FSU Seminoles

Andrea Adelson talks to Florida State receiver Rashad Greene about the depth at his position headed into 2013 and how the quarterback competition is shaping up.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Mario Edwards Jr. might be the heir apparent to a trio of NFL-caliber defensive ends this season, but he's still got a ways to go to match the consistency of Bjoern Werner, Cornellius Carradine and Brandon Jenkins.

Jimbo Fisher said he's seen improvement in his sophomore pass rusher, but Edwards has struggled to put a series of good plays -- and more importantly, good practices -- together.

"He's still got to come on," Fisher said. "He's got to play much more consistent and get a little more of an urgency to him."

Edwards, who had five tackles, including 1.5 for a loss, in Monday's scrimmage, said he's trimmed 25 pounds off his frame since he arrived last summer, but new defensive ends coach Sal Sunseri said there's still room for improvement.

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

Fisher echoed those sentiments, saying that while Edwards might not be where he needs to be yet, he's not far off from where Werner and Jenkins were at the same point in their careers.

"He's that guy, a young guy, but he can take off," Fisher said. "He's at that stage where a lot of those other ends were. But he's got to continue to grow and let us push him."

For his part, Edwards said he's far more comfortable now than he was eight months ago, and new coordinator Jeremy Pruitt's defense has helped the adjustment.

"It's no more reading, it's just see it and go, more of an attack," Edwards said. "And being my second year, the speed of the game has slowed down. I'm feeling more comfortable."

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Travis Haney examines five college football teams with quarterback competitions that could lead to the emergence of star signal-callers this fall, including the Max Wittek-Cody Kessler battle at USC, the Blake Bell-Trevor Knight tilt at Oklahoma and the Clint Trickett-Jameis Winston competition at Florida State. Read the story here .

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher will continue to call the offensive plays for the Seminoles this season, the way he has since he was elevated to head coach.

When it comes to actually naming an offensive coordinator, well, that is a bit of a gray area. James Coley held that title the last three seasons but never once called a play. A big reason he left for Miami? His desire to call plays.

With Coley gone from his staff, Fisher has decided against giving that title out. Could he? Sure he could. Fisher rattled off his offensive assistants -- Randy Sanders, Lawrence Dawsey and Tim Brewster -- as being more than capable.

Will he? Maybe. Maybe not.

"We still may name one," Fisher said. "I just want to get through spring ball and see how things go and see who fits into what role. But they all could do that job. That’s no problem at all. Randy’s been an offensive coordinator for years. Dawsey can do those things. Brewster has been a head coach. ... They do what an offensive coordinator does, they all still do those things. Whether you name one or you don’t, they’re still doing the job."

Fisher is one of a handful of coaches across the country who calls his own offensive plays. He has come under fire for doing both, including last season after the second-half collapse against NC State. Toward the end of last season, he hinted at perhaps giving up play calling duties in the near future.

But that was well before this staff exodus. Two assistants remain on the offensive side of the ball from a year ago. Fisher maintains that calling the plays is something he greatly enjoys. He pointed to the Seminoles' offensive numbers from a year ago -- averaging nearly 40 points per game, tied for No. 7 in the nation in red-zone offense, averaging 7 yards per play to rank No. 3 in the nation.

And he believes calling plays works for continuity's sake. His reason? Staff changes, as noted above.

"I may give it up at a time if you get the right guys in the system," Fisher said. "But you understand this. You’ve got a guy, and you’ve given him plays. As soon as you lose that guy -- which in today’s time if you have success, you’re going to -- then you have to break a whole ’nother guy in. There’s a down side to that, too. There’s a flip side to the guys who have the guru offenses and as a head coach you’re not involved with them and all of a sudden they leave. Then what do you do? You fight that animal, too, so you always try to find consistency in your program."

It's been a turbulent year for former Florida State cornerback Greg Reid, who passed on a shot to enter the NFL draft early last January only to see his Seminoles career come to an end due to off-field issues, and his 2012 season evaporate following a knee injury.

For the past seven months, however, Reid has been rehabbing his knee and his reputation with his sights set on rejuvenating his NFL prospects, and he's been detailing his road to the NFL draft here. Reid's first installment chronicled his workouts at Athlete's Edge near Miami, and in his second diary entry, he writes about the experience of the NFL combine and Florida State's pro day workouts.

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The last few weeks have been crazy. I’ve gone from Miami to Indianapolis to Miami to Valdosta to Tallahassee, then finally back to Miami. This is the first chance I’ve had to update you all since the combine and pro day.

The combine was a great experience. The best part was definitely meeting the coaches. At first it was a little intimidating. You walk into the room, and you’re like, “Man, that’s Bill Belichick -- in his hoodie and everything.” Then you realize he’s just a regular guy. You’re in a very relaxed environment, and the coaches were almost like friends. But in the back of my mind, I never forgot I was in Indy for business. The interviews were only 15 minutes, so you don’t have that much time to get to know everyone in the room, but I feel like it was enough time for me to make an impression.

Seeing Rex Ryan in person was funny since I’m used to seeing him on TV every day. Mike Shannahan was definitely the funniest coach. When I walked into the room, he asked me if I went to high school at Valdosta or Lowndes, as if he didn’t know Valdosta was my biggest rival school. I said, “Come on Coach, you already know, Lowndes!”

I bet most people don’t even know football players have to go through hours and hours of written tests at the combine. There were six different testing rooms. Each room had the same hour-and-half to two-hour test. The questions all seemed the same, just in a different order.

