FSU Seminoles

Each season brings with it new expectations, and a handful of Seminoles will bear the brunt of the pressure to perform in 2013. We're counting down the top 10 FSU players being counted on the most to help the Seminoles live up to expectations.

No. 1: QB Jameis Winston

2012 performance: Winston's first season in Tallahassee was all about building the hype. The prized recruit from the 2012 class redshirted, but he still managed to generate plenty of excitement. The video of him throwing a football over a fraternity house, the images of him enthusiastically celebrating touchdowns on the sideline during games, his impressive turn on the baseball field, the hype from analysts projecting him as a future No. 1 overall draft pick -- Winston had about as much buzz as a player can command while not actually playing.

Pressure point: Recruiting stud with immense hype takes over a veteran offense on a contending team -- that's pretty much a perfect recipe for pressure in the college game. Of course, Winston hasn't seemed to mind much. He already managed to shine during the pressure-packed QB competition this spring while concurrently playing on the baseball team, but the spotlight will only get brighter as the season approaches. And for good measure, Winston's likely first start will come in a hostile road environment, on national TV, against ACC newcomer Pittsburgh.

If he succeeds: All the muted enthusiasm currently swirling around FSU becomes unabashed excitement, and the Seminoles would quickly vault back into the national title conversation. Clemson has been the early favorite in the ACC for good reason, but Florida State has every bit as much talent and experience on offense. The X-factor is at quarterback, where Clemson has a Heisman hopeful and FSU has the newcomer. But there are plenty of fans already pegging Winston as the next Johnny Manziel, and if he even comes close to the Texas A&M star's 2012 performance, Florida State could be in for a special season.

If he fails: It's hard to even define what failure would be for Winston, given the immense hype he's received already. If he turns in a typical season for a redshirt freshman -- an inconsistent learning experience -- many fans will view it as a massive disappointment. Even if he matches the statistics posted last year by fifth-year senior EJ Manuel, it might not be enough to satisfy the buzz. And that could be the biggest issue for Winston to overcome. With a veteran offense around him, he needs to be consistent, if unspectacular. If he worries about living up to the expectations and, in turn, makes too many poorly timed miscues, it could significantly damage his growth as a quarterback and FSU's hopes for an ACC title.

Projection: All that hype surrounding Winston is there for a reason. He's special. His talent is obvious, his football smarts were on display this spring and his personality -- fun, enthusiastic and immensely competitive -- perfectly arms him for the spotlight he's going to be playing under. Still, the bar Manziel set a year ago is an awfully high standard, and one made even tougher in Jimbo Fisher's more restrained system. Winston will find success in 2013, but even Manziel had his struggles in the early going. The highs for Winston this season could well eclipse Manuel's work a year ago, but there will be a few ugly moments, too. The key will be ensuring progress each week, with an eye toward the Oct. 19 date with Clemson to have him clicking on all cylinders.

Each season brings with it new expectations, and a handful of Seminoles will bear the brunt of the pressure to perform in 2013. We're counting down the top 10 FSU players being counted on the most to help the Seminoles live up to expectations.

No. 2: DE Mario Edwards Jr.

2012 performance: The past year was a roller coaster for Edwards. He arrived at Florida State as the most touted recruit in the country, a 300-pound behemoth expecting to make an instant impact at defensive end. Of course, FSU already had its share of talent at the position -- including three 2013 NFL draft picks -- and when the season began, Edwards was slated to redshirt. That didn't last long, though. Brandon Jenkins' injury opened up some playing time, and slowly but surely, Edwards dropped some weight and began to make an impact. When Cornellius Carradine's season ended with an ACL injury, Edwards emerged as the starter in the Seminoles' last two games, finishing the year with 17 tackles and 1.5 sacks.

Pressure point: The mere fact that Edwards was poised to redshirt to open 2012 underscores just how much depth FSU had at the position. This year, however, it's a much different story. Jenkins, Carradine and Bjoern Werner are all gone, and Edwards is the cornerstone of the Seminoles' pass rush. He certainly has the talent to make an instant impact, but last year he showed signs of a lack of maturity and an excess of weight. That's not necessarily an ideal scenario for a player whom Florida State will rely upon to key the pass rush.

