Best could be yet to come for Hamsah Nasirildeen, FSU football

The first time Hamsah Nasirildeen suited up for a college football game, his Florida State Seminoles were ranked No. 3 in the country. They were taking on No. 1 Alabama in a heavily hyped season kickoff game in Atlanta.

It was exactly the type of scenario Nasirildeen dreamed of when he selected the Seminoles over South Carolina, Florida and a slew of other offers.

FSU assistant coach Jay Graham was a very close friend of the Nasirildeen family, and he and then-head coach Jimbo Fisher had sold them on the idea of pushing FSU back over the hump -- from a program winning 10 games a year to one that was a legitimate contender to win another national championship.

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Nasirildeen showed flashes of his potential that night in Atlanta, recording three tackles in his first college opportunity, but the Seminoles collapsed in the second half and suffered a 24-7 defeat. Over the next three months, FSU would lose five more times, and Fisher and Graham would end up heading to College Station, Texas.

As frustrating as that first season might have been, the next two years were just more of the same. FSU had posted a 47-7 record in the four seasons before Nasirildeen arrived on campus; the Seminoles are 18-20 since.

None of that is Nasirildeen's doing, of course. He has led the team in tackles each of the last two seasons, and teammates and coaches praise him as a conscientious teammate and charismatic leader. At the same time, losing like this was not at all what he expected.

"Not winning really, really bothers him," Nasirildeen's father, Hamsah Sr., said. "He's gotten everything he's wanted out of Florida State. It's a great school. The people have been like a family. He's gotten everything he could ask for out of it, except winning.

"And winning was a huge reason he went to Florida State."

Hamsah Nasirildeen has always possessed an uncommon level of focus and determination.

As a youth, it helped him juggle playing basketball and football at extremely high levels. On the hardwood, he was so dynamic that he was selected to play on a prestigious Elite Youth Basketball League team sponsored by NBA star Chris Paul. His first scholarship offer actually came in that sport.

But with the guidance of his father, who played football at the University of North Carolina, Nasirildeen decided to cut back some of his basketball commitments to place a greater emphasis on football.

At the time, it might have been a bit of a gamble because Nasirildeen actually was better known for his basketball exploits. But at 6-foot-3 (he now is listed at 6-4 and 212 pounds), Nasirildeen and his father thought he would have a better chance of standing out on the gridiron.

"He was like 6-3 and 200 pounds. Those guys are a dime a dozen in basketball," Nasirildeen Sr. said. "But if you put his size and athletic ability on a football field, it's like having a 7-footer in basketball."

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It would be hard to argue with the decision.

By the end of his senior season at Concord (N.C.) High School, Nasirildeen was rated the No. 1 football player in the state of North Carolina and one of the top 10 safeties in the nation. After three very productive years at Florida State, he is gaining recognition on an even higher level.

Despite coming off of a major knee injury, which forced him to miss the final game of his junior season, Nasirildeen is already being talked about as a potential first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

A writer for Sports Illustrated recently projected Nasirildeen going No. 30 overall to the Baltimore Ravens. Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy tweeted that his organization's scouts have graded the Seminole safety as one of the top players at his position.

Nasirildeen has heard some of the chatter -- mostly because friends and teammates have mentioned it -- but he insists he pays it no mind.

"I try to not look at it," he said. "Because it's not real. It's just distracting. All you can do is focus on getting better and improving and preparing for the games."

"All of this first-round stuff, I don't talk about it with him," said Nasirildeen Sr. "He's got a lot of work to do -- and not just the rehab. He has to be better than he was last year, and we don't want any distractions. He's done a good job of staying the course. Staying on the path that he came here for."

While Nasirildeen has long been considered a serious student of the game, his focus has soared to another level since tearing the ACL in his left knee last November.

If he hadn't sustained the injury, there was speculation that the standout safety might have bolted early for the NFL. Instead, he likely had no choice but to return for his senior campaign -- and he wants to make sure it goes as well as possible.

"It's improved my work ethic tremendously," Nasirildeen said. "With this rehab process, if you don't go attack it every day with a good mentality, you're not going to be on track where you want to be for the season.

"I've never been the type of person to just go through the motions. But this really made me focus even more. Doing things with a purpose."

When asked specifically about his rehabilitation, Nasirildeen stopped short of guaranteeing that he will be back to full speed in time for preseason camp. But he did say that he is "ahead of schedule" and feeling good about his progress.

While most FSU players returned home for at least part of the three-month hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Nasirildeen was one of five Seminoles who stayed in Tallahassee the entire time. Having never sustained such a serious injury before, he wanted to make sure he did everything possible to prepare for his senior season.

"He's been locked in the whole time," Nasirildeen Sr. said. "His focus has gotten better and better. He saw it as an opportunity to come back bigger, better, faster and stronger."

Before he met Hamsah Nasirildeen for the first time, Adam Fuller already knew plenty about him.

When he was hired as FSU's new defensive coordinator last December, the first thing Fuller did was start watching film of the Seminoles' 2019 defense to get an idea of what he was inheriting.

It didn't take long for No. 23 to catch his attention.

"He has a really good frame," Fuller said. "And he shows a lot of burst on film."

That combination of size and athleticism helped Nasirildeen rack up 101 tackles in 12 games last season -- one year after posting a team-high 91 stops as a sophomore. He also forced three fumbles in 2019, recovered another and intercepted two passes.