It was tough not participating in all the drills because I’m so competitive. It took a lot for me to understand it wasn’t worth another possible setback after all I’ve done to rehab my knee.

I got to catch up with friends from college and high school that I hadn’t seen in a while. I also got to meet a lot of new people. When I got back to Miami, I started YouTubing highlights of all the people I met at the combine. It was funny comparing their highlights to my first impressions from Indy.

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Andrea Adelson talks to Florida State safety Terrence Brooks about changes to the Seminoles' defense.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- After only recently naming a top 10 schools, ESPN Watch list defensive tackle Anthony Moten (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) decided to go ahead and make a verbal commitment on Tuesday night.

Moten chose the Florida over offers from Miami, Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, South Carolina and many others.

The 6-foot-4, 280-pound interior defensive lineman announced his decision on Twitter and later confirmed it with GatorNation via text message.

JUST COMMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA..#GOGATORS

— Anthony Moten (@anthony_moten95) April 3, 2013

Moten becomes the first defensive tackle commitment for Florida. Seven of Florida's eight verbal commitments appear on the Watch List.

If Moten stays true to his pledge, he will join other St. Thomas Aquinas graduates Cody Riggs, Bryan Cox Jr. and Marcus Roberson on Florida's roster.

One ESPN scout said Moten could develop in to a very good college defensive lineman: "A player who could potentially project as a 3-4 end or a 4-3 D-tackle, Moten has good size, natural tools and can be a productive player, but also shows room for further improvement. A good D-line prospect who it seems could still get more out of his game and if he does, he could grow into a very good BCS-level D-lineman."

Join ESPN RecruitingNation's Jeremy Crabtree, Derek Tyson, Max Olson, Will Wilkerson and Damon Sayles at 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday for "On The Trail TV."

We’ll discuss the state of recruiting in South Florida and who does the best job in Miami. Is it Miami, Florida State, Florida or somebody else? After struggles with the 2013 class, we’ll look at how Texas’ fast start is changing perceptions of the Longhorns’ future. We’ll also talk about how Missouri has suddenly had a tough time defending its home turf and preview the upcoming Dallas Nike Football Training Camp.

We’ll also answer any questions you might have from across RecruitingNation. Tweet questions to @RecruitingESPN or tune in for the live discussion.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- As Florida State goes through the spring, one major debate has surfaced.

Are the Seminoles rebuilding or reloading?

Depends on your perspective, of course. Coach Jimbo Fisher believes looking at the number of returning starters when making that determination is misleading. Especially in this case. Guys the Seminoles are going to be relying on this year, from Telvin Smith to Mario Edwards to Timmy Jernigan to Devonta Freeman to James Wilder Jr. have gotten valuable playing time and/or starts.

But on the flip side, it is hard to ignore just how much talent is gone: Four of the five Seminoles who made the ACC first team are gone, including defensive player of the year Bjoern Werner. That does not even count veteran quarterback EJ Manuel.

So which is it? Linebacker Christian Jones makes his pitch:

"I feel like we’re reloading. We have a lot of younger guys but we have a lot of talent here, a lot of great athletes. With the coaching staff we have now, they’re more hands on. They like to go over the fundamentals and teach the basics. I feel like with the talent we have, we can just reload and plug in new guys at the spot. We have a lot of older guys helping those younger guys out, so once we get through the spring and have a better understanding of this defense, we can once again be a dominant defense.

"Even on offense, we return a lot of guys on the O-line. Clint [Trickett] is a guy who has starts and he played pretty well in those games he started. We have other talented receivers and running backs. So being able to get this spring in, get the guys better, the sky’s going to be the limit for next season."

Now it's your turn to weigh in. Vote in our poll and let us know what you think.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- There was no chance Roberto Aguayo would see action. Two months earlier, he wasn't even expecting a scholarship. This was simply a dry run, a small sample of what the life of a kicker might someday be like.

And yet, when Aguayo stepped through the tunnel last September and onto the field at Doak Campbell Stadium for warm-ups before Florida State's opener, the gravity of the proceedings overwhelmed him.

"My stomach -- butterflies just hit it," Aguayo said.

Eventually the nerves subsided, and while Aguayo made it through the game -- and then the season -- without ever lining up for a kick, the experience meant something.

For a team and a fan base that enjoyed the calm consistency of college football's most prolific kicker during the past four years, Aguayo is something new -- and that can be a frightening prospect. But for him, the experience already feels routine, and routine is a kicker's best friend.

"I feel confident," said Aguayo, who was set to greyshirt in 2012 before a scholarship opened up at the last minute. "I don't like to pressure myself. Right now I'm focused on school, spring ball is going well, and I'm taking it step by step."

Kicking has always come naturally to Aguayo, who started playing soccer when he was just 2. When he was 8, his Pop Warner team needed someone to boot extra points, and Aguayo was the only logical candidate.

"I kicked the farthest," he said. "Everybody else's would go 2 yards off the ground."

The rigors of the job didn't change much through high school, where Aguayo was considered one of the top kicking prospects in the nation. But when he arrived at Florida State, it quickly became clear that there was a nuance to the preparation that made all the difference on game day. It's a methodical approach Dustin Hopkins executed with precision.

In practice, Aguayo would boom kick after kick. Hopkins preached restraint. On game day, Aguayo soaked in the energy of the big stage. Hopkins relished the minutiae. Through the season, Aguayo watched and learned, while Hopkins decimated virtually every kicking mark in the NCAA record books.

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