FSU defensive line depth leading to lighter rep counts, more impactful play

Florida State head football coach Mike Norvell spent some of his very valuable offseason time this past year on a research project of sorts.

He shared Tuesday that he dove through the snap count numbers of the defensive linemen on the last three or four national championship teams. And in doing so, he discovered something very interesting.

"There was only one defensive lineman on those teams that played over 50% of the snaps," Norvell said. "You saw a lot of guys sitting around 30, 40, 45%."

Obviously, the teams that are contending for (and winning) national titles like Georgia the last two years and Alabama in 2020 are in that position because of the depth they have assembled through recruiting. They are able to so evenly divide those reps because the fall-off from the first-team unit to second-team players is not extremely significant.

Norvell didn't always have that luxury early in his tenure. Per Pro Football Focus' numbers, defensive end Janarius Robinson played 467 of FSU's 675 reps in 2020 (69.2%). Georgia transfer Jermaine Johnson, who left the Bulldogs in search of a larger role, played 736 of FSU's 910 defensive snaps in 2021 (80.9%). Even last year, defensive end Derrick McLendon was on the field for 533 of FSU's 933 defensive plays (59.0%).

But as the Seminoles have turned the page from team on the rise to national title contender this season, their defensive line depth is now much closer to that of those top teams FSU could be looking to take down in the College Football Playoff.

That's because of development, recruiting and some key portal additions, like bringing in Western Michigan defensive tackle transfer Braden Fiske and South Carolina defensive end transfer Gilber Edmond.

And now, that research by Norvell has in many ways informed how he wants the FSU defensive staff to rotate players on the defensive line this season.

"Everybody wants to play, but there's also an understanding that every play they play we want at an elite level. Chasing the ball, everything that we're doing, physicality. When you have good players, you can do that..." Norvell said. "(A rotation like that) shows depth, it shows quality and there are a lot of first-round draft picks that came from that. I think our guys, that was something we talked about. I talked to a lot of them and said, 'When you go play, play elite with everything you've got.' "

Whether FSU actually keeps every defensive lineman below that 50% threshold or not remains to be seen. Through two weeks, defensive ends Jared Verse and Patrick Payton have each played 66 of FSU's 129 plays (51.2%).

However, FSU's defensive tackle depth, even without Darrell Jackson Jr. getting his waiver, has allowed the Seminoles to play no defensive tackle more than 54 plays (41.8%) through the team's first two games.

Through two games, FSU has four defensive linemen in that 30-45% threshold Norvell mentioned with a few more just outside on each side.

More games like FSU's win against Southern Miss last week where no defensive lineman played more than 21 plays should help keep the unit fresh over the course of an entire season, which can now span as long as 15 games in the CFP era.

"We've got guys at every position. We've got guys that can come in and dominate and there's no fall-off when the second team comes in or the third team comes in. Everybody comes in and plays their part," FSU defensive tackle Fabien Lovett said. "You are (fresher). You get a better chance to get off the ball, better chance to be in command. You get the break on the sideline so, shoot, anyone that is coming off the sideline should be fresh. We need you fresh."

When looking at FSU's defensive statistics through two games this season, one major thing that stands out is the lack of on-paper production from Verse. A potential first-round pick in this year's NFL Draft, Verse elected to return for a second season in Tallahassee in order to try to boost his stock and win a championship.

After Verse led FSU with nine sacks in his debut season last fall, that production hasn't yet translated into this season. Through two games, he has just 0.5 sacks (of FSU's six) and a half-tackle for loss (out of FSU's nine).

The FSU coaches, though, want to make it clear that just because he doesn't have that production so far this season doesn't mean he has been unproductive. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"I thought Jared in Saturday's game was much better than he was in the first game..." Norvell said of Verse. "I don't know if it resulted into more plays on Saturday, but we were better defensively because of it. It was awesome watching him play. I thought he had a really good game Saturday night."

"Back to work this week and I think we all know his production will be there when the end of the season comes. The biggest thing is he's helping our football team," FSU defensive coordinator Adam Fuller added.

It's hard not to be encouraged by what FSU's defensive line has shown through two games this season with a minimal statistical impact from Verse and Payton, who combined for 15 sacks last season.

Fiske has lived up to the hype. Third-year defensive tackle Joshua Farmer seems to have taken the next step. Sixth-year defensive tackle Dennis Briggs Jr. is actually tied for the team lead with 1.5 sacks through two games, with Fuller calling him FSU's most impactful defensive lineman so far this season.

Whether FSU really can come close enough to matching defensive line depth with the likes of Georgia remains to be seen and will depend somewhat on fortunate injury luck.

But two weeks into the season, the FSU head coach can't deny this seems to be as promising a defensive line unit as he's had during his time in Tallahassee.

"I like our depth, I like where we are," Norvell said.

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