Florida State coordinators Alex Atkins, Adam Fuller and John Papuchis discuss camp and Saturday's game. We have quotes below from Fuller and Papuchis and will later add Atkins quotes.

On how he feels about the offensive line after preseason camp

"We have true competition. Where even though there's a depth chart out, but the guys are still fighting for those opportunities. Which keep bringing the best out all those guys. So I feel better at that aspect of the competition. Also, the guys that are able to play multiple spots, you know that was kind of a big thing. We've kind of been swapping those guys out a bunch here late in camp, once they got kind of acclimated to the system and things like that. So having multiple guys that can go in there and not have that dropoff be steep as we've had. Just more competition. I think guys have grown a lot more. Kind of answered the bell. I've been proud of the cohesiveness of the group."

On Bless Harris settling in at right tackle, how he has performed in spring and preseason

"Bless has done a good job of showcasing and coming in and learning it pretty quickly, which kind of put him in position to possibly start and be a guy for us. He's actually taken a bunch of reps at left [tackle] this week. Also, we put him at guard a couple of times, too. So now that he's comfortable in the offense, being able to do multiple things like that. We put him in one position to be able to learn it, just so they can kind of showcase themselves instead of trying to think too much. But once they have it, that's when you can kind of start you know, moving those pieces and to have an understanding the concepts we're trying to run. Bless has stepped in and kind of be thrown in like he was, he's done a good job answering the bell."

Atkins' history of guys who are capable of playing all five spots, difficulties that presents

"Yeah, it's unfair, when they first get in early, you try to give them one position, just because just to learn the details and what it takes just to be out there. We're very multiple. We try to keep them in, so they can just learn it, and feel comfortable. Then after that it gets more challenging. Like I've had plenty of guys do it. You know, even John Legleu, I was just talking to him the other day. He played for me at Tulane and is playing for the Steelers right now. He played tackle, guard, and center. He can play all five. That's kind of helped him now, you know, still be on that roster here lately. So I think that, you know, I don't want to inconvenience him when they're trying to play multiple spots and don't even know the concepts of what we're trying to teach. So once they get acclimated, I get them in a position, I let them play that position, and once they learn to say, okay, now I know if I'm at this tackle, this call, I have to go do this. So just giving them a chance to be able to showcase themselves, but also man I have gotten better as a coach at learning that you have to be able to keep the best five out there regardless of position. So that has helped me grow and do a better job of making sure I prepare guys to be able to do that."

The complexities of handling pre-snap calls and how Darius Washington will handle it

"Well most of the time the center makes the calls just because he's right in the middle, he can talk to both sides. So he's able to talk clearly to communicate. But we've also had a lot of emphasis in like, when Maurice played early, we didn't allow him to make too many calls. We had times where guard made calls. At times where, you know, tackles communicating when we had other guys that are going at center. Darius has been in the offense for a while. So his understanding of concepts is elite. I mean, he's played pretty much, now you talk about all five, he has now into where he's played all five positions. So that's another guy that talks about the kind of once you learn it, you can learn the concept whether it is gap schemes, zone scheme, half-slide, full-slide, you know, how to check protection and things like that, you're able to have more of a comfort level. So Darius will be fine, because he knows it and he understands it and he's been on both sides of it - left tackle, right tackle, the guards, and things like that. So I have a lot of confidence in Darius being able to execute that. But he also next to, you've got Dillan Gibbons, who's going into his second year, he's gonna be on the field with him. You've got Rob Scott, he's gonna be out that he can play both tackle positions like he's done. So you've got some older guys that's been out there to be able to direct some of that stuff if he's having a little bit of trouble seeing it. But I wouldn't envision that happening.

On how he fits into game-planning now as offensive coordinator

"Coach has kept it where we all have input, and we all have our certain sections of the game plan that we put in, and that's our project, and that's our job, coming up with the idea that kind of fits within our scheme of what our players can do. We come and present those areas. He's kind of the overseer. I'm more just trying to make sure it's on the schedule, a timely matter, organizing and making sure we've got the right guys in the right positions, kind of handling that. But as far as how we run the offense, Coach, I mean, he's always had a setup where everybody had a lot of input, kind of just your baby in the game plan - like whether it's short yardage, whether it is third-and-medium, third-and-long, whether it is goal line, things like that. So just making sure you have ownership in yours. And then once you have ownership in yours, going a little bit step beyond, and now you can, once I take care of my time, now I can sit in the meetings with the other guys that have their own areas to kind of learn as we go. So if I've got the short-yardage down, my position, I've done that, now, let me sit in here while they are doing third and long. Being an o-line coach, you're in all of them for protection. So I've always been involved in all of it, not much has changed in that role, except it is more the organization.

