Clark: FSU WRs showing serious promise as opener approaches
When I saw Florida State's wide receivers go through the first few practices of the preseason, my overriding thought was: "Uh oh."
They had trouble getting any sort of separation. Even in one-on-one drills. They didn't make any contested catches, didn't seem to high-point the ball very well and essentially got bullied by the Florida State defensive backs for the better part of three days.
Other than Keyshawn Helton's quickness and Pokey Wilson's speed, there didn't seem to be anything -- anything at all -- to feel confident about in regards to the Seminoles' wide receiver unit.
Well, dear reader, let me tell you: Two weeks later, a whole lot has changed.
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Now, I'm not going to tell you this group is the next Fab Four. Or that there is a trio like Greene-Benjamin-Shaw. Because there isn't.
But I would argue that after two weeks of practice, there isn't a position group on the team, in my opinion, that has made a bigger leap than Ron Dugans' crew.
From the veterans like Helton and Wilson to the newcomers like Andrew Parchment, Malik McClain and Josh Burrell, the FSU receivers look like a completely different unit than the one we saw early this preseason.
I actually brought that up to Burrell on Tuesday, and the true freshman had much better perspective on the early struggles than the bald dude asking him the question.
"The first day, you're going to have first-day things," Burrell said. "Now we're getting more comfortable in one-on-ones, we're getting more comfortable with our quarterbacks' timing and stuff like that. So, it's just the day-by-day repetition ... and us receivers get more comfortable with what we're doing and what our assignment is. We're able to go win those one-on-ones."
It really does look like a completely different group.
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