FSU's next most productive defender last season was linebacker Emmett Rice, who played in one more game than Nasirildeen but recorded 29 fewer tackles.

Because he was still recovering from his knee injury earlier this year, Nasirildeen was not able to participate in FSU's winter conditioning program or the first few days of spring practice. But he still was able to make a major impression on the Seminoles' new coaching staff.

They could observe his physical talents on film, and they saw his leadership traits in person.

"Just because we didn't have him on the field in the spring doesn't mean we don't know about him," Fuller said, adding that the Seminoles plan to use him at both safety positions this fall. "He brings a lot of skills on and off the field to our team. He's a charismatic-type leader, and he loves football."

Since he was unable to run through live drills in the spring, Nasirildeen instead did the next best thing. He would meet with FSU's coaches after each practice, stand in front of a video screen and go through every rep.

"It's not the same as being out there, but it's a good teaching tool," Fuller said.

After all he's seen during his first three years at Florida State, Nasirildeen should be ready for just about anything. He not only is playing for his third defensive coordinator and position coach, but he is essentially learning a fourth defensive scheme.

Fuller, who was head coach Mike Norvell's defensive coordinator last season at Memphis, said the senior safety has been a quick study. And if there's anything he doesn't understand, Nasirildeen is quick to call Fuller or defensive backs coach Marcus Woodson with questions.

"It shows me he's passionate about football, and it shows his intelligence," Fuller said. "He doesn't just want to do the assignment. He wants to know why."

*** ALSO SEE: FSU's Norvell excited by NCAA move toward extended preseason

While implementing new schemes each season isn't ideal, Nasirildeen has found a way to turn it into a positive. He believes it has given him a more robust knowledge of defensive football, which should help him not only this fall but in the future as well.

"I've had to learn a lot of different terminology and different playbooks," Nasirildeen said. "So I've started to see how the big picture comes together and that a lot of different defenses are really the same. It's just different ways you can run them.

"Every time these new coaches come in, I feel I have a better understanding of the concepts of the game. ... Now, it seems like all the concepts are things I've learned before. It's just different names and different plays."

From an individual standpoint, there isn't much more Hamsah Nasirildeen needs to prove on the college level.

He recorded more tackles than every defensive back in the Power 5 last season except one. His 22 stops against Boston College were the most by an FSU defender in more than 40 years (only one Seminole has ever recorded more). He also had a 17-tackle game against Syracuse and was named ACC Defensive Back of the Week three times.

Yet when asked if there's an area of his game that could use some fine-tuning, the North Carolina product says he can't pick just one.

"I feel like I can improve on every aspect of my game, honestly," Nasirildeen said. "I definitely want to get a lot better before I leave Florida State."

"His goal is to be the best safety in the country," said his father.

The younger Nasirildeen has other objectives as well. At the top of that list is helping the FSU football program return to the level it was at when he signed four years ago.

"It bothers them that it's not there anymore," Nasirildeen Sr. said of his son and fellow members of the 2017 recruiting class. "They don't want to leave with the program in disrepair. You have a group of leaders who are open to trying something new. Clearly what they did in the past wasn't working."

Depending on how the position battles shake out during preseason, there's a good chance that six members of Nasirildeen's class will be in the starting lineup this fall for FSU's defense: Himself, defensive tackles Marvin Wilson and Cory Durden, defensive end Joshua Kaindoh, linebacker Leonard Warner and safety Cyrus Fagan.

And all six, plus others from their class, are fueled by the free fall from that lofty preseason ranking four years ago.

"They are brothers," Nasirildeen Sr. said. "It's a beautiful thing. And they love Florida State. The guys in that defensive room -- even though they're not winning -- they're all grateful to be at Florida State.

"Florida State is a special school."

The transition period for Norvell and his new regime hasn't exactly been ideal. While the winter conditioning program went extremely well, spring practice was canceled after just three days.

That forced Fuller to continue installing his defensive schemes through Zoom video teleconferences and individual phone calls when players had questions. Even now that players have begun voluntary summer workouts, all teaching is being done remotely.

It's a process that can be challenging, but Nasirildeen said he has been impressed by Fuller, Woodson and the entire new staff.

"We've got really good teachers as coaches," Nasirildeen said. "So they do a great job of making sure we understand the material and the information. Not just going through things, thinking everybody is a senior or everybody is a coach, but making sure everybody really understands what's going on. Why they're doing what they're doing -- and everybody else's job, not just what you're doing."

In Nasirildeen's mind, that mental development is going to be the key to the Seminoles' defensive turnaround in 2020.

He is confident the talent is in place to have an outstanding defense, but he said the players need to have a better idea of what opponents are going to try to accomplish in different situations against different looks.

"We need to have a better understanding of why we're doing different things at certain times," Nasirildeen said. "That way, we can make the smartest play. But I'm excited about it. I talk about it with the guys every day. Just like, 'Man, this is a big year. Just stay focused. Keep working.'"

No one is more excited about Nasirildeen's senior season than Fuller. Over the past six months, he has seen FSU's star safety flash on film and shine in meeting rooms.

In the very near future, he'll finally get to see what he can do on the field in person.

And like the rest of us, he'll find out if Nasirildeen can help FSU football fight its way back to the top.

"Ham will be a great fit with what we want to do," Fuller said. "He's going to be able to do a lot of different things back there. He has been incredible ever since we got here. He brings so much enthusiasm. He has the ability to light up a room.

"I think the world of him -- just as a man. I'm really excited to work with him."

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