Former FSU stars rave about FSUs DB class
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Bryant McFadden and Stanford Samuels have seen the game of football from every vantage point imaginable.
Fifteen years ago, McFadden was the nation's No. 1 high school cornerback. After a stellar career at Florida State, he was selected in the second round of the 2005 NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers and played in the league for seven years. He won a pair of Super Bowls and now is a television analyst and co-host for 120Sports.
Samuels, who came out of high school two years earlier, was also highly decorated as a recruit and was a three-year starter for the 'Noles. He played in the CFL for six seasons and now is defensive coordinator at Flanagan High School in South Florida, serving on the staff of former Seminole star Devin Bush.
But despite taking different career paths and living in different parts of the country, the former teammates share a common interest when it comes to college football recruiting. If their alma mater is trying to land a highly touted defensive back -- especially one from South Florida -- they are immediately checking him out to see if he's the real deal.
And given their backgrounds, there are few harsher critics.
"I always check out the recruits, especially the defensive backs that have a strong chance of playing in Tallahassee," said McFadden, who works in Chicago but is in Arizona this week covering the Super Bowl. "I like to see if they're as good as they're hyped to be. Do their highlights add up to what everybody says about them? There are a lot of guys that I hear praise about, but when I see their film, I don't see what I heard.
"I'll hear that a guy runs 4.3, then you don't see 4.3 speed on the field. But all of these guys this year look good."
When he says "these guys," McFadden is referring to Florida State's 2015 defensive back commitments. With one week remaining until National Signing Day, the Seminoles have four blue-chip DBs in this class already, and they're still trying to land at least one more.
According to the recruiting rankings, the stars of the group are five-star safety Derwin James of Haines City, Fla., and five-star cornerback Tarvarus McFadden of Plantation, Fla.
James, who enrolled in January, is rated the nation's No. 1 safety. McFadden, who committed in October and is expected to sign next Wednesday, is the No. 2 cornerback. He is ranked slightly behind California defensive back Iman Marshall, who has FSU on his short list of finalists.
If the Seminoles land Marshall or fellow five-star DB Minkah Fitzpatrick, who is committed to Alabama but has been flirting with FSU for months, they likely would boast the best crop of freshman defensive backs in the country.
And based on what they have seen, Samuels and Bryant McFadden believe the hype is justified.
Because of his position at Flanagan and the work he does with South Florida Fire, a highly successful 7-on-7 team, Samuels sees many top prospects in person. And he remembers the first time he encountered James, about two summers ago.
"He was on a Polk County 7-on-7 team that we were playing, and he jumped out at me," Samuels said. "I talk trash all the time. I'm always talking to the kids to see how they respond to it -- just playful stuff. But when he talked trash back, there was a seriousness to it. He wasn't joking.
"They had him playing corner, so I was yelling, 'Throw the ball at him. Throw the ball at him.' And he was like, 'All right, Coach.'"
Shortly after that, the Fire completed a pass to Calvin Ridley, an Alabama commitment who is the nation's No. 1 wide receiver. James was covering Ridley on the play, so Samuels let him hear about it.
Then a couple plays later, the Fire went after James again, but with different results. Not only did James pick off the pass, but he gave Samuels a dose of his own medicine as he raced past the Fire's coaching staff.
"Wooooooooh!" James shouted, before letting the coaches know it was going to be a long day.
It wasn't until later that Samuels realized that James was such a highly touted recruit and was considering Florida State.
"I love his mentality," Samuels said. "I love the way he carries himself on the field."
Bryant McFadden hasn't seen James in person, but he has watched plenty of his highlights and absolutely loves what he has seen so far. It's not simply his penchant for making big plays; McFadden says James possesses sound fundamentals to go with his passion and athletic ability.
"You see him taking good angles, which for a defensive back, that's huge," McFadden said. "He also plays with a chip on his shoulder and an attitude. Those are two things you can't coach. As a defensive player, you either have it or you don't. You're always looking for guys that play with that swagger and confidence. And most importantly, he plays with a lot of energy. He always runs to the football, and when he gets there, he's in a bad mood. He's trying to inflict pain and punish the ball-carrier. That's what I love about him.
"Of course, he's going to have to learn the defense and understand the language at Florida State. But once he gets that, I don't think you're going to be able to keep him off the field."
The former FSU stars are excited about Tarvarus McFadden for reasons similar and different.
At 6-foot-2, 195 pounds, the younger McFadden has physical traits that some NFL cornerbacks would dream of having. Samuels compared him physically to former FSU cornerback Antonio Cromartie, a nine-year NFL veteran who started every game this past season for the Arizona Cardinals.
"He's a freakish kid," said Samuels, who has seen McFadden in person and on film. "When he's returning kicks, he puts you in that mind frame of Cromartie. The first time I saw him I wasn't sure about how physical he was because it was kind of a chill day for him. But then I turned on his film, and I saw a lot of things I liked. He tackles low. There's no hesitation when it comes to helping in the run game. You know he's athletic and he's going to make plays on the ball. But like Coach [Mickey] Andrews always said, you've got to tackle. And he does that.
"There's no hesitation when it comes to defending the run. Once I saw that, the sky is definitely the limit for that kid."
Although Bryant and Tarvarus are not related, they are from the same area, know a lot of the same people and talk from time to time. Like Samuels, the older McFadden has extremely high expectations.
"One thing I like about Tarvarus is he's a very long corner," Bryant McFadden said. "He's got those long arms. I've told him I think he can scratch his ankles while standing straight up. That length is important because if you're playing bump-and-run, you can still make contact with the receiver even if he makes moves to create separation. And he's extremely mobile for a big corner.
"The problem for a lot of taller DBs, especially when they are dominant in high school, is they play too high. They get away with it in high school because they're so much more gifted than their opponents. But when you get to college or the NFL, the high man will always lose. And he plays low. He also has great ball skills."
After a less-than-stellar year for FSU's pass defense and now losing starting cornerbacks P.J. Williams and Ronald Darby to the NFL Draft, the Seminoles could use some immediate help in the secondary. Along with James and McFadden, FSU also is bringing in A.J. Westbrook, the nation's No. 12 safety, and No. 26 safety Calvin Brewton, an early enrollee.
That's a pair of five-stars and a pair of four-stars, with a couple other five-star prospects still on the board.
But having been there and done that, the former Seminole standouts are quick to point out that talent only gets top prospects in the door at a program like Florida State. Next comes the hard part.
"If you look a high school football field, most of those kids are never going to touch a D-I roster," Samuels said. "So you can dominate at that level. It's a grind at the next level. When you get to FSU, you're at the bottom of the totem pole. It takes a lot on the inside to make it through that grind and make it back to the top."
They both remember players from their FSU days who came in with lofty credentials but couldn't make the adjustment to the college game.
How quickly the young defensive backs pick up the schemes and the nuances of their positions will determine how fast they can contribute.
"I wish that somebody had told me that when I got to college I couldn't defeat everybody with my athletic ability," McFadden said. "It's a mental game, and it's even more so in the NFL. When I got to Tallahassee, I was playing against Chris Weinke in practice. If you thought you were going to dominate guys like Anquan Boldin, Snoop Minnis, Javon Walker and Talman Gardner with athletic ability … un uh.
"They're just as fast as you and stronger. Everyone is on the same level when you get to a place like Florida State. You've got 50 guys who might have been the best players in their state. When iron meets iron, something has to bend. That's where the mental aspect is so important."