If he succeeds: The Seminoles are in good position to move forward even without a bevy of veteran defensive linemen, with Edwards leading the charge. While Werner, Jenkins and Carradine all were exceptional players with bright NFL futures, Edwards' ceiling might be higher than any of them. Add the new defensive scheme from coordinator Jeremy Pruitt and there's a distinct possibility that Edwards doesn't just fill a void in 2013, but blossoms into one of the most fearsome defenders in the country.

If he fails: The truth is, there isn't much room for failure for Edwards in 2013. Florida State needs him to take the next step and become a productive pass rusher as much as it needs any player to perform. There simply isn't any significant established depth at defensive end, and several others -- Giorgio Newberry, Chris Casher -- remain works in progress. Even with Pruitt looking for ways to bring pressure from elsewhere, the line remains an essential keystone to FSU's defensive success, and if Edwards can't build on his late surge in 2012, there may not be a realistic Plan B.

Projection: Edwards showed enough in his late-season stint as starter last year that there's ample room for enthusiasm. Yes, he still needs to drop a few pounds, and yes, he still has a lot to prove. But Edwards' natural ability is so immense that he should find some measure of success regardless of how much he develops from here. That, of course, doesn't mean Jimbo Fisher will be satisfied with a solid performance. Edwards could be special, and while he might not reach elite status in 2013, the FSU coaches will be pushing him hard to get there.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- When the 2012 season ended, Mario Edwards Jr. was exactly where he'd expected to be, starting in the Orange Bowl with an eye toward the future, where he'd be anchoring Florida State's defensive line.

The path to get there though, never went quite according to plan.

"It was a bit of a roller coaster," Edwards said.

His first season at FSU hardly followed the script Edwards had envisioned when he left high school as the nation's No. 1 recruit, but it was a season filled with lessons he needed to learn before he could blossom into a star at the college level.

Edwards arrived in Tallahassee with plenty of hype and an impressive pedigree, but he hardly resembled the future star who'd received so much advanced billing. In high school, he earned raves for his rare combination of speed and size, but when fall camp arrived last season, he checked in at a massive 315 pounds and showed no signs of that quick first step. He'd assumed all the recruiting hype would be enough to secure a job, but with three future NFL draft picks ahead of him on the depth chart, FSU's coaching staff had little room for an overweight freshman.

A week before Florida State's 2012 opener, Jimbo Fisher informed Edwards that he'd be redshirting. It was a blow to Edwards’ ego, who responded by skipping his first game altogether.

"It hit me, but then I couldn't blame anyone but myself," Edwards said. "I put myself behind the 8-ball coming in overweight, and I wasn't able to produce like they needed me to do because I was 315."

Edwards didn't have long to sulk. An injury to starting defensive end Brandon Jenkins put the freshman back in the mix.

"Jimbo called me in his office and said, 'Alright, bub, this is what you've been asking for -- now you've got it,'" Edwards said. "I knew then I had to get serious about what I was doing."

The opportunity offered some inspiration.

Edwards worked with strength coach Vic Viloria to improve his eating habits and adjust his exercise routine. His playing time was still minimal, but slowly he was beginning to resemble the player so many scouts had raved about during his high school days.

Throughout the season, Edwards shed more than 30 pounds, and when Cornellius Carradine went down with an ACL injury in the regular-season finale, he quickly made his case for the starting job.

"To end up starting the two biggest games -- the ACC [championship] and the Orange Bowl -- it was definitely really good," Edwards said.

Edwards held his own in those final two games, racking up 10 tackles as FSU's defensive front pounded Georgia Tech and Northern Illinois. It was a strong culmination of a frustrating year, but it was just the start of a much bigger role to come.

Jenkins and Carradine are both in NFL camps now, as is first round pick Bjoern Werner. What remains at defensive end for FSU is a crop of talented by inexperienced players with Edwards at the forefront.

"It's really amazing the talent that's here," new ends coach Sal Sunseri said. "They understand that there are three guys in the National Football League, and now it's their turn. So now they've got to come out and live up to that ability."

For Edwards, that means building on the lessons of 2012.

"He's finding out that with what I'm asking him to do, it's taxing and we've got to get him into better shape," Sunseri said. "I know it and everybody knows it and he knows it. He's going to fight through it and he's going to be good. He's got a lot of talent."

All that talent also means that the task of rebuilding FSU’s defensive line begins with Edwards.

Sitting the bench was never his plan as a freshman, but the experience offered him a chance to learn from the best.

