated what they’d achieved on national signing day. Florida State’s class was ranked top-five overall, including some of the top players at several positions.
Move ahead to preseason camp that started Tuesday. A reporter asked Fisher which freshmen could make an immediate impact.
“I wish I knew that,” he said with a laugh. “I have no idea, and I’ve learned that a long time ago.”
The conversation soon shifted to freshman defensive tackle Marvin Wilson. FSU faces an interesting dilemma with its interior linemen, as the Seminoles return starters in redshirt junior Demarcus Christmas and senior Derrick Nnadi. A couple of experienced backup linemen in junior Walvenski Aime and redshirt junior Fredrick Jones are back as well.
Aime, Christmas, Jones and Nnadi were four of the team’s 23 players to feature in every game last season. How does Wilson — one of three five-star prospects the Seminoles signed this year — get a shot at playing?
“Play better than they do. That’s a simple thing. Play better than the guy in front of them,” Fisher said. “That’s your job to make a play. If those guys are ready, I promise, we’ll find ways to put you in the game. You get to this level, it’s about one thing: It’s about competition.
“You don’t expect nothing. Just because you played last year doesn’t mean you’ll play this year.”
Wilson will indeed provide a challenge. At 6-foot-5 and 329 pounds, he was rated by Rivals as the No. 1 defensive tackle in the nation. He was also the No. 2 prospect overall.
Fisher and his staff fought off LSU, Texas and others for the former Texas high school football star who was a signing-day coup.
“We’ll see when he gets on the field,” Fisher said of Wilson. “I have not seen him in a practice. I haven’t seen him on a field in that regard. I think he’ll have a great career, but let him go play and see how he does.
“He’s had an outstanding summer. The (strength and conditioning staff ), they’ve felt good about the way he worked, the way he conditioned. They see all those things. You still got to go play football. Just, hey, let him go play.”
FSU signed a total of four five-star prospects for 2017. There’s Wilson and Joshua Kaindoh, the nation’s No. 1 weakside defensive end, on the defensive line. FSU also signed running backs Cam Akers and Khalan Laborn.
Akers, the No. 2 running back in the nation, was a star during spring camp and is expected to immediately factor into Fisher’s plans for 2017. Laborn, the No. 1 all-purpose back, could become a factor as well.
It’s also possible four-star cornerback Stanford Samuels III becomes a legitimate contender to start opposite junior Tarvarus McFadden. Samuels, the No. 5 cornerback in the nation, attracted attention for how he performed throughout spring camp.
Neither Akers nor Laborn was mentioned by name during Fisher’s news conference. He did mention Kaindoh as a player who could become a contributor and did say Samuels is in the running to start at cornerback.
FSU certainly has star power among its freshman class, but it’s still not enough for Fisher to make any hardline proclamations.
At least not yet.
“Player development is critical. I think that’s one of the better things we’ve done around here,” Fisher said. “We’ve had a tremendous amount of freshmen. Had a ton of freshman All-Americans ... we’ve had great success, and our coaches have done a great job.
“You can ruin (freshmen) before you make them when you get them on the field and they’re not quite ready. Because you think you have to. You have to be smart with that but, at the same time, we’re going to be aggressive with them.”
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