Florida State football went in full pads on Tuesday’s fall camp practice.
FSU coach Mike Norvell expected practice No. 6 to be intense. The physicality and the explosiveness were there, as Norvell explained during his post-practice interview.
Here are the three takeaways from what Norvell had to say about Tuesday’s practice.
Mike Norvell wants to see better tempo
Norvell’s critique for Tuesday’s practice is that his Seminoles have taken a step back in the tempo. The tempo on both sides has been consistent for FSU, which has been the mindset heading into fall camp.
“I was a little disappointed with the middle part of practice,” Norvell said.
“I thought our tempo was not as good as it needed to be in play. “I thought the guys were pushing, but I didn’t like the in-between play.”
Mike Norvell pleased with his defensive line unit
The primary focus was the trenches as the Seminoles went in full pads. During the one-on-one drills, both the O-line and D-line were give-and-take.
Norvell liked what he had been seeing from the defensive front, including his top two defensive tackles, Joshua Farmer and Darrell Jackson.
Norvell followed up on his younger D-tackles. He mentioned Colorado State transfer Grady Kelly and freshman K.J. Sampson for having good practices throughout camp.
“Seeing those guys who are pushing and trying to establish themselves , I’m excited about that,” Norvell said.
Mike Norvell’s young secondary is making improvements
Fentrell Cypress II and Azareye’h Thomas are the focal points in the secondary.
However, as he expects the duo to have a big year, Norvell has drawn attention to young corners that have been competing and making their mark during practice.
“We got a couple of dynamic guys at corner,” Norvell said. Both have played a lot of football, both are great leaders in what we do, and they bring a great mindset to the work. So when you have that position as an overall strength, it definitely allows everything else defensively to build upon it .”
Norvell said that Charles Lester has been the most improved so far, alluding to how he performed in the spring to now. Other players he recognized were sophomore Quindarrius Joseph and freshmen Edwin Joseph and Ja’Bril Rawls.
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Aug. 24 vs. Georgia Tech *Dublin, Ireland at noon., ESPN
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Sept. 2 vs. Boston College at 7:30 p.m., ESPN
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Sept. 14 vs. Memphis
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Sept. 21 vs. California
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Sept. 28 at SMU
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Oct. 5 vs. Clemson
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Oct. 18 at Duke
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Oct. 26 at (U) Miami
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Nov. 2 vs. North Carolina
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Nov. 9 at Notre Dame
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Nov. 23 vs. Charleston Southern
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Nov. 30: Florida
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Dec. 7: ACC Championship
BOLD = ACC
* = Neutral Site
Peter Holland Jr. covers Florida State athletics for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at PHolland@Gannett.com or on X @_Da_pistol.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Mike Norvell gives his thoughts on day six of FSU football practice
Tallahassee Democrat
