FSU Seminoles

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- With the departure of stalwart fullback Lonnie Pryor, Florida State's offense might rely a bit more on the tight ends in 2013, and that could be a boon for Kevin Haplea.

The senior, who transferred from Penn State just days before the start of fall camp last season, has impressed new tight ends coach Tim Brewster with his ability to do all the little things necessary at the line of scrimmage.

"Haplea has a little thump to him," Brewster said. "He's the type of guy that I think can become a post player, and we're looking for a post player -- a guy that can dominate on the line of scrimmage. Because one thing we're going to do is, we're going to run the football."

While Chad Abram looks to have the fullback spot locked up, he may not offer the same versatility that Pryor brought to the FSU offense a year ago, and Jimbo Fisher has hinted that he could look to use starting tight end Nick O'Leary as a halfback and potentially run a lot more two- and three-tight end sets.

That could mean a good bit more work for Haplea, who is finding his footing in Year 2 with the program. Fisher said Haplea has caught more passes during the past few days of practice than he did all of last season.

O'Leary is still the starter at the position, and he's outpaces his competition in terms of potential by a strong margin. But while Haplea has excelled at the fundamentals, O'Leary is still working on the nuance of his position and hoping to overcome some ugly mistakes he made in 2012.

"He's a guy that's got tremendous talent, but he needs to understand that the details of the game are very important," Brewster said. "The fundamental aspects of tight end play, all the little things are important. It's not about the big picture, it's about seeing the little picture, the little things involved in every play."

Fisher said O'Leary continues to mature, and he hopes to see the junior tight end blossom into a dominant force this season. There have been some encouraging signs this spring, but O'Leary remains a work in progress.

"If he gets those little things, he's really tough to handle," Fisher said. "The details are more refined, and that's the challenge for him right now."

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With 2012 winding to a close, we're counting down the five biggest moments of the past season for Florida State. Today, we look at No. 3: Rashad Greene's touchdown catch to beat Virginia Tech.

When fans perused the schedule before the season began, it was the Thursday night showdown against Virginia Tech most often circled as the key to Florida State's fortunes. As the season developed, however, the Hokies slumped, and with each passing week, that road trip to Blacksburg, Va., in mid-November felt less and less significant.

By the time the game was finally over, however, there was no question that Florida State's win -- and more significantly, the final, brilliant drive -- was one fans would remember for a while.

Florida State went into the game with still faint hopes of a national title and was cruising toward a conference title. Virginia Tech's season was already on life support, and pride and a bowl appearance were the last vestiges of inspiration. Still, the Hokies showed plenty of fight.

FSU battled to a narrow lead at the half then took what seemed to be a commanding 20-10 lead on a 10-yard touchdown throw from EJ Manuel to Greg Dent midway through the third quarter. Then the wheels came off.

The running game never could get going, and the Seminoles finished with a historically bad minus-15 yards on the ground. The offensive line was a mess, and Manuel was sacked five times. Dent and Rashad Greene carried the load for the receiving corps.

A Logan Thomas touchdown, a brutally ugly safety on a Devonta Freeman run and a Tech field goal quickly turned the tide, and with 2:13 left to play in the game, the Hokies clung to a two-point lead.

It was disaster for Florida State. To lose again as a heavy favorite after the offense disappeared in the second half would've been a huge blow, and for all of Manuel's accomplishments during his five years in Tallahassee, leading a game-winning drive of this magnitude wasn't on his resume.

That was about to change.

The drive started badly -- a penalty, an incompletion, and a short, 6-yard pass. Manuel's third-down pass to Kenny Shaw left FSU a yard short of a first down, and given the struggles of the running game, it might as well have been a mile.

Still, Jimbo Fisher trusted his sophomore tailback, and the bruising James Wilder Jr. plowed forward -- first held up at the line of scrimmage, then fighting through for a 7-yard gain and a first down.

"I lost yards two of the four times I ran the ball, but we got that 1 yard when we needed it," Wilder said.

A 13-yard completion to Dent moved FSU into range for a long field goal try, but Greene wasn't interested in risking a kick. With 40 seconds to play, he hauled in a short slant from Manuel, dodged defenders and raced 39 yards for the touchdown.

In a season in which he earned nearly as much criticism as acclaim, this was a highlight for Manuel, who finished the day with 326 yards and three TDs, and the final drive -- which was followed by a game-securing interception by Tyler Hunter -- kept Florida State's ACC championship dreams alive.

"I've always watched great quarterbacks like Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger and Peyton Manning, all those guys have done it time and time again," Manuel said of the late-game drive. "When you're actually in those shoes making those plays, and you see a receiver make a catch and go down the field and score the winning touchdown, there is no more gratifying feeling as a quarterback. It was a huge, huge momentous event."

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Devonta Freeman knew what he was getting into before fall camp began.

A year ago, he was at the head of the pack by default, the last man standing amid the wreckage of injuries and poor performance in Florida State's backfield. This year was going to be different. His role would be smaller, his carries fewer and, in some games, he might not see any action at all.

As it turned out, the latter has become commonplace. In Florida State's last three games, Freeman has played sparingly. He hasn't had a carry since Week 3.

"It's tough because of the playing time I had last year, but it's a long season," Freeman said. "We've got a long time to go. I'm just being patient, staying humble and waiting on my opportunity."

