At first glance, it seemed like a natural move for Florida State football coach Mike Norvell.

He lost offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham to Oregon, and instead of conducting a national search, he knew he had a qualified candidate on staff. So, he just went down the hall and made Alex Atkins his new OC.

Makes sense, right?

Atkins was the offensive coordinator at Charlotte for a year, and he seemed to do a very good job there, so it's not like the job is foreign to him. Plus, he has done a terrific job, in my opinion, of developing the Florida State offensive line over the last two seasons.

The Seminoles have gone from a, "Dear God, what is that?!" style of play up front to a, "Hey, that's not too bad!" style since he arrived.

Atkins also just helped sign one of the best offensive line classes in the country in the early signing period -- five players overall, including one five-star and two four-stars -- and landed two college transfers.

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So, yeah, promoting Alex Atkins wasn't an out-of-the-blue move for Norvell.

But that doesn't mean it doesn't come with question marks.

Mainly, I think we're all wondering how exactly it's all going to work.

Dillingham and Norvell had worked in concert for years. They were at Arizona State together, then Memphis, and then these last two years in Tallahassee.

No one on this earth knows Mike Norvell's offense -- and what he wants to do -- better than Kenny Dillingham. And on Saturdays, it was Dillingham who was mainly calling plays.

The question many have now is: Who will be calling plays in 2022?

If the flow chart remains the same, it would be Atkins. But I'm not sure I expect the flow chart to remain the same.

Not because I don't think Atkins can do the job -- his one season at Charlotte was better statistically than either of the two Dillingham had at FSU -- but because it's really, really, really hard to be an offensive line coach and a play-caller.

In fact, if he were to actually run the game plan on Saturdays, he would perhaps be the only coach in the Power 5 doing both. That's how rare it is.

I did some actual research for this column, if you can believe it! And here's what I found:

Atkins is one of only six offensive line coaches in all of the Power 5 that also serves as offensive coordinator. The overwhelming majority of OCs at this level are quarterbacks coaches.

Atkins joins the select fraternity that includes Kyle Flood at Texas, Sheronne Moore at Michigan (he's labeled the co-offensive coordinator), Joe Rudolph at Wisconsin, Justin Frye at UCLA and Brennan Carroll at Arizona.

The reason there are so few O-line coaches who are also offensive coordinators seems pretty simple to me. There is no more important position coach on any staff, in my opinion, than the offensive line coach.

And he needs all of his effort and focus to be pointed at making that line as good as possible.

There are so many moving pieces -- especially at Florida State in recent years -- that it's a 24-hour-a-day job just to make sure you have a competent group up front to give your offense a chance to actually move the ball.

Imagine doing all that and then, you know, coordinating the ENTIRE offense as well.

Also: Watch any football game anywhere in America. And go look at the offensive line coach on the sidelines when the offense comes off the field.

All they do, all game, is get on the white board and go over what their players are supposed to be doing. Over and over and over. It's exhausting just watching O-line coaches and how hard they're working and communicating.

It's why I can't imagine there are any in the country, on any level, that are up in the booth on gamedays. Because they need to be down there, with their guys, looking into their eyes and communicating (sometimes in not-so-flowery language) about what needs to be done on the next possession.

And if they're doing that -- and they're ALWAYS doing that -- are they going to also be thinking about what to call on second-and-8 if they think a blitz is coming?

That would be the ultimate in multi-tasking.

All of this leads me to this point: I don't think Atkins is going to be a coordinator in name only (like James Coley and Randy Sanders were under Jimbo Fisher, for instance). I do think he'll have a say in game-planning. And I do think on game day he'll have a more involved role.

But is he going to be the main play-caller? Or will those duties go back to Mike Norvell?

It wouldn't be surprising, would it?

Because there are a heck of a lot more head coaches who call plays during games than there are offensive line coaches who call plays. It's not impossible, of course. It has been done in the past. And Atkins might just be a phenomenal game-planner who just needs his chance to shine on this stage.

Either way, it's obvious Norvell really appreciates what Atkins has done for his program in two years. He knows Atkins is a rising star in the profession.

We'll just have to wait and see how different his role is going to be in 2022.

Contact senior writer Corey Clark at corey@warchant.com and follow @Corey_Clark on Twitter.

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