How impressed he has been by Jordan Travis in the preseason

"Full ownership. Going back to what we talked about earlier, guys being in the same system for a while, so he understands what we're trying to accomplish, and he understands the skillset of the guys around him. Sometimes coaches will be given a little bit too much credit, we send in a play, it might be the wrong play, if you've got a quarterback that can get us in the right play, you know, that's a big time deal. So we'll give Jordan full-range out there. He can do what he's comfortable with, what he sees out there, and having that trust to be out there on the field, just like in all levels of profession, if you have a quarterback that has the eyes of the coaches, it helps a bunch, it saves you a couple times too, because they get us out of trouble more than we get them out of trouble. So having that weapon and watching his maturity in that aspect has been phenomenal. Like I can't even describe how far he's come mentally in the game."

How you encourage genuine celebration of success within OL room

"Just not being fake. You know, we're not doing an all-star team. But we had a lot of additions. So we had to address that earlier. Let's talk about this now in here. So the first thing has to be establishing relationships. We've got to say, 'Alright, do we genuinely build relationships with each other or are we just on the same team, we're in the same locker room, so we have to be friends - no, it doesn't work like that. So you have to spend time and we try to manufacture some of that, but when you get outside of these walls, they've got to actually, you know, build relationships with each other. I think we have some guys that really made a point to do that, to kind of go out of their comfort zone, out of their normal circles, and really reach out past the guys that they might have came in with and say, I'm gonna reach out to him. I'm gonna go through the playbook with him. I'm gonna go eat dinner with him. Manufacture these deals. We read a book this summer, which I thought was really good because we didn't do it by position, we did it in groups of different positions. So you know, they had to spend that time with each other and things like that. There was little unique deals you try to do creatively, but we talked about we don't want to be fake, you know, because it's not gonna work. It's gonna run its course and it's gonna be bad if you're genuinely not wanting somebody else to succeed. So it goes without saying, but they have, like, that's one of the hardest things to do when you build a team. So I appreciate them listening to it and addressing it early, and really working on those relationships so we can move forward and get past those little scuffles and things like that when we have genuine relationships.

The depth, talent and versatility of the RB room

"What I like about the running backs is if they all didn't wear numbers, I wouldn't - they all go out there. They all could bring something special and uniquely. They've all done a good job of understanding concepts. So, you know, we don't even have to say, oh, this guy's in here because this is the power back or speed back. You don't have to do any of that because all those guys, especially when they pick it up so quickly, even the young guys growing up with Rodney, you watched him make some plays here, so his confidence has grown in the scheme, but that's how confident I am in that group. They can all go out there with the same number on. I'm good with all of them playing."

How he views the scheme as an OL coach and the impact on game strategy

"Yeah, I always want to make sure that everything is through the lens of the players. That's the main thing, no matter, regardless of position as a coordinator. Now normally because of my position, I probably see things more inside-out, just because that's how I'm used to studying the game. I forced myself to see from outside-in when I took my first coordinator role before I came to FSU. The reality of it is, you better understand your personnel and what they're capable of before you talk about what play you're gonna run and what you do. What's so special about you is, you better make sure those players understand it and it fits what they do and they'll be able to showcase their ability. So one thing that drew me to Coach Norvell is that's been the case I've seen Coach Norvell run multiple offense because he has multiple different types of quarterbacks, running backs. You know, when he had better running backs, you saw the running game. So I like that the offense is built for the players and it's adjusted to the players to put them in the best position to be successful. Before you talk about position or what you see or how you see the game, you better see those players first."