For a while, Freeman had been elbowed out of the picture by sophomore James Wilder Jr., whose role had blossomed during the first few weeks of the season, culminating with a punishing second-half run to help ice a win over Clemson.

But like Freeman, Wilder has quietly faded from the offense the past two weeks, too. After struggling with goal-line carries against USF two weeks ago, Wilder got just one touch against NC State, while senior Chris Thompson carried the load, racking up a career high 25 carries.

"Thompson is hot and averaging 7 yards a carry," Jimbo Fisher said. "Chris is just playing so doggone well."

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By the time EJ Manuel completed his second pass of Saturday's game, Florida State was already up 28-0, and from there it was easy.

But while the Florida State offense soared to its third consecutive game with at least 50 points, Jimbo Fisher found plenty of points of concern when he broke down the film, particularly in the passing game.

Start with the offensive line.

Daniel Glauser got the start at right tackle over a dinged-up Menelik Watson, and on the first play of the game a miscommunication on the right side of the line forced Chris Thompson to go down in the backfield.

Fisher said communication improved as the game progressed, noting that Glauser "gave up a couple things here and there, but for the most part, I was pleased."

Watson should be a full participant in practice today, Fisher said, after getting some late work with the No. 2 offense Saturday.

"He'll be ready to roll this week," Fisher said.

The offensive line flubbed two plays on the goal line in the second quarter, too.

Florida State had a first-and-goal from the 2 and was stuffed on three consecutive plays. The first was the fault of running back James Wilder Jr., who failed to make a proper cut.

"It's a walk-in and he missed the cut," Fisher said.

The next two plays were missed signals by the offensive line, which opened gaps for Wake Forest to stuff the run.

The goal-line issues plagued Florida State a year ago, and Fisher said it will be a primary area of focus this week as FSU prepares for Clemson.

While the line wasn't perfect in pass protection either, Fisher said a number of the problems were actually the result of mistakes by receivers, backs and tight ends.

While Fisher noted that protection broke down a few times early, Manuel's designed runs and option plays helped neutralize Wake Forest's blitz, but the Seminoles still failed to capitalize on some big-play opportunities.

On the second play of the game, Kelvin Benjamin dropped a quick pass over the middle that could have been a big gain, something Fisher attributed to a young receiver trying to do too much before securing the football.

"That's something Kelvin's got to go through," he said.

Greg Dent should have been open for an easy score on a deep ball in the first quarter when Wake was in a cover zero defense, too, Fisher said, but he ran into the corner and Manuel was forced to throw the ball away.

Several bubble screens might have gone for big yards, too, but the blocking from the wide receivers -- which had been excellent on Thompson's two long TD runs -- was noticeably absent.

"One of those, EJ had to take a sack on what might have been a 90-yard bubble play," Fisher said.

Given that FSU had unveiled only a small portion of its passing attack in the first two weeks -- just "three percent," Manuel guessed -- and Wake Forest ran an unusual 3-4 scheme against the Seminoles, the early miscommunications and missed assignments weren't a complete surprise.

What was encouraging, Fisher said, is that the the passing game improved as the game progressed. If Florida State can open this week's game already firing on all cylinders, there's a chance for a lot of plays to be made.

"When we started blocking and running where we're supposed to run," Fisher said, "we're throwing, we're catching, we're doing it."

Florida State opened its season with a 69-3 win over Murray State in which the running game led a huge offensive performance, the defense looked as dominant as ever and the special teams provided the first touchdown of the game for the Seminoles.

But that doesn't mean it was a flawless performance for FSU all the way around, so we dug into the Week 1 numbers and handed out our position-by-position grades.

QUARTERBACKS

The most noteworthy moment of Saturday's game for EJ Manuel was probably his first-quarter interception, which snapped a streak of 128 straight throws without a pick. Of course, the INT was hardly Manuel's fault. The pass was delivered with precision, but Kenny Shaw bobbled it into a Murray State defender's hands. Shaw's blunder certainly kept Manuel's nuambers more pedestrian -- 16-of-22 for 188 yards -- but he also hauled in Manuel's lone touchdown throw of the game.

Given the questions surrounding the offensive line and the running game, it's not surprising that Manuel wasn't asked to do a lot as Jimbo Fisher tested his ground game often. But it's also worth noting that eight of the first nine offensive plays of the game for FSU were passing plays -- the sum total of which garnered the Seminoles 47 yards (5.9 yards per play, compared to FSU's game average of 7.9 yards per play). Manuel was also just 1-of-4 for 2 yards on third-down passes, and he converted just one of five third downs he faced in the game -- the lone conversion coming on a QB run.

With FSU rolling in the second half, Manuel didn't stick around too long. Clint Trickett entered in the third quarter and looked sharp, completing 8-of-11 passes for 117 yards, including a beautiful pitch-and-catch with Shaw for 40 yards. Trickett's highlight though? That would probably be his shoving match with a Murray State defender after Debrale Smiley's touchdown in the fourth quarter. Trickett boasted about bulking up in the offseason, noting that he was lifting weights with the linebackers these days, so he must have been eager to show off his new found moxie.

Jacob Coker also got in his first career game, too, completing 1-of-2 passes for 16 yards.

Overall, the FSU QBs were 25-of-35 for 321 yards in the game.

GRADE: B

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