"At the time I wasn't thinking about that, but then I started thinking, these are the top people in the nation," Edwards said. "I was top in the nation in high school but these are the top in college. I just took it as, learn from them and use it for next year."

It helps, too, that new coordinator Jeremy Pruitt has implemented a scheme that fits Edwards' style perfectly.

"There's no more reading," Edwards said. "It's more just see it and go. More attack. I feel a little more comfortable."

That doesn't mean it's been easy. Edwards was one of Sunseri's favorite targets for criticism throughout the spring -- urging his star pupil to stop relying on his natural gifts and focus on becoming a more refined player.

It wasn't always easy to hear, but Edwards understood the message.

"Sal is definitely a firecracker," he said. "At any given moment, he can go off on you. But if he's on you and yelling at you, it's because he cares about you and he's trying to coach you for the player that you could be not the player that you are."

And Florida State will need Edwards to be something more than he was as a freshman when it opens the 2013 season. Werner and Carradine recorded 24 sacks between them in 2012 -- more than any duo in the nation -- while anchoring FSU's third-ranked run defense. Replacing the production is a tall order, even for a once-prized recruit.

But if last season taught Edwards anything, it's that success at this level isn't supposed to come easily, but the biggest tests are worth the work.

"I don't like to think of it as pressure," Edwards said. "I like to think of it as a challenge, and I like challenges. It's big shoes to fill, but I think I'll be able to do it."

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Jimbo Fisher is worried about his quarterback.

Actually, that's not entirely right. Jameis Winston has inspired nothing but confidence -- from teammates, from fans and from his coach. And that's the problem.

Winston has yet to take a snap in a college game, but that's little more than a footnote to a mythology that has fans dreaming of Heisman trophies and national championships. The standards by which Winston is already being judged are immeasurably high, and that's where Fisher sees a need to intervene.

"You keep him realistic, tell him what's real and not real," Fisher said. "You let everybody else be legends and hype."

If only it were that simple.

Winston's career is still in its infancy, but the legend is ubiquitously fully grown. Fisher has tried to temper enthusiasm, but that's only served to provide an air of mystery that has made Winston into something of a cult hero.

He tossed a football over a fraternity house from 30 yards away, with accompanying viral video. He's wowed teammates and analysts who've gotten a behind-the-scenes look at his arm, with some already pegging him as a future No. 1 overall draft pick. After passing on a baseball contract out of high school, he's played a key role on Florida State's baseball team, blossoming into one of the Seminoles' best bullpen arms, touching 97 on the radar gun. He's split his attention between two sports, but still came out on top during this spring's quarterback competition, delivering his closing statement by tossing a 58-yard touchdown past All-ACC defensive back Lamarcus Joyner on his first pass in FSU's spring game.

And so the legend grows, with virtually no expectation too high for the redshirt freshman. Winston is Superman, and fans aren't fooled by the Clark Kent persona Fisher is so intent on creating.

"It's great to write, but you have to be so great that you can't live up to it and you just build disappointment for the guy," Fisher said. "Let's be careful, let him play."

So what happens when Winston actually does take the field?

History offers little precedent for instant success, and Winston is all too aware of the potential pitfalls.

"It's easy to ignore [the hype] because last year I sat the bench for a whole year and didn't see the field," Winston said. "That was the easiest thing to get over. I came on the Florida State campus, and it's like, 'Oh yeah, Jameis, you're going to have to sit the bench.' All that hype and all that other stuff, you've got to prove that."

Instead, Winston spent much of last season proving to his teammates that he was ready for the job.

Despite the redshirt, Winston was a fixture on the sideline for every road trip. Fisher wanted to give him a taste of a hostile environment early, and Winston loved it. He was the Seminoles' biggest cheerleader, sprinting up and down the sidelines and barking praise after every big play.

At practice, he worked largely with the scout team, mimicking FSU's best offensive opponents each week. He'd play the role of Tajh Boyd or Logan Thomas to great fanfare, and slowly his teammates began to see the potential firsthand.

"You could see on the scout team last year, so much confidence, making completions you see guys like EJ [Manuel] make," Joyner said. "You have no choice but to see the talent and the uniqueness that kid has."

It's Winston's confidence that might be the X-factor.

Fisher is right to preach temperance at this point. He's heard the comparisons to Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel, who won a Heisman last season as a redshirt freshman, and he's seen the exuberance of fans eager to see Winston follow that same path. That's a high bar to exceed.

