The first Senior Day I remember going to at Doak Campbell Stadium was in 1988.

The Seminoles were ranked in the Top 5 in the country. They were about to blast Florida by five touchdowns (a little Clark trivia for you: For the last 23 years of his life, any time my dad needed a four-digit code, he went with 5217), and the main attraction that night during the pregame festivities was a cornerback named Deion.

So, yeah, this Saturday is going to be different.

The Seminoles are not in the Top 5. They're barely in the top five of the ACC Atlantic. They aren't about to beat a rival by five touchdowns. And there aren't any Deions on this roster.

But, I do hope the seniors that will be introduced before the game get a nice sendoff from the home crowd — however big or small it might be — in their final 60 minutes on Bobby Bowden Field.

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Jermaine Johnson deserves it. So does Keir Thomas. And Emmett Rice. And Devontay Love-Taylor.

Think about this: Of the 13 players getting flowers before the game on Saturday, exactly four are scholarship athletes who have been here their entire careers; Rice, DeCalon Brooks, Brady Scott and Jalen Goss.

Rice hasn't played a down this year. Goss has never played. Brooks isn't in the defensive rotation, and Scott is a backup offensive lineman, who has been moved all over the front during his time in garnet and gold.

I'm not taking a shot at these players. I promise I'm not. But you want to know why a program is struggling? A look at their Senior Day offers a pretty informative glimpse.

Only four seniors who have been at FSU the entire time. Only one who has played any meaningful snaps this season.

Meanwhile, the guys who have had the biggest impact -- Johnson and Thomas -- are one-year rentals who have been terrific, but won't be able to help continue to build this program next year.

Or will they?

That's what I wonder as I sit here thinking about these seniors and this program. Because there is a chance, when we look back at this program five years from now, that 2021 will be a key year in the resurgence of Seminole football.

It could also not be! I'm not dumb enough to write with any certainty that championships are just over the horizon.

But when we look at what this team is today, right now, this moment, I don't think the contributions of guys like Johnson, Thomas, Love-Taylor, Jordan Wilson, even McKenzie Milton can be overlooked.

No, the Seminoles are not a winning team with them. But these guys, specifically those first two, are absolutely winning football players. And they have brought a level of talent and work ethic that hasn't exactly been permeating the program here lately.

Culture gets built slowly. It takes time.

Remember, the first two years Toney Douglas was at FSU, the Seminoles didn't make the NCAA Tournament. His last year, with six freshmen on the roster, he helped FSU get back to The Dance for the first time in a decade. And even more importantly, he showed the younger players what hard work, what dedication, what a winning mentality looked like.

You can't overstate how important that is.

I've used that Toney Douglas analogy before, I know. Sue me! It works, because it's a great example of a great example.

And I think guys like Wilson, Love-Taylor, Johnson, Thomas, Milton and even Rice -- who might actually get to play a few snaps this season -- are great mentors to their younger teammates who will be here after they leave.

They've helped raise the bar for this program.

It's not high, I know. But at least it appears to be off the floor. This team, despite its record, is better than last year's team. If you can't see that, you don't have working corneas.

This year's team, unlike recent years, is one that you actually feel pride in pulling for. No, they're not overly talented. They still have warts all over the place. But man, they fight for each other. They almost always give it everything they have, which sadly isn't enough on some Saturdays. But they are an imminently likeable team, in my opinion.

Because they do seem to really care. They do seem to really fight.

That's worth something. That's why these seniors deserve their flowers.

I know if you're reading this, you're a Florida State fan. I know you're not used to this. I'm a Florida State writer/podcaster extraordinaire, so I'm not used to this either! This last half-decade has been an absolute slog. For all of us. It's not fun to cover a bad football team. But it's a whole lot worse to cover a bad football team that seems to quit at every opportunity.

That isn't the case anymore. At the very least, appreciate that. At least acknowledge that this team has displayed a toughness through nine games that we haven't seen around here in a while.

These seniors have played a major role in that. Guys like Johnson and Thomas and Jammie Robinson (not a senior) and Love-Taylor help change cultures.

Maybe Quashon Fuller takes a huge leap next year because he watched Johnson and Thomas for a year. Maybe Jordan Travis becomes a legitimately dynamic college quarterback because he spent a year around one of the best in recent memory (before the injury). Maybe those young offensive linemen will heed the lessons and advice and toughness of a guy like Love-Taylor, who has played through injury all season to be out there with his teammates.

Maybe two or three years down the road, if FSU is back near the top of the college football world (or at least the ACC Atlantic!), and has actually matched all that toughness with some serious NFL-caliber talent, we'll look back at the 2021 season as the catalyst for change.

We'll look back at these seniors, some of whom were only at FSU for a year, as the spark to the resurgence.

And you'll be happy you were there on Saturday, cheering them on, loudly, in their final game in Doak Campbell Stadium.

"It's incredible, our fan base, just the passion," head coach Mike Norvell said. "We need (the crowd) to be a big impact here this week. To honor the seniors that we have, the work they put in ... I mean it will mean everything to those guys."

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

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