The location has changed, but the players, coaches and primary story lines remain the same.
With the Florida State football team slated to open up the 2019 season on Saturday against Boise State at Doak Campbell Stadium, it's time for a new edition of the Warchant Roundtable.
In this edition, Gene Williams, Ira Schoffel, Corey Clark and Aslan Hajivandi offer their thoughts on everything from the Seminoles' biggest surprises of the preseason to which true freshmen will make an impact on Saturday and more.
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Q: What or who was the biggest surprise during Florida State's preseason camp?
Ira: I'll go with the quarterback competition being so close. Practically everyone in Tallahassee expected James Blackman to run away with that competition because of all of his built-in advantages -- from time in the system to relationships with the players to familiarity with the coaching staff -- but it apparently went down to the wire, with Blackman narrowly edging Wisconsin transfer Alex Hornibrook. I think that tells us that Hornibrook was very impressive in camp, for the coaches to even consider replacing Blackman, and it also leaves open the possibility that Hornibrook might be a viable option as the year goes on.
I happened to drive past the practice fields the other day well after practice was over -- like 30 minutes after -- and Hornibrook was out there throwing passes to a wide receiver. They were literally the only two players left on the field. And that was like two days after he found out he's not the starter. So I think that tells you how committed he is to getting on the field. When Kendal Briles said he feels like he has two starting quarterbacks, I think he really means it.
Corey: I think that the offensive line hardly ever changed. From the first day of camp to now, it seems like four of the five positions have been etched in stone -- Ryan Roberts at right tackle, Jauan Williams at left tackle, Brady Scott at left guard and Baveon Johnson at center. The only fluid situation has been at right guard, and that seems settled now with Dontae Lucas beating out Mike Arnold. With an offensive line with so many question marks coming in, the fact that OL coach Randy Clements was able to identify a starting group early and then never really wavered should be a good sign for the Florida State offense, in my opinion.
Aslan: The 3-4 defense. They’re really all in on this. Yes, we only see a portion of practice, but regardless, they’re not playing tricks and rolling out sweeping changes to the defense once the media are dismissed. Everything we’ve witnessed this preseason has been out of a three-man front -- something no one on this team was recruited to play in or has primarily coached. It’s a bold strategy -- we’ll see if it pays off. Also, to piggyback on what Corey said, Jauan Williams running first-team LT the entire camp and drawing pretty nice plaudits from Randy Clements.
In the preseason roundtable, I said he’d win the job, but I wouldn’t of put a lot of confidence points on it. Conversely, I said if Josh Kaindoh doesn’t lead the team in quarterback pressures, it would be the biggest shock ... well, that sound is me walking back on the creaky plank. The guy is a specimen, but is he available? Didn’t seem like it all preseason.
Gene: Can I say the announcement that FSU is going back to white jersey numbers? Honestly, there weren’t any huge surprises. We started to see it in the spring, so I suppose the continued emergence of the second-year wide receivers is notable. A day didn’t go by without us hearing something positive about one of these five guys -- Tre'shaun Harrison, Jordan Young, Keyshawn Helton, Warren Thompson and D'Marcus Adams.