But if Fisher's role is to curb the enthusiasm, Winston is happy to add fuel to the fire.

"Jameis is always smiling, like he never has a doubt in his mind that his pass will never hit the ground," receiver Kelvin Benjamin said.

He'll dance during stretching, crack jokes on the sideline, laugh in the huddle.

"He's got energy, always likes to joke around, and guys take to that," linebacker Christian Jones said. "They like to be around a guy like that. He's always in a good mood, always happy, and guys just gravitate to that."

In fact, those comparisons to Manziel might be too conservative. After all, the Texas A&M quarterback isn't playing baseball, too.

Ask Winston for an archetype he hopes to emulate and the responses include Deion Sanders and Bo Jackson. They didn't simply excel on one field, but transcended multiple sports.

"Their mind didn't get pushed in either direction," Winston said. "So that's what I'm thinking."

So as Winston prepares for his maiden voyage with Florida State's offense, perhaps it's not the legend being created by his legions of fans that matters, and perhaps Fisher's pleas for patience don't matter at all.

Winston isn't overly concerned with stardom, but he's immensely confident that he'll get where he wants to be. And if that happens, the legend will only grow, and the hype will become reality.

"Jameis is going to be a great player," Manuel said. "He has the want to to want to be great. It's a difference between a guy who just kind of talks the talk, but Jameis will be one of those guys who actually goes out there and does it."

Each season brings with it new expectations, and a handful of Seminoles will bear the brunt of the pressure to perform in 2013. We're counting down the top 10 FSU players being counted on the most to help the Seminoles live up to expectations.

No. 3: RT Bobby Hart

2012 performance: Hart's sophomore season was a huge step back in terms of productivity, but it may have been the most important step of his career. A starter at age 17 in 2011, Hart quickly adopted a lackadaisical attitude toward practice and found himself in line coach Rick Trickett's doghouse. He lost his job to transfer Menelik Watson, didn't start a game in 2012 and saw only limited playing time. The time spent on the sideline may have been a setback on his career path, but it also opened Hart's eyes to the fact that he hadn't accomplished anything yet.

Pressure point: With Hart out and Watson in, the offensive line improved markedly in 2012. That's certainly not all due to Hart's limited role. There were big changes all over the line. Still, a new standard was set, particularly from the veteran Watson, who went from football novice to second-round selection in the NFL draft in the span of just nine months at FSU. Those are huge shoes for Hart to fill in his junior season, and with a first-year starter at QB, the Seminoles can't afford more struggles on the O-line.

If he succeeds: An offensive line that was solid if unspectacular in 2012 could make the leap forward to become one of the top units in the country in 2013. Hart's the swing vote in that potential growth. The other four starters from last year return, all expecting to improve after a year in the trenches. But Watson was, in many ways, the glue that held last year's line together, and its struggles when he was hurt underscored that notion. If Hart can become a viable replacement -- on the field and, perhaps as importantly, in terms of maturity off it -- the rest of the group should coalesce nicely, and the star-crossed tackle's career could once again be on an upward climb toward an NFL future.

If he fails: All that experience and growth from 2012 could fall by the wayside if Hart proves incapable of handling the job. If Trickett pulls the plug and sends Hart to the sidelines once again, there are few easy alternatives. Bryan Stork, a steadying force at center last season, would likely slide out to replace Hart on the right side, and Austin Barron would step in at center. FSU already has depth concerns on the O-line, and that makes any major shakeup a concern. But after a year of building continuity for a group that struggled badly in 2011, another major renovation is the last thing the Seminoles need.

Projection: There will be obvious comparisons between Hart and Watson this season, but that's a bit unfair. Watson was 23, and while his football experience was limited, he was a veteran of the ups and downs of life. He was as mature a leader as FSU had on offense, and he had the skill set to develop quickly. Hart is another story. He arrived on campus at 16, and he had a ton of learning still to do -- not just on the field. The trials and tribulations of the past year have taught some valuable lessons, but replacing Watson won't be an easy task. NFL-level tackles don't grow on trees. Hart's ceiling might be nearly as high as Watson's, but he's got farther to go to reach it. FSU will likely be satisfied with marked progress from 2012, and as long as Hart keeps heading in the right direction, he might reach Watson's level by season's end.

Heather Dinich talks about the top overall player for FSU this spring -- and it's not Jameis Winston.