The NoleBook: Defensive backs dominate on 1st day of Florida State football fall camp
Florida State football is officially back as it kicked off its fall camp on Thursday, and is now a month out from its first game of the season against LSU.
While summer was about conditioning and getting acquainted with the Seminoles' various systems, fall camp is about putting all of it on the field.
FSU head coach Mike Norvell said he saw a lot of expected energy out of his players and looked for them to put that principal understanding on the field.
"I thought the guys brought good energy, which should be absolutely expected," Norvell said. "There's a lot of things, out-of-pads, that you look to accomplish, and that is communication, alignment and proper first steps. This is the first time we've gotten new looks throughout the entire summer."
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"We've done a great job of understanding plays, concepts and schemes, but now you have to go up against somebody."
One of the biggest impressions of the first day of the camp came from the secondary. In game-situation drills, the defensive backs were all over the receivers and made passing situations extremely difficult for all of the quarterbacks.
"That's what you want to see on the first day," Norvell said. "You've got good size in the secondary. The guys were competing and doing a really solid job with their fundamentals. There's going to be some great battles between our receivers and our secondary."
Quarterback Jordan Travis also noticed the secondary's effort and said that it pushes the offense to work harder and figure out how to match intensity.
"They came today. The DBs today were really special," Travis said. "It makes everybody better. The receivers have got to push harder. That's the best defense we're going to see all year long. The harder they come, the harder we have to come. That makes us better."
Here are observations and stand outs from the Democrat writers in attendance.
Notebook
6-foot-2-inch Donny Hiebert successfully defended a pass to 6-foot-7-inch tight end Jimmy Casey to the team's delight.
Freshman defensive Ja'Bril Rawls nearly picked off quarterback AJ Duffy. An early sign of what was to come in 11-on-11.
Redshirt junior tight end Jaheim Bell ends turn in 1-v-1 drill frustrated. Norvell came over to speak to him and so did Travis. In his next go, he beat his defender to make the grab.
Freshman wide receiver Haykeem Williams made a handful of impressive adjustments during 1-v-1 drills and 11-on-11. Was a hard player for the DBs to catch.
During 11-on-11, Travis and wide receiver Johnny Wilson connected a handful of times, picking up where they left off last season.
The DBs were the MVPs of the day, and freshman Edwin Joseph was all over the receivers. He had a handful of impressive breakups and left a good impression on the first day.
In six straight snaps during the 11-on-11, the DBs shut down the receivers. Whether the pass came from Travis, Tate Rodemaker, Brock Glenn, or AJ Duffy the receivers struggled to find get a hold of it. The offense finally connected on the seventh snap.
Glenn had a well-placed pass to a receiver along the sidelines during 11 on 11. Debatably the best pass of the 11-on-11.
Redshirt sophomore Patrick Payton had a handful of defensive high points during the 11-on-11. He had a good rush on Travis. Nearly got to Travis before he got the pass off to Coleman. He'd then make a good run stop of running back Lawrance Toafili.
Defensive lineman Jared Verse forced Travis into an errant throw and had good battles with offensive lineman Bless Harris.
During 7 on 7, athlete Joshua Burrell, coming back from injury last season, made a nice catch on a deep pass from Duffy. Destyn Hill also made a catch from Duffy.
Defensive lineman Joshua Farmer forced Travis out of the pocket and made him run the ball during 11 on 11.
Jack Williams covers Florida State athletics for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at jwilliams@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @jackgwilliams.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Notebook: Florida State led by secondary on 1st day of fall camp
