FSU football freshmen impress in preseason scrimmage pressure cooker
Mike Norvell has been waiting for Sam McCall to make a play like he did Saturday night.
McCall arrived at FSU as the second-highest-rated member of the Seminoles’ 2022 signing class behind only offensive lineman Julian Armella.
It’s not to say McCall, the No. 69 overall recruit and No. 5 safety in the 2022 class, has been bad this preseason. It’s just that FSU’s coaches have been waiting for that ‘wow’ moment, which they say he delivered under the flourescent lights of FSU’s indoor practice facility early in FSU’s first preseason scrimmage.
”I think it was one of his first plays. I've been teasing with Sam that I've been waiting,” Norvell said. “He got the first opportunity, the ball thrown his way and he was able to make a great interception."
Added FSU defensive coordinator Adam Fuller: “That looked like a veteran play. The interceptions that Sam makes, they look like real plays. He high-points balls, he has great body control when he goes up…It was really good to see him have some real positive plays today.”
From what was said by the coaching staff after Saturday’s scrimmage, it appears McCall was only one of quite a few freshmen who made their marks. Even as FSU’s roster continues to improve under Norvell, a few true freshmen may carve out immediate roles.
“We've got some newcomers who are gonna help this team and that's exciting,” Norvell said.
Both Norvell and FSU offensive coordinator Alex Atkins praised the running backs for how tough and hard they ran in Saturday’s scrimmage. The first player mentioned by Norvell? True freshman Rodney Hill, who he said had quite a few explosive runs.
Hill has flashed quite a bit this preseason, showing his agility in space and impressively fast acceleration. It won’t be easy for him to break into the Seminoles’ running back rotation right away, but he made the most of his opportunity to get some run against and alongside more experienced units.
“We're just throwing him out there, letting him get those reps and letting him go against some older competition. He was in there a couple of times with the older group,” Atkins said. “Just letting them guys get a feel and get to see what it's like and keep progressing and giving them more freedom to coach off and giving them more situations.
“I think that's been the blessing of camp is that we're getting those guys in those situations and it's not just, 'Hey, you gotta rep all these other guys. These guys are just watching and holding bags.’ No, man, we've got some young guys getting some good work.”
One freshman who isn’t contending for a starting job or probably even playing time is quarterback AJ Duffy. His first preseason scrimmage didn’t start well with an ill-advised interception within his first few plays. What encouraged Norvell and the coaches is how he responded from there.
“What I loved about today, one of the things that we challenged him on, he's had so much growth throughout spring ball and fall camp and even though he didn't start well today, he responded. He was able to make a couple big throws, he hit the deep pass to Deuce (Spann), you couldn't have placed the ball any better than what he did down the field,” Norvell said. “You saw him kind of calm down as the scrimmage went on and that's what I wanted to see. He's the first to know the things that he has to improve and the things that he's got to do to be able to transition from what was a rocky start to what ended up being I think a very productive scrimmage for him.”
By all accounts, Duffy’s deep throw to Spann was just about perfect. It’s the type of throw he makes with some regularity, which has fans salivating at his potential.
Not even mentioned so far are the promising signs from the likes of other true freshmen like Armella, tight end Brian Courtney, defensive tackles Bishop Thomas and Daniel Lyons and linebacker Omar Graham Jr. out on the practice field.
How many of these freshmen find their way onto the field in games this season remains to be seen. But whatever that number winds up as, the early returns on FSU’s 2022 recruiting class point to a fairly high hit rate.
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