What DUQUESNE does from a defensive standpoint

"Looking at Duquesne, they've got a new coordinator coming in, Coach Craig, but what I like is that I think he's more of a dictator. I know he's gonna study us and put his game plan together but I think he likes to dictate his defense. He wants to run, he is going to run and make you adjust to him, which is a good scheme to have. He's had success everywhere he's been. Now he's returning back where he originally coached linebackers, so I like the way he's attacking. Like most defenses, everything goes in waves. The big thing now is playing coverage and trying to stop the run with the run twist and things like that. That is what most defenses are kind of going into that right now with trying to stop the RPO game, the big plays, so I think you'll have some of that and it's adjustments like most do, but I think he's more of a dictator. He tries to say 'Hey, I'm gonna dictate your protection. I'm going to dictate what I want you to do. Dictate your checks.' Then I'm gonna come off that. So try to be more attacking is kind of his style. He's new, so we've been watching a lot of personnel cut-ups from Duquesne the year before, but he has some new pieces to work with, and they've got some experience on the d-line with big Maxi, and they've got a guy they can move, whether it be outside linebacker or in the box. I expect him to be in full attack mode."

How did you feel about preseason camp?

"Felt really good. From spring to the summer to fall camp are kind of three different sections, but with the new rules and our access to the players, it was the first in my tenure that I've ever had the summer really be that much of a smooth transition into fall camp. Other than some pads being put on, there was definitely a progression for it that allowed from a teaching standpoint to be really clean. That also helps with having a lot of players back that have played in the system for a while. I felt really good about camp. I thought we had to push through some things that we needed to push through. We got the right amount of reps for the right people. You're gonna go through some dings and bumps here and there and that's all part of it. But yeah, I felt really good about where we came out of fall camp."

How much better do you feel about defensive depth?

"There's definitely a few more knowns. I think there's a few more knowns that aren't just your top 11 so that builds confidence. But just like every year, you've got guys that redshirted last year or true freshmen or transfers that come in that weren't knowns but you feel like they are because they caught up quickly or what they've done through their body of work through the spring, summer or fall camp. We're definitely in a place that I'm excited about. I think we've got good depth at most spots, but now it's about going out there and executing at game time."

Front porch

"I think we've got a lot of returning depth. Last year, there were players like Malcolm Ray, and Derrick McLendon that you hadn't really heard about as much and they came on and had solid years. Jarrett Jackson is in that mold, too. I think we really started with developing identity last year. When we showed up here, that was gonna be a critical place. In recruiting, you always have numbers that you try to hit at positions. But for us, we can never have enough depth or enough good players up front to play the way we want to play. It's the absolute front porch of our defense. It's who we are and it's part of the reason why we have two defensive line coaches too, to get that group coached up the way we need to. I think we've got two of the better defensive line coaches in the country. We've created depth through recruiting and we've created depth through development and that needs to continue."

Remember first time talking to Randy about Tatum Bethune?

"Absolutely. This portal is an ever-breathing, living organism and it's constant, it's daily. Usually, even before film when guys that have been productive at a high level pop up, the first thing I usually do is look for somebody they have a connection with to get a quick synopsis of what it is even before I jumped in the film. That one was easy. When it happened, I went to Randy and Randy said, 'He'll help us,' and I said, 'OK.' I've got a good relationship with Randy that we don't take many words with each other. And so I went back, watched the film and came back to him and gave him some concerns, gave him some things that I thought he would fit really well. We talked it through, talked about the room that we had and made a decision fairly quickly that he was going to be a good fit here. Randy was right. Tatum fits in personality-wise, he's got a great leadership maturity to him, but he's got quickness to him. He's physical and he plays smart. He's definitely somebody that has brought the level of play in the linebacker room and our defense up."

Growth of LBs, what has Tatum brought?

"That's been the one position that from the day we walked in here, it's the same guys playing still. It's Amari (Gainer), Kalen DeLoach, DJ Lundy, Leonard Warner, he's now playing d-line. Really the only one that is not here who played a lot of football is Emmett (Rice). It's really the same guys who are still playing, they're just three years older now and they've played in the system. Now, you're able to work that group and then you add Brendan Gant to that list, and again, that was somebody that started a lot of football games just at a different position. You put those four guys together and there's a lot of football plays that have played in our defense. That stuff has accumulated, you add development to that and then guys get better. And then you add Tatum, you add Omar Graham and you add some of the younger guys that you pick up along the way, that's how you create a room. I think that room as much as any room in our defense has been truly developed because the same guys that were playing three years ago, they're still playing, and they are getting better. That's how the room gets better. I think we showed some improvement last year, but it's definitely a position that we need more proven this year. Through the summer and fall camp, I think we're in the best place we've been since we've been here as far as that room, the consistency, the ability to make plays."

