Last year, Randy Shannon wasn't exactly a fly on the wall for the Florida State coaching staff. Not unless a fly can help with game plans and player evaluations on a daily basis.

But he wasn't a coach on the field, either.

As a senior defensive analyst, the longtime college coach wasn't permitted to instruct players during a practice. He had to stay in the background and observe.

Well, that's all changed.

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Shannon is not only the Seminoles' new linebackers coach, but he's been promoted to the co-defensive coordinator position as well. And, as you can imagine, he's doing a whole lot of talking during practice now.

"It's been a great transition," Shannon said. "Working with the (coaches) on defense has been tremendous. ... It was an easy transition because I was here last year. We all worked well together, so it's been like normal."

This isn't all that normal, though.

Although Shannon was a co-defensive coordinator at Florida for a season, this isn't exactly a typical structure of a coaching staff. Third-year defensive coordinator Adam Fuller has never had a "co-" before his title before. And Florida State, at least in the modern era, has never had two coaches sharing that position.

"Oh, it'll be easy," Shannon said with a smile. "Coach Fuller is going to call the plays like he always does. But we'll sit down as a staff. It's not a deal where anybody has an ego. He has the final say-so in what we do, but as a staff, we'll do a tremendous job of putting together a great game plan.

"And Coach Fuller has always been open to suggestions. Even on game days, he's open to suggestions. Like a really good coach should be. So, I think it's going to be exciting."

Shannon brings a wealth of experience to the position. He has been a college defensive coordinator or linebackers coach for most of the past 30 years and was head coach at Miami from 2007-10.

He replaces Chris Marve, who coached the linebackers each of the last two years before taking the defensive coordinator job at Virginia Tech.

The position has been short on bodies -- and, quite frankly, short on talent -- for a while now, but there has been an uptick in production and experience at linebacker for FSU since last year.

Not only did Kalen DeLoach, Amari Gainer and D.J. Lundy play hundreds of snaps together and finish with over 150 tackles combined, but the Seminoles are also welcoming in UCF transfer Tatum Bethune, who had over 100 tackles by himself last season for the Knights.

Shannon's previous stop was at Central Florida -- and he recruited Bethune to Orlando -- so he's quite familiar with what the transfer brings to the table.

"He's been a tremendous addition for us," Shannon said. "A guy that understands defense. A smart player. But also gets along with everybody on the team. Doesn't have an ego about anything. Just wants to work and win games, and the guys have really adapted to him."

We'll see throughout this spring how the current linebackers adapt to their new position coach. After all, it's been just two spring practices so far. And both were in helmets and shorts.

But one of the breakout players from a season ago, DeLoach, seemed visibly excited about Shannon's addition when asked about him after Monday's practice.

"With Coach Shannon, the amount of people he has in the NFL, I feel like he's got a whole roster and more," DeLoach said. "So, he just knows a lot of the game. And then the way he coaches, you play more free. It's more reaction-based than where you've got to be.

"So, I like how he coaches so far."

And the head coach certainly sounds pleased as well.

Mike Norvell, who brought Shannon in an analyst last summer, said he loved what the former Miami Hurricanes head coach and defensive coordinator brought to the Seminoles last year.

With Shannon's help, FSU went from a scoring defense that ranked 105th nationally at 36.0 points per game in 2020 to one that ranked 67th at 26.5 points per game in 2021.

And Norvell is excited to have the veteran assistant in an expanded role in 2022.

"Coach Shannon brings such a great dynamic to our staff," Norvell said. "Last year, being in an off-the-field role, I thought he did an extraordinary job in what he was asked to do. Now, it goes to a day-in, day-out approach to those players. And you see their excitement when it comes to who they have leading them. ...

"Randy and Adam, they work remarkably together. That was something that showed up last year, that I was able to see. So it was a no-brainer."

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