FSU Seminoles

It has been a revolving door at right tackle since Florida State wrapped up a bowl win over Notre Dame nine months ago, with junior college transfer Menelik Watson being the latest lineman to get his turn.

Watson spent much of the first week of fall practice working with the second-team offense, but in the last two Florida State practices he has taken the bulk of the reps with the ones.

Watson has only been playing football for the past few years, having grown up in England. His fundamentals are still a bit raw, but at 6-foot-6 and 320 pounds his physical stature makes him an imposing force.

"He's raw, but when he gets his hands on you, no one's going anywhere," said QB Clint Trickett, who has worked with Watson in the second-team offense through much of fall practice. "I saw him handle (Brandon Jenkins) a couple times."

Watson's first-team reps come at the expense of fellow juco transfer Daniel Glauser, who spent Wednesday's early workouts with the No. 2 unit.

While Bobby Hart had been the starter at right tackle during the final two months of the 2011 season and Bryan Stork appeared to have a handle on the job at the end of spring, head coach Jimbo Fisher said he now sees it as a two-man battle between the two transfers.

"Those two guys are playing right now at right tackle, and they're doing some really good things," Fisher said.

The rest of the line appears somewhat settled with Stork in the middle, Josue Matias and Tre Jackson at the guard spots and Cameron Erving looking exceptional at left tackle.

"Cam Erving's been the most impressive to me," Trickett said. "Cam looks like he's a three-year All-American out there."

Ready to rumble: Wednesday's practice was the last for Florida State before its first scrimmage.

For a bulk of the presumed starters there's not much to prove, but for a number of the highly touted youngsters, Thursday's scrimmage will be a first look at how they perform at game speed.

"It's going to be pretty exciting to see what the young guys do when they get up against each other," safety Lamarcus Joyner said. "We'll see if they go with the flow when the game gets a little bit faster out there. That's the part we're waiting for."

That might be particularly true of freshman corner Ronald Darby, who has earned positive reviews during early practices and could stake his claim to the starting field corner job now held by Nick Waisome.

"We've been rotating there at corner with a couple different guys," Fisher said. "(Darby) is doing a really good job. He's learning."

Keelin Smith and Colin Blake, the other top options at corner, have both been limited during practice. Blake has been in a non-contact jersey for the past week, while Smith has been sidelined with a knee injury.

Meanwhile, senior Chris Thompson has looked strong since returning from a broken back, and he has gotten the majority of the reps with the No. 1 offense. Thursday's scrimmage should provide the veteran with his biggest test yet.

"I'm looking forward to seeing how Thompson will perform after coming back from that injury," Joyner said.

Extra points: Florida State's kick return drills included a bevy of potential options, including Darby, Joyner, Marvin Bracy, Karlos Williams and Rashad Greene. … Safety Terrence Brooks continues to wear a blue non-contact jersey during practice but has not appeared limited during workouts. … Greg Dent is still in a non-contact jersey following an offseason knee injury, too, but he continues to earn raves from coaches and teammates for his improved play so far. "You would think that he had some magic potion or something," Trickett said. "He's been playing his butt off."

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- On film, Clint Trickett can see a difference.

He's still the skinny kid dwarfed by his offensive linemen, but he no longer disappears into his own jersey.

"That's respectable, I guess," Trickett said.

In the weight room, there's been changes, too.

Last year, Trickett was relegated to working out with the kickers and punters -- hardly respectable company for the No. 2 quarterback. Now, he's spotting linebackers.

And when Trickett cocks his right arm and dispenses a deep ball across the field, there's something more to his throws, a zip that simply wasn't there before.

"I made a throw (in practice) that I couldn't have made last year," he said. "Other side of the field, deep, about a 20-yard out route -- and it was on a rope."

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When Jimbo Fisher dismissed starting cornerback Greg Reid two weeks ago, his hands were tied.

Reid, a senior and three-year starter, had been arrested on misdemeanor charges that included possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. It was his third incident, and Florida State's rules required Fisher to say goodbye to a player teammates lauded as an intense and dedicated leader.

The incident isn't unique, and last week LSU star Tyrann Mathieu became the latest big name to be booted from a program due, reportedly, to repeated violations of the school's rules regarding marijuana use.

It is, as Fisher described it, an epidemic.

"I think it's tremendous in the high school and junior high levels," Fisher said. "I think it's bigger than it's ever been in our society, Woodstock, any of that. It's bigger now than it's ever been."

Indeed, recent surveys show that drug use among junior high and high school students has risen dramatically in recent years, from about 18.8 percent of 12th graders in 2007 to 22.6 percent in 2011, according to Monitoring the Future.

The NCAA's latest survey, which was conducted in 2009, showed close to 27 percent of football players admitted using marijuana in the past year, even as the number of high-profile incidents have continued to shed light on the problem.

Fisher, of course, is not alone among coaches concerned with the issue, but he believes the current system may not be providing anything close to a true understanding of the problem.

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A week ago, Jimbo Fisher shrugged off suggestions that he'd found a new look for his offensive line, assuring early practice shake-ups were simply a matter of getting a few different looks to see who could handle the job.

After Tuesday's morning practice session, however, Fisher sounded like a man who had found a lineup he thinks could stick for a while.

Fisher said junior college transfers Daniel Glauser and Menelik Watson are the only two players getting serious looks at right tackle for the moment, while last year's starter, Bobby Hart, has been relegated to the second-team left tackle spot.

"Those two guys (Glauser and Watson) are playing right now at right tackle, and they're doing some really good things," Fisher said.

Glauser has gotten the vast majority of the first-team reps since last Wednesday, with Bryan Stork moving inside to center, where he, too, appears to have established himself in the role.

"He's done a really good job at center," Fisher said. "A guy inside at 312 pounds, he's making the calls, doing a really good job."

Fisher didn't rule out the possibility that Stork could move back to tackle, where he ended the spring, or that Hart could still push for a job, but thus far he's been pleased with what he's seen from the two newcomers.

"Those two guys have really shown some good things at tackle," he said. "We've got four quality tackles in my opinion."

Brooks in blue

Starting safety Terrence Brooks was in a blue non-contact jersey for the bulk of Tuesday's early practice, though Fisher downplayed the significance.

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Editor's note: RecruitingNation is taking a look at the state of each team's brand.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- On the first day, it rained.

A day later, it rained again, and on through the rest of Florida State's first week of practice, forcing the Seminoles to move workouts to the wee hours of the morning, with players taking the field long before the sun rose.

"It's another reason for us to get this indoor facility," quarterback EJ Manuel said. "Win a national championship and maybe we'll get one next year."

Manuel's aside was meant to be humorous, but it underscores the reality of life on the margins of college football's elite.

A decade ago, things were different. Florida State was dominant, a perennial top-five team and the prototype by which other programs were measured. But the new millennium has not been kind to the Seminoles, once the crown jewel of the ACC but now overshadowed by SEC neighbors such as Alabama, Florida and LSU.

If the Seminoles want the perks that come with excellence, like that indoor practice facility -- there is no more room for mediocrity.

"Winning is everything, so when you don't win, your brand takes a move back," FSU athletics director Randy Spetman said. "It puts huge expectations on us, and we've got to come through with that. And I think we will."

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While college football is stuck waiting for a playoff, recruiting is moving at light speed and coaches have quickly learned that today's prospects are more equipped than ever to handle it. Read Mitch Sherman's story.