Defensive ends

"It's always a fine line when you're getting things repped of four-man rush versus pressure and getting those things taught to your D-lineman. You're going to do what you've got to do to win the game. As far as schematically, I've always believed that when you recruit D-lineman that can impact the game on first, second, third down, you've got to let them go do it, too. And so when we recruit these guys, we sell the fact that there are gonna be a lot of moments on third down that we're gonna give you the opportunity to go win the game. We do that with our guys now. If we think pressure has helped more in situations or in plans, that'll happen as well. We've got a lot of good returning players, but listen, we're a team that needs to get a lot better than where we were when we finished last year. It's great that we've got a lot of good players coming back, I think we do. I don't know if the rest of the conference feels that way, that's up to them. But we have developed them in the right way. Now it's a point to put the product out there that we go show the type of defense and the type of team that we can be, that we want to be. There's still a lot of work to do that, but the opportunity is coming up this Saturday."

Fabien Lovett/Robert Cooper

"Any time guys get to that point in their career where they come back for another year, it's always, I think as a coach, these players if they have NFL opportunities or if they're just moving on, they'll always ask you, 'What do I need to do to get better?' I think as a coach, you want to be very specific to them like, 'If you come back, this is what you need to come back for,' and give them not only goals, but objectives because when they come back, they're back for a reason. There's a lot of improvement that needs to happen. That's what I've seen with Coop and Fabien. There's been good leadership strides made, but they're on his backside, connected to him during individual (drills). That's when you know the engagement of getting better at the details. That's such a repetitive position and it's such a six-inch-discipline position that it's important that their mindset is on that technique-wise. I think both those guys have set a good standard. You go watch either one of those two play two years ago and now you go watch them play now and they're are different players. That's a credit to them individually, it's a credit (FSU director of strength and conditioning Josh) Storms. It's a credit to our nutrition department, our medical department, Coach Haggins. It's part of how you get better. You recruit guys and then you develop them by telling them what they need to improve on and then you put a structure in place for him to do it. I think both of them have done that."

What changed for defense in the second half of last season? How has that been carried over this offseason?

"I think as we got going and got our hands on that group and as the season was going, we were able to lock onto some roles. That started for sure, especially the back end. A lot of guys that we thought played really well together played with each other for longer stretches of the game. Schematically, it got pretty simple for us. As a coach, you make a decision of, 'OK, I think we're good enough talent to wise to be able to play fast and execute and coach up the details but not change the picture a whole lot for them.' I think that's what we got to. I think as you develop as a group, as a unit, you want to be able to hold that method of how you want to do things, but you also want to continue to add some different pictures for the offense. I think you do that without jeopardizing the speed that you play with or the confidence that you play with, I think that's where we're at as a defense right now. I think the understanding of what we want to do and how we want to do it and then to be able to throw some changeups where guys understand why we want to do things differently, I think are important."

True freshman cornerbacks

"I think good freshmen can play. If guys are ready, they should play. We've shown that here. We've played true freshmen, we've played them a lot. You go back to Stephen Dix in year one. We've played guys. I think Azareye'h and Sam are both talented players. Kevin Knowles played a good amount of game one last year and it took Duke a little bit longer so everybody's on a little bit of a different journey as far as what that time frame goes. But at no point will we ever limit a guy because it's their first year or they're a freshman. If we're recruiting guys that are skilled enough to play, it's our job to get them ready to play. Both those guys are gonna have a chance to help us this year."

Transfer talent and new options in return game

"Definitely excited that this offseason we were able to add some guys to the roster that we feel like could help us a lot in the return game. Starting with Mycah, he’s been very consistent throughout the course of spring ball and fall camp in terms of fielding punts. He’s tough, he’s aggressive, he’s confident. I’m excited about seeing him back there. And then in the kick return unit, the same thing in terms of new faces. We have Deuce, who has taken a lot of reps, Sam (McCall), Trey Benson. We got a bunch of guys that are capable of helping us. There’s a lot of new faces. I’m excited to see them have the opportunity to go out on Saturday, put it to the test."

Reflections on when FSU did a self-evaluation of special teams in offseason

"At the end of every season, especially when things don’t go as planned in a lot of cases, there is a lot of critical self-evaluation. Everything from how we teach the fundamentals and what we’re doing schematically and then after you go through that evaluation you take a step back and say, ‘What did we like about what we did and what can we build upon and what can we do better?’ I think we as a staff devote as much time as anywhere I’ve ever been in terms of how we allocate time towards special teams. We have solved some things that we wanted to make sure we addressed, both in the return game and with our coverage units. I’m excited to see Saturday us have the opportunity to put it on display against a different opponent.

