FSU offense still trying to find rhythm after Day 5 of preseason practice
Defenses are usually ahead of offenses early in a college football season, and that adage can be doubly true during preseason.
So while Florida State's offensive coaches and players are not necessarily pleased with how the offense is moving the ball through the first five practices, they don't sound overly concerned, either.
FSU's first of two practices in Jacksonville was more of the same on Thursday, as the Seminoles' offense turned in a handful of highlight plays but got stymied by the defense more often than not.
The Seminoles practiced for a little over two hours on the University of North Florida's campus, where they will practice again on Friday before returning to Tallahassee for their first preseason scrimmage Saturday evening.
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"There's been some good and some bad," Florida State head coach Mike Norvell said after Thursday's practice. "We've had some guys that went down at certain positions that are forcing us to reshuffle some looks up front and outside.
"So, all those things about building the continuity, that's one of the great challenges of the first week of fall camp. But it's also one of the things where you get to see how guys respond when maybe things don't look great in certain moments."
*ALSO SEE: More updates and details from Thursday's practice in Jacksonville
The biggest issue with the offense through the first five days of practice has been limiting the pass rush. Virtually every time a quarterback drops back to throw, he's getting very little time to look downfield and scan for open receivers.
Many plays have ended with quarterback scrambles and coach-whistles for touch sacks.
Part of the reason for those struggles has been the fact that some veteran linemen, including senior guard/tackle Devontay Love-Taylor, have been limited while returning from injuries. Love-Taylor went down with a season-ending injury last fall, and while he is at practice each day, it's not known when he will be back at full speed.
That has forced FSU to work in some new faces to the top two offensive lines, which makes life tough sometimes for the guys competing for the starting quarterback job.
"You've got to take everything with a grain of salt," senior McKenzie Milton said. "Our defense isn't bad either. They've got a lot of good football players that will play on Sundays. So, they'll make plays and we'll make plays. I feel like it's never as good as it seems and never as bad as it seems. When you get to watch the film and dissect it, you can figure out it might have just been a little kick-block here or something to spring a 4-yard gain into a 40-yard gain.
"It's about finding those inches each day. I feel like we've been doing that from spring ball to now, and we'll keep progressing."
It's also not as if the offense is doing nothing all practice. It is making some plays throughout day.
On Thursday for instance, quarterback Jordan Travis delivered one TD pass early to tight end Camm McDonald and another later to tight end Preston Daniel. And Chubba Purdy had two TD passes in red-zone drills, including a highlight reel catch by Ja'khi Douglas in the corner of the end zone.
Travis also had a nice back-shoulder throw to Jashuan Corbin for a TD in the red zone, and Tate Rodemaker found Corey Wren for a TD as well.
While the defense got the better of it for most of the day, Travis didn't seem too fazed by the offense's struggles as he spoke to reporters for the first time this preseason.
"I'm pretty confident," he said. "The boys around me are pushing every single day. McKenzie is pushing me hard every single day. Day in and day out, just coming in here and giving 100 percent to be the best player I can be for the team.
"That's all it is."
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