Help in the trenches: FSU OL class filled with 'people movers'

Give Florida State's football coaches credit for not shying away from their problems.

During the Seminoles' annual National Signing Day party on Wednesday evening, head coach Willie Taggart and recruiting coordinator David Kelly both made not-so-subtle jokes about the team's struggles on the offensive line last season and how important it was to make a splash at that position during the 2019 recruiting cycle.

First, Taggart delivered a deadpan, "Really?," when the event's emcee, Tom Block, mentioned that offensive line was an area of need.

Then Kelly followed that up with some humor of his own.

"As we were going through the (2018) season, someone kind of whispered that we probably need to go out and recruit more offensive linemen," the veteran assistant coach said. "So I caught that hint. That's what we did as a staff. We were committed to that."

The Seminoles' coaches appeared to be in good spirits at the end of the day, especially after St. Louis offensive lineman Ira Henry sent in his Letter of Intent in the middle of the afternoon. That gave FSU five OL signees for the 2019 class, to go along with Northern Illinois graduate transfer Ryan Roberts.

The Seminoles also are trying to land one or two more graduate transfers as well.

"I think we all saw this past season how it was musical chairs up there," Taggart said on Wednesday. "And some guys played that weren't really ready to play yet. It was good for them to get some reps, but they weren't really ready yet."

Florida State's offensive line actually has struggled mightily the last few years, with quarterbacks Deondre Francois and James Blackman both taking constant punishment and running backs Cam Akers and Jacques Patrick often facing defenders before they got to the line of scrimmage.

And one of the biggest issues at the position this past fall was a lack of available bodies due to injuries and attrition. The Seminoles trotted out a new starting five practically every week, and there were times during practice when the Seminoles had only seven or eight players available for drills.

That should be different in 2019.

FSU is expected to have as many as 11 scholarship offensive linemen returning from a year ago, to go with the six or more new faces who will be arriving in the coming months. And Taggart said the coaches have already started seeing strides in the weight room from the returning players.