Clark column: Barnett still trying to change FSU defense's mentality
Through four games, the Florida State defense has been good.
Not great. Not exceptional. But good. Solid. Above average.
Something it has not been as of yet -- at least not to the level that defensive coordinator Harlon Barnett wants and FSU fans are desperately hoping to get back to -- is swarming. Nasty. Aggressive.
There have been flashes here and there, for sure. The freshman defensive backs, especially, have shown an ability to not only beat blocks but then pummel receivers when they get there and send them flying backward.
Asante Samuel Jr., and A.J. Lytton aren't big dudes. They're both around 180 pounds. But they'll stick you if they get a chance. They play with reckless abandon.
Kind of like this guy ....
While this hit would surely be reviewed today, and Barnett would get a season-long ejection if he did this to an NFL quarterback, it's that effort and physicality that matters.
This hit exemplifies what Harlon Barnett wants out of his defense.
It's aggressive. It's fast. It's physical. And that Notre Dame dude got stopped in his tracks like he was hit by a freight train.
Let's just say, despite some flashes from guys like Samuel, Lytton and Dontavious Jackson, these kinds of hits aren't the norm for Florida State football.
They haven't been for a while.
The days of Telvin Smith and Lamarcus Joyner flying around the field feels longer than just five years ago. Since then, Florida State has had some pretty good defenses. And some great players.
But those post-2013 defenses most certainly haven't been scary and swarming. In my opinion, the Seminoles took on the personality of their coordinator. It was solid most times. But it wasn't ferocious. It wasn't tough.
Before Barnett leaves Tallahassee, I firmly believe he's going to make this defense tough again.
He also has a chance to make it great.
Through four games, the turnovers have been lacking, but not because there haven't been opportunities. Opponents have fumbled eight times so far. Florida State has recovered one.
And there have been numerous chances for interceptions on poor throws or deflected balls that have fallen just out of reach of Florida State defenders.
Even still, I think Barnett has done a good job so far. The FSU defense certainly isn't the reason the Seminoles have struggled in September. That albatross is on the other side of the ball.
It's still too early for Florida State fans to know for sure what they have in Barnett. But the FSU head coach, who had no prior relationship with Barnett before hiring him, sure seems to be pleased with what he's seen out of his defensive coordinator.
"I just like everything he's done so far," Willie Taggart said. "Not just with our players, but with the coaching staff, and just how those guys get along and work well together. I think it trickles down to our players, and they see that and how close those guys are. And Harlon does a great job of listening, listening to his coaches, and taking advice. Not necessarily doing everything they want him to do, but he'll listen. And I think that's important. It helps him tremendously.
"Just the way the defense is playing is how he said he wanted them to play. So that's been great for him to come here and having our guys trying to establish an identity what they want to be defensively."
That identity is still being developed. The game last Saturday was a marked improvement in physicality from the previous few weeks, in my opinion, but it's still nothing like the swarming, suffocating unit Barnett wants his players to transform into.
It's getting closer, sure. But it's important to keep in mind just how far this team had to go.
It was almost two years ago to the day that Florida State lost to North Carolina, 37-35. Which was two weeks after the Seminoles got embarrassed by 43 points at Louisville. As the great Ira Schoffel wrote a couple of days ago, that monstrosity of a performance might have just been the beginning of the end for the Jimbo Fisher Era.
It was after that North Carolina game, though, that Fisher made all of his players sign promise notes to play harder.
I mean, you want to talk about embarrassing?
And what we all have to keep in mind is that many of the players on that team were also the same players who started 3-6 a season ago and got housed by Boston College on national television.
This is what Barnett is working with. Not that these guys aren't talented. Not that they're not trying. But many were on a team that had to sign promise notes and all but gave up against Louisville and Boston College in back-to-back seasons.
Some of that is still lingering in the DNA of this defense.
It wasn't a ready-made, tough-minded, physical unit that Barnett took over. These guys have never swarmed in their careers. They've been good at times but never dominant. Never nasty. They've never been that kind of Florida State defense.
I hesitate to use the word soft, but I certainly wouldn't use the word tough, either. And Harlon Barnett is a tough dude. That's what he expects to see from his defense.
So far, he's seen some pretty good. He's seen some flashes. But nothing more.
Much like last week when I wrote about the shifting expectations for the offense, and how to watch the final two months of the season, I feel the same way about the defense.
Win or lose, this unit has to get tougher. It has to be more physical, more aggressive, more hungry (or is it hungrier?) to make plays. It has to quit catching tackles and falling backward. It needs to be more like its defensive coordinator, more like a freight train.
I thought the Northern Illinois game was a good start. Not great. Still too many head-shaking moments, but there were some teeth-rattling ones as well. That was a positive sign.
That's what you're looking to see over the next eight weeks. That's what can truly signify a change in this program. A change in the culture. From passive to attacking. From reactive to proactive. From catching tackles to bringing hell. From signing promise notes to wearing turnover backpacks (well, OK, neither of these are great looks, but you get my point!).
Florida State's defense is going to have some more growing pains over the next two months. We all understand that.
But it needs to start inflicting some pain as well. It needs to send guys backward. It needs to continue to suffocate the running game.
Harlon Barnett's main priority over the next eight games is to try to completely wash away the stain of 63-20, of promise notes, of last-second TD drives, of quitting in Chestnut Hill.
The DNA of the Florida State defense needs to be altered. Some of that can come with a change in mindset. Some will have to come with roster turnover. The young guys seem to play mad. And I'm sure Barnett and Taggart will continue to recruit players of that ilk.
But there is absolutely no question the Florida State defense needs to get tougher, meaner and more aggressive.
It needs to start flying around like those old great units of Mickey Andrews.
And maybe even more fittingly, it needs to start playing like Harlon Barnett.
Contact senior write Corey Clark at corey@warchant.com and follow @Corey_Clark on Twitter.
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