With just one week of spring practices remaining, including Saturday's Garnet and Gold Game, it's a good time to evaluate the biggest surprises so far on the 2022 Florida State football team. Specifically, pleasant surprises among the returning players.
The athletes highlighted in this feature are not freshmen or transfers, since those players all came in with a clean slate. These are guys who were on the roster last season and before, and who have far exceeded expectations during this month of spring practice.
Several players were worthy of consideration, but in the end, two players were selected on offense and two players were selected on defense.
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Renardo Green, redshirt junior cornerback
If we were selecting just one player as the biggest pleasant surprise of the spring -- on offense or defense -- Green might claim that title in a landslide.
After playing cornerback as a true freshman in 2019, Green spent the last two seasons at safety, and he produced mixed results. He started five games in 2020 but saw his Pro Football Focus grades drop precipitously as the season wore on, from 68.2 and 72.7 in his first two games to 53.3 and 55.9 in his final two.
Green then came back to start or play safety in FSU's first four games of the 2021 season before missing the rest of the year due to injury. And not long after Green went down, FSU's coaches finally identified a safety tandem -- Jammie Robinson and Akeem Dent -- that seemed to shore up the back end of the defense.
With Robinson and Dent both returning this season, it seemed likely entering this spring that Green would end up on the second- or third-team defense. And there was speculation among some fans and media that he might be a candidate for the transfer portal.
Now, after a few weeks of spring practice, that idea seems almost laughable.
At the urging of FSU's coaches, Green moved back to cornerback this spring, and the results have been very promising. The 6-foot, 187-pounder has been very solid in coverage, and he brings a safety's physicality and toughness to the cornerback position.
With former starter Jarvis Brownlee entering the transfer portal a couple weeks ago, the door is wide open for a new starting cornerback to emerge across from sophomore Omarion Cooper, and Green might actually be the leading contender.
Former starter Jarrian Jones, Louisville transfer Greedy Vance and others are in the mix as well, but the fact that Green is even in the conversation is a very pleasant surprise.
Derrick McLendon, redshirt sophomore defensive end
When Jermaine Johnson and Keir Thomas played their final games at Florida State last November, many FSU fans were understandably concerned about the defensive end rotation in 2022.
The Seminoles' coaches obviously were as well, as they dipped back into the transfer portal to grab highly coveted pass-rusher Jared Verse and moved Dennis Briggs back outside after two years at defensive tackle.
Both of those moves are bearing fruit, but during the first few weeks of spring practice, McLendon is providing plenty of juice at defensive end as well. He has registered numerous sacks in 11-on-11 situations, and he has been very difficult to block in individual pass-rushing drills.
That probably shouldn't come as quite as big a surprise as it seems. McLendon recorded 4.5 tackles for loss (including 3.5 sacks) while playing 297 snaps last fall, according to Pro Football Focus.
Thomas (6.5 sacks, 12 total tackles for loss) and Johnson (12 sacks, 18 TFLs) were obviously much more productive, but they also played far more snaps. Thomas saw action on 648 snaps last fall, while Johnson played 736.
PFF actually breaks it down further, looking at pass-rush snaps vs. run-defense snaps. And based on those numbers, Johnson had one sack for every 23.1 pass-rushing opportunities, which obviously is extremely impressive -- and a big part of the reason why he is expected to be taken in the first 10 or 15 picks of the 2022 NFL Draft. But Thomas had just one sack per 54.6 snaps, while McLendon recorded one for every 46.9.
McLendon also has made major changes to his body and looks better physically than he has at any point in his Florida State career. The former four-star prospect came into college in 2019 at 245 pounds, but he checked in at over 250 each of the last two seasons; he was listed at 6-4 and 255 last fall.
But this spring, McLendon looks much leaner, quicker and stronger, and he now carries just 240 pounds on his 6-4 frame, which is less than he weighed coming out of high school.
It's not likely that McLendon makes anyone forget about Jermaine Johnson this fall, but he apparently will play a much larger role in the 2022 FSU defense than any of us might have expected.
Tate Rodemaker, redshirt sophomore quarterback
Many FSU fans and media members felt like they saw all they needed to see from Rodemaker during his brief appearances during the 2020 season and in the 2021 spring game. And those obviously were not positive first and second impressions.
But they also were probably not fair assessments -- particularly the times he was thrown into action prematurely in 2020.
It's a lot to ask of any true freshman to play quarterback on the Power 5 level, but Rodemaker's task was made tougher by the fact his initial months of preparation came during a worldwide pandemic -- with practice schedules and offseason workouts often interrupted by quarantines. He also was thrust into action after coming into fall camp fourth on the depth chart.
Rodemaker ended up appearing in four games that season, and it didn't go well. He completed 17 of 29 passes with three interceptions, including one that was returned for a touchdown by Jacksonville State.
Despite that rough beginning, the Valdosta, Ga., product actually showed signs of improvement in practices and scrimmages last spring. But then he struggled again in the spring game, taking several sacks, throwing an interception and never really seeming comfortable.
But this spring, Rodemaker has looked completely different. Having been in Mike Norvell's offensive system for a full two years, the redshirt sophomore is showing much more poise when running the offense, and he also is displaying the confidence to attack the defense without taking unnecessary risks.
Norvell has made it clear that Rodemaker is not challenging Jordan Travis for the starting job just yet, but he has played well enough that the Seminoles have to feel much better about how he'll fare if thrown into action. And he also is making a case for being a factor in the Seminoles' quarterback competitions of the future.
CJ Campbell, redshirt freshman running back
Campbell might not actually belong on this list, because he was so far off the radar of Florida State fans and media that there literally were no expectations for him coming into the spring. But he has undoubtedly been a surprising standout.
After enrolling in 2021 as a preferred walk-on, Campbell's primary role on last year's team was to carry the ball for the scout-team offense in practice. That meant he was going up against the first- and second-team defense, while running behind a makeshift offensive line of reserves and walk-ons.
Yet in practice after practice, Campbell was seen breaking free for big gains -- just like former walk-on Treshaun Ward had done the year before.
And while Campbell hasn't yet been placed on scholarship like Ward, he clearly has pushed his way into the Seminoles' rotation at running back. He has been very productive in practices all spring, and he has shown impressive toughness to go along with balance, vision, speed and quickness.
It might be difficult for Campbell to grab many carries this fall in a crowded backfield -- the Seminoles have five other scholarship tailbacks (Ward, Lawrance Toafili, Trey Benson, D.J. Williams and Rodney Hill) -- but he has clearly proven that he can play on this level. And it wouldn't be a surprise at all to see him on the field in games this season.
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