How it started, how it's going: FSU tries again to fix struggling secondary

As soon as Mike Norvell's staff arrived in Tallahassee, they knew they'd need to shore up the defensive back position.

The Seminoles had one of the nation's worst pass defenses in 2019, and they were losing one starting cornerback, Stanford Samuels, to the NFL Draft and another part-time starting defensive back, Levonta Taylor, to graduation. On top of that, star safety Hamsah Nasirildeen would be working his way back from a torn ACL, sustained in the regular-season finale.

It did not look like a promising situation, as the Seminoles were coming off of a year in which they ranked No. 119 out of 130 FBS schools in pass defense. They had given up 276.1 yards per game and surrendered 19 touchdown passes with just eight interceptions.

To Norvell's credit, he went out and signed two Division-I transfers -- Jarrian Jones from Mississippi State and Meiko Dotson from FAU. Jones had shown promise as a true freshman cornerback with the Bulldogs, and Dotson was the nation's leader in interceptions with nine as a redshirt junior. Unfortunately for the Seminoles, both transfers struggled with injuries in 2020 and failed to make much of an impact.

The only sure thing for Florida State's secondary in Norvell's first season was junior cornerback Asante Samuel Jr., and he lived up to the hype. The first-team All-ACC performer led the Seminoles with three interceptions and nine passes defended; he also recovered two fumbles and forced another.