With Florida State Football opening preseason practice in about a week, it's time for the Warchant staff to tackle the top questions facing the Seminoles in 2019.
In this edition of the Warchant Roundtable, Gene Williams, Ira Schoffel, Corey Clark and Aslan Hajivandi offer their thoughts on everything from who will start at offensive tackle, whether the QB competition is really open, Kendal Briles' impact on the offense and much more.
Coming soon, we'll publish our Roundtable discussion about the defense.
1. How do you see the battle shaking out at offensive tackle. Who will be the two starters?
Gene: With the transfer of Landon Dickerson, I suspect that both tackle spots are completely up for grabs. The only two players with any real experience here are Jauan Williams and Brady Scott. However, Scott was back at his natural position of guard in the spring. Considering Williams’ struggles last fall, he’ll have a battle on his hands if he wants to stay a starter.
A lot of hope has been pinned on Northern Illinois transfer Ryan Roberts to fill one of the two starting tackle spots. Assuming that happens, redshirt freshman Chaz Neal and Williams are probably the two leading candidates to hold down the other side. If Roberts isn’t ready, or if Neal and/or Williams aren’t up for a starting role, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Scott move back out to tackle. After some early struggles, he actually finished out the season playing fairly well. Also, there’s a decent amount of depth on the interior, so the guard position wouldn’t take a huge hit if he were forced to move back to the outside.
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Ira: Yeah, this is a really, really tough one. I thought Willie Taggart made an interesting comment last week at ACC Kickoff when he was asked about the offensive line. He said he has been very impressed by the way new OL coach Randy Clements has been able to get the players to believe in themselves and each other, which is giving them more confidence. If Jauan Williams is one of the players Taggart was talking about, that could be huge news for Florida State. Williams was one of the top offensive tackle recruits in the country a few years ago, and there's no doubt he has the physical tools to play the position. To me, he just looked like a guy who completely lacked confidence last season. And we have to remember that he was also coming back from a major shoulder injury the year before, which limited his ability to gain strength.
All that being said, I'm gonna take a flyer on Williams winning one of the jobs and Northern Illinois transfer Ryan Roberts winning the other. I'm not assuming Roberts is going to be a superstar at this level -- he wasn't one in the MAC -- but he is a very mature, older player who at least has competed in a lot of college football games. If those guys struggle, I think you can expect Chaz Neal or one of the other young tackle prospects to get an opportunity to show what they can do. I'm not as keen on Brady Scott moving back outside.
