As the left tackle position to continued struggle on Saturday night against Wake Forest, the Florida State coaching staff decided to make a change. A drastic one.

Instead of sticking with Abdul Bello and Jauan Williams, who are two of the lowest-rated offensive linemen in the country, according to Pro Football Focus, the Seminoles turned to a true freshman against the Demon Deacons.

Darius Washington hadn't played a single snap all season before Saturday night.

At Wake Forest, he played 54.

***Don't miss out on any of our great Football coverage. Get your 30-day FREE trial

The 6-foot-4, 308-pounder wasn't perfect by any means. He struggled at times, too. But his overall grade from PFF was still higher than the season numbers for Bello and Williams, who both played less than 20 snaps in the 22-20 loss.

Moving forward, it appears there's a chance Washington will remain the starter.

He was working with the first-team unit in the open portion of practice on Tuesday.

"Early, he was a little shaky," FSU offensive coordinator Kendal Briles said with a smile. "Darius was up there (in the coaches' offices) last night, and we were talking to him about it. He said he was just very nervous going out there and everything was happening really, really fast. Then once he calmed down, he got into it. He got after a guy and he felt, 'Oh, I'm strong enough to do this.'

"So, he ended up playing well. And that's what we're looking for offensively. We're not looking at birth certificates, we're looking at guys that can help us win. It doesn't matter the age."

*ALSO SEE: Analysis by Ira Schoffel -- On Willie Taggart's future and FSU football's complex situation

The Pensacola native came to Florida State this year as a three-star prospect, according to Rivals. He wasn't a prep All-American, but he was good enough to catch the eye of Willie Taggart and his staff while in high school.

Now he's done it again.

Taggart also had a positive review of Washington's first game as a Seminole.

"I thought he did some good things," the FSU head coach said. "I also thought he made some mistakes, which we thought he would make being a freshman. ... But we thought he would make a lot more plays for us than he did mistakes, and that's what we felt he did in the game. ...

"He's only going to continue to get better."

Washington had a good week of practice leading up to the Wake Forest game, both Briles and Taggart said. Senior right tackle Ryan Roberts said Washington is extremely conscientious and has even called him asking to go watch film together.

"He's such a hard worker," Roberts said. "He wants to be the best player he can be. He does the right things all the time."

To that point ...

"If you want to see someone's character, leave a piece of trash in a public place and see who picks it up," Roberts said. "I guarantee you 100 percent of the time Darius will stop, pick it up, regardless of if it's his or not. Regardless of where he's at, he wants to do the right thing.

"That's the biggest compliment I can give somebody."

It was a compliment echoed by one of the other veterans on the Florida State offensive line.

"Darius is one of those guys that does everything right," senior Cole Minshew said. "He barely misses anything. He goes to all the extra lifts we have. He stays in the film room. It's nice to see a guy like that rewarded for it."

-------------

Talk about this story with other Florida State football fans in the Tribal Council