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Published Apr 30, 2020
Special-teams stars battle for last two spots in our FSU football Sweet 16
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Ira Schoffel  •  TheOsceola
Managing Editor
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@iraschoffel

Two more spots have been claimed in the Sweet 16 of our Warchant Bracket Challenge -- designed to let the fans pick the greatest FSU football player of all time -- and two more spots are remaining.

In the semifinals of the Legends Bracket, No. 1 seed Ron Simmons was a landslide winner in his battle against No. 4 seed Greg Allen, claiming 92.7 percent of the vote. And in a battle of all-time great receivers, No. 2 seed Fred Biletnikoff advanced by taking 64 percent in his matchup with No. 3 seed Ron Sellers.

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The action continues today with two matchups in the Special Teams regional. These battles will determine the final two spots in the Sweet 16.

No. 1 seed Sebastian Janikowski vs. No. 2 seed Roberto Aguayo

No. 1 seed Greg Reid vs. No. 2 seed Tamarick Vanover

If you need more information and insight, we present bios on each player below:

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All voting will be done on our Tribal Council message board, and the voting window is 24 hours. Each round offers an opportunity for Warchant subscribers 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. 2 seed Roberto Aguayo

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.

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.

No. 1 seed Greg Reid vs. No. 2 seed Tamarick Vanover

Greg Reid was one of the most exciting players of the Jimbo Fisher era and one of the most dynamic special-teams players in school history. He is tied for the FSU career record for punt return touchdowns with three, and he also boasts two of the longest returns in school history. His 83-yard punt return against Miami in 2010 is tied for fifth all-time, and his 74-yarder against Samford that season is tied for 15th. Reid also holds the school record for most kickoff return yards in a single game with 193 against North Carolina in 2010. His 742 yards on kick returns that season also stands as an FSU record.

Tamarick Vanover was incredibly gifted athletically and used his combination of speed and power to burst onto the national scene as a freshman kick returner during the 1992 season. On his way to Freshman All-America honors, Vanover returned a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown against Wake Forest and broke off a 94-yarder against Miami. His finest all-around game came against rival Florida when he racked up 181 yards on three kickoff returns. His average of 60.3 yards-per-return on that day remains a school single-game record. Vanover also is still tied for the FSU record with two kickoff returns for a touchdown in season.

Winner of $25 eCard from Garnet & Gold - dougadee68


Click here to make your votes on the Tribal Council. If you're not yet a member of Warchant.com, start your 30-day Free Trial today.

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 -- updated with Round 1 results

(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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