After two days off, the FSU football team returned to practice on Tuesday morning in full pads. As has been the case most of the preseason, the team split its time going back and forth between the outdoor fields and Indoor Practice Facility despite there being partly sunny skies, which also provided a friendly breeze that blew for most of the morning.

Of the practice, FSU coach Mike Norvell said, "I thought it was a solid practice, but it was not our best practice...We have to be better."

That was probably a fair assessment of the day as FSU had its moments Tuesday, but the energy definitely seemed to waiver a bit as the day progressed.

The start of the final week of preseason camp also marked the first day of FSU working some on scout-team preparations for the season opener against Duquesne. The expected contributors on offense went against a scout-team defense resembling what Duquesne will show them while the defense went against a scout-team offense. Norvell said he expects more of that at Wednesday’s practice as Duquesne preparations continue to ramp up.

Offensive guard Kanaya Charlton had several nice reps during the half-line and 9 vs 7 inside drill periods. Defensive tackle Robert Cooper and defensive end Leonard Warner stood out for the defense during those periods.

In the one-on-one pass protection/pass rush periods, Charlton, Qae'shon Sapp and D’Mitri Emmanuel all had nice reps. Defensively, defensive tackles Josh Farmer and Bishop Thomas looked strong as did defensive ends Warner and Patrick Payton.

One player who had his busiest day of the preseason Tuesday was offensive lineman Darius Washington. Norvell said he played probably 15-20 plays in Saturday’s scrimmage, but his workload on Tuesday was definitely a good bit bigger than that. Washington looked healthy and comfortable as he pushes for a starting job at a number of spots after he was limited to start fall camp.

"He can do it all. He'll be able to play center, he’ll be able to play guard, he’ll be able to do all of the things. And obviously we've seen him out at tackle. And I think his best days are ahead of him and really pleased with his development..." Norvell said of Washington. "He's smart, he has great physical tools. He's got tremendous length, foot speed, ability … He’s had a couple of injuries throughout his career that's kind of hindered that and not really had a full offseason, even with this offseason it was a challenge. But with it being a lower body injury he was able to really focus on his upper body and put on some great weight."

Also on the offensive side of the ball, the announcement of a season-ending injury to walk-on running back C.J. Campbell forced FSU to look elsewhere to bolster its depth. One such move it made Tuesday was moving redshirt freshman wide receiver Joshua Burrell to get some reps at running back.

Although not a natural position for Burrell, he fit right in with a few nice plays in his first practice getting reps at running back. He had quite a few catches for big gains out of the backfield and Norvell praised him for his “quick feet,” which he said showed Burrell’s natural ability as a running back.

”It was a really good first day for him. With his size and speed, he's got great feet. He's been really coming on at receiver. I liked the things that I've seen from him…” Norvell said of Burrell. “When you have versatile players that can do a lot of different things that's a great benefit for us and Josh has always been good with the ball in his hands. I've had that in the back of my mind if we had gotten to a position where we needed that, we know that receiving threat will be out of the backfield but it was almost 220 pounds and he’s got really quick feet. What I liked was some of those vision runs that he hit today, which was really, really good. I'm excited to see where it goes.”

Norvell said Burrell should continue to get some reps both at wide receiver and running back, comparing him to hybrid WR/RB Antonio Gibson, who he coached at Memphis before he was a third-round NFL Draft pick.

It was not the best day for FSU’s passing game. The quarterbacks struggled some with placing the ball properly and drops were a bigger issue for FSU’s wide receivers and tight ends than they have been for the majority of the preseason. However, there were a few remarkable catches on the day.

Kentron Poitier had the catch of the day when he went up over Jacksonville State defensive back transfer Malik Feaster, who was a full participant for the first time Tuesday, mossing him for a huge catch, which drew a big, audible reaction from the sideline.

It wasn’t Jordan Travis’ most efficient day, but he did have one particularly strong throw where he hit a very tight window, threading the ball between two defenders to hit Mycah Pittman, who dove to make the catch.

Tight end Preston Daniel had a drop late in practice in red-zone work, but redeemed himself with a solid touchdown catch over linebacker Tatum Bethune.

In the secondary, safety Jarques McClellion had a pair of interceptions (one of which may have been out of bounds) in early team work while Sidney Williams took advantage of an offensive miscommunication for an easy interception he would have returned for a touchdown in 1-on-1s.

FSU returns to the practice field Wednesday morning for its 17th of 20 preseason camp practices before game week begins on Sunday.

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