The first round of the Legends Bracket concluded Thursday morning two of the best receivers in school history pulling away for easy victories.
No. 2 seed Fred Biletnikoff easily took care of No. 7 seed Willie Jones with 94.5 percent of the vote on our Tribal Council message board and nearly 96 percent on Twitter. Meanwhile, No. 3 seed Ron Sellers cruised past famous alum Lee Corso with nearly 80 percent of the vote on the Tribal Council and just over 62 percent on Twitter.
Our version of Seminole Madness continues today with the first two matchups from our Special Teams division:
No. 1 seed Sebastian Janikowski vs. No. 4 Graham Gano
No. 2 seed Roberto Aguayo vs. No. 3 seed Rohn Stark
If you need more information and insight, we present bios on each player below:
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In addition to voting on our Tribal Council message board, you can also submit your vote on Warchant's Twitter account. The voting window is 24 hours, and each round offers an opportunity for Warchant subscribers and Twitter users to win a $25 e-card to Garnet & Gold. That prize will go to the person who makes the most compelling and/or original argument for their vote.
If you already know who gets your vote, click here to make your picks on the Tribal Council:
The Matchups
No. 1 seed Sebastian Janikowski vs. No. 4 Graham Gano
Sebastian Janikowski was a legend at Florida State even before his freshman season was complete. The "Polish powderkeg" had a leg unlike anything most fans, coaches and players had ever seen before. It wasn't just that most of his kickoffs went for touchbacks, it's that so many of them went out of the end zone. A few even went through the uprights. But Janikowski had more than just a strong leg. He had a really accurate one, too. He is still the only two-time winner of the Lou Groza Award. He finished his three-year FSU career with 66 made field goals (in 83 attempts) and was 126 of 129 on extra points. He led the nation in field goals made in both 1998 and 1999. And the power of his left leg was so rare, so transcendent, that Janikowski was a first-round pick (17th overall) of the Oakland Raiders in 2000. He went on to play 19 seasons in the NFL.
Graham Gano might just be the most versatile kicker in Florida State history. He was a punter for three years for the Seminoles, and in 2007 finished third in the ACC with a 43.3-yard punting average. Then, in his last year in 2008, he took over for the placekicking duties as well, and wound up having one of the best seasons in school history - which culminated with him winning the Lou Groza Award. He finished the year 26 of 28 on field goal attempts and 33 of 34 on extra points. He also won MVP honors at the Champs Sports Bowl with five punts for a 48.2-yard average. Three of his punts were downed inside the 5-yard line. Gano, who was born in Scotland, has been a placekicker in the NFL for the last 11 seasons.
No. 2 seed Roberto Aguayo vs. No. 3 seed Rohn Stark
Roberto Aguayo is the third-most accurate kicker in the history of college football. He finished his legendary career by making 69 of 78 field goal attempts and all 198 of his extra-point attempts. He won the 2013 Lou Groza Award and was a consensus All-American in 2014. In his first two seasons at Florida State, Aguayo was a staggering 48 of 52. And incredibly, he never missed a kick shorter than 41 yards in his college career. His ability to make clutch kicks -- especially during the 2014 season -- was a big reason why the Seminoles lost just three regular-season games in his three years on campus. He beat Boston College with a walk-off field goal in 2014, and his 53-yard field goal with 7 minutes left in the fourth quarter at Miami, which cut the Hurricanes' lead to 26-23, was one of the all-time clutch kicks in Florida State history. His 94 extra points in 2013 are an NCAA record.
Rohn Stark was maybe the most famous punter in the country during his time in Tallahassee. Specifically his last two All-America seasons at Florida State, when the kicks that came off his foot became the stuff of legend. During the 1980 season, he wowed crowds -- and head coach Bobby Bowden -- with booming punts that nobody had ever seen in Doak Campbell Stadium before. Stark, who was also an All-America decathlete, averaged 45.2 yards per punt in 1980 (a jaw-dropping average in that era) and then followed it up with a 46.0-yard average in 1981. Almost four decades later, those two seasons still rank as the second- and fourth-best in FSU history. Against No. 3 Pitt in 1980, he averaged 48.1 yards on seven punts to help the Seminoles upset the Panthers. Stark had 12 punts of over 60 yards in his four years, and two that went at least 70 yards.
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About the tournament
We've broken down the field of 64 into four 16-team brackets:
* Offensive Playmakers
* Defensive Playmakers
* Linemen (offensive and defensive)
* Legends/Special Teams
The first three "regions" are pretty self-explanatory. The final one is a combination of eight Seminole "legends," which we've defined as players who graduated by 1985 (just before the Dynasty era really began), and eight special-teams players.
The special-teams players were broken down further into two four-team brackets -- kickers/punters and "specialists" (return men or players who specialized in blocking kicks).
* CLICK HERE for a printable bracket
(Note: Players who already held a spot in one of the other categories were not eligible to also be selected as specialists. That is why Deion Sanders, Peter Warrick and Terrell Buckley are not listed there.)
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