What was the player feedback to going full speed in scrimmages in return game

"I think they felt like it was helpful from the standpoint that there’s a lot of valuable lessons that can be learned in a full-speed rep that don’t necessarily happen outside of a game setting. Some of those areas where you may need improvement, they get exposed through those full-speed repetitions. I think our guys understood that, embraced it and I think we got better over the last couple weeks getting more full-speed work in the scrimmages."

Defensive end depth

"It’s something that took some time to build the depth to the place of which it is now. The biggest thing is just not having significant drop off when you’re rotating players throughout the course of practice and then as we’ll see on Saturday throughout the course of a game. I feel very confident right now we have six guys that are repping and rotating at the defensive end spot. And I feel very confident that we’ll be able to execute at a high level regardless of who is in the game. Derrick McLendon, Jared Verse, Dennis Briggs, Leonard Warner, Pat Payton, Byron Turner. All of those guys are taking reps. They’re all at a different place in their career. … They’re all at a different stage of their development. But that depth that we aspired to early on and when we first got here as a staff, it’s starting to take shape."

What have you seen in practice with DE group

"Jared Verse, yes, he is coming from a different level. It is going to be a change in terms of his week-to-week competition that he sees. But some of our best competition is what we see every day at practice. He belongs in every way, shape or form at this level. We obviously anticipated that when he came in. He had a really good spring. He had a really good fall camp. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do this year for us. Dennis made the transition from playing more inside to playing more defensive end. But he also had a very good fall camp. Even though there’s probably a few more unknowns at the defensive end spot I feel really good about the way that’s going to look, not just this week but for the season going forward."

Coverage units, do guys come to you and want to play there or just the freshmen

"There’s a lot of times that guys come and they express their desires to want to be on different special teams phases. A lot of guys, especially those backup, transitional guys, they know it’s their opportunity to travel or to get on the bus, so to speak, is making sure they have a role on special teams. That happens pretty frequently … In terms of the coverage units, everything that we do, we do a lot of competitive drill work. Through that competition and through that competitive work, we’re able to get a pretty solid evaluation of who we feel like gives us the best opportunity to be successful on those units. We make those decisions based off that and then obviously what’s going on in practice both on the offensive side and defensive side. To me it all matters. If I feel like a guy is really showing up offensively or is really showing up well defensively, it makes me think, ‘Well, maybe I need to create a spot for or a role for them on special teams.’ Everybody has an opportunity every day to showcase what they are able to do to help us. And I try to take all of that into account as we make these decisions."

Ryan Fitzgerald's mechanics and approach

"Kicking is a little unique in that regard because a lot of these guys have personal trainers and coaches that they’ve worked with their whole careers and they’ll get some offseason work with them. In terms of that, Ryan will communicate and share some of the things that he’s working on. And then it’s our job to give the best feedback we can. I try not to clutter him, or any of our kickers for that matter, with too much information because like any of us who’ve played golf, if you have too many swing thoughts, then all of a sudden you can’t perform. I trust him in terms of what he’s trying to get accomplished and then if there’s something that I see or one of the coaches on our staff sees that needs to be tweaked or adjusted, we’ll address that from there. He’s hit the ball well. His contact has been really good through the course of this fall camp so there’s really no need for me to tweak anything with him right now except the occasional mishit, we may talk about why it happened."

How excited he would be as FSU is long overdue for a long kick/punt return

"That’s a long time overdue. I was actually thinking about that last night driving home. You get caught, kind of drift off in your train of thought and almost ran a red light. Because we’re so close. To a casual observer, just off the television copy of watching a game, it’s hard to tell that at times. Because to have a kick return for a touchdown, there’s a reason why they’re infrequent. A lot of things have to happen. You have to have the right kick, you got to get everyone blocked, everyone has to execute their assignment, then you have to have a guy with some instincts that’s running with the ball that can make it happen. And we’ve been so close on so many different occasions where when you pause the tape you see a seam there and you think you’re going to hit it and for whatever reason it doesn’t happen that way. So, yeah, I’d be thrilled to death when that opportunity presents itself. Our guys have worked really hard at it and they do take a lot of pride in what we’re doing on special teams. I’m hoping that they start seeing some rewards for all the hard work they’re putting into it, for sure."

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