FSU Seminoles

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Nothing was going to change. That was Jimbo Fisher's story to start the spring, regardless of the massive overhaul of his defensive coaching staff.

Sure, new coordinator Jeremy Pruitt would bring a few new wrinkles from his old stomping grounds at Alabama, but in the big picture, Fisher assured, Florida State's defense would still look much as it did for the past three seasons under Mark Stoops.

By the end of the spring, however, it was clear Fisher had downplayed the impact his new coaches would have. The Seminoles spent weeks watching tape of the Crimson Tide. Pruitt installed new verbiage, new calls, new schemes and a whole lot of new blitz packages. And when a rather vanilla spring game ended, even Fisher was ready to ratchet up the expectations.

"You ain't seen blitzes yet," Fisher said.

If the quarterback battle was all the buzz among Florida State fans this spring, it's the defense that created the most excitement inside the locker room. Pruitt's approach completely restructured the simplified scheme Stoops had used with such success the past three seasons, and that meant new opportunities for the Seminoles' defenders and plenty of confusion for the offense.

The only problem was that FSU had just four weeks to master it before the long summer began.

"That's the hardest part, because at some point we were trying to relate last year's calls to this year's calls, and you really can't do that," safety Terrence Brooks said. "You've got to forget all that. It's learning a whole new defense."

The large-scale changes were bound to occur given the three new coaches on defense. But shaking things up also brings risk.

Stoops' unit was immensely successful, finishing second in total defense in 2012 and fourth in 2011. And the beauty of Stoops' approach was in its simplicity. He asked his defensive backs to cover, asked his linebackers to stop the run and asked his front four to generate pressure. Blitzes were the exception, not the rule.

"Stoops made it really, really simple," Brooks said. "I feel like he was a genius for that, getting the defense to be that good, but so simple."

Maintaining that simplicity might have been difficult regardless of the coaching changes, though. With the loss of five defensive linemen and one of the nation's top cornerbacks to the NFL, changes were inevitable. Ends Bjoern Werner and Cornellius Carradine had been immensely successful in generating pressure without blitzing, but that's a luxury Pruitt won't get a chance to enjoy.

Instead, Pruitt's scheme takes some of the responsibility away from the defensive front and opens up the game plan for the athletes off the line of scrimmage -- and that's an exciting proposition for players such as new starting safety Karlos Williams.

"I feel like we will be way more aggressive than we have been because we're just doing a lot more -- we're a lot more active," Williams said. "But you all can watch it and see what happens