Goal-line drills stoke passionate, physical play for FSU Football
The ball was placed at the 1-yard line. And the offense and defense took their places near the end zone of the Florida State football team's practice field.
Mike Norvell yelled, "First one to 10," over and over again to his players.
Then, right before the first snap, he told them they were heading to Doak Campbell Stadium instead.
The Seminoles screamed excitedly and then sprinted over to Bobby Bowden Field to take part in what amounted to a goal-line scrimmage to end Thursday's practice.
Norvell said the reasoning for the drill was simple.
"At least one time in each spring, I love to get a situation where you put the ball down at the goal line and you have to go play ball," he said. "And today was that day. ... Today was a mindset day. You know, you get the ball down at the edge, and Coach (Mickey) Andrews says it best: The defensive mentality on the goal line is they don't score unless you let them score.
"And we're trying to establish that mindset. That approach."
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In all, the offense ran 19 plays from the 1-yard line.
Both sides were mixing and matching players with the first- and second-team offense and defense, but here were the results:
Lawrance Toafili was tackled for a three-yard loss on the first play, with Malcolm Ray and Stephen Dix leading the charge.
He then scored on a Wildcat run -- thanks to a great lead block by D.J. Lundy -- on the next play. He scored on the next play as well.
Linebacker Kalen DeLoach then had a pass deflection at the line of scrimmage that was likely going to be a TD pass on Play No. 4 of the sequence.
Running back D.J. Williams then bulled in for a one-yard score up the middle, and then receiver Mycah Pittman bulled in on the next play on a sweep around left end. After he pushed his way into the end zone, he did a brief "Thriller" dance to cap it off.
Brendan Gant then had tackles on back-to-back plays to keep the offense out of the end zone. Williams followed with two straight hard-nosed one-yard TD runs.
A Tate Rodemaker pass to Malik McClain fell incomplete before C.J. Campbell sprinted through a gaping hole up the middle for the easiest score of the day for the offense.
Lundy then made his presence felt again, this time on defense, when he came up and made a big hit to keep running back Trey Benson out of the end zone.
Jordan Travis then found Johnny Wilson for a 1-yard TD pass on a fade route over Omarion Cooper, who fell down on the play. Trey Benson followed with a one-yard TD run where he barely got the ball past the goal line after a big collision.
Shyheim Brown and Stephen Dix came up and and made big hits on Campbell to keep him out of the end zone, then A.J. Duffy threw a ball too far for Deuce Spann on the next play.
Travis finished off the scoring for the offense by keeping the ball on a zone-read and sprinting into the end zone. And finally, Benson was stood up by Dix and Lundy on the last play and didn't get in.
All told, of the 19 plays the Seminoles' offense ran from the 1-yard line, they got in 10 times.
Which is why the defensive players were doing up-downs after the practice ended.
But though they technically lost the competition, the defense still got nine stops with the offense only needing one yard to score.
And almost all of the stops involved a violent collision.
"You couldn't have scripted it any better for how it played out in the competitive aspect of it," Norvell said. "Offensively you get the ball down at the goal line, you've got to leave no doubt. You've got to finish plays, you've got to finish it in the end zone.
"But loved the energy."
It was obvious the players did, too.
Especially the guys up front.
Veteran defensive tackle Fabien Lovett didn't get a ton of reps inside Doak on Thursday, but it was enough for him to have a big smile on his face walking off the field.
"It's fun all the time," he said of goal-line drills, "because it shows who's got that dog in him, who's going to come up and step up to the plate when it's time to. Goal line is about who is going to be the best man? You beat the man in front of you, everything else will happen."
The Seminoles have one more practice on Friday, which will be more of a walk-through, before Saturday's Garnet & Gold game back inside Doak Campbell Stadium. The game is set for 5 p.m. ET on ACC Network.
Former FSU stars Terrell Buckley and Dexter Carter attended Thursday's practice, and Norvell said Buckley will be the honorary captain for the spring game.
Buckley reportedly has accepted an offer to be head coach of the Orlando franchise of the new XFL, which is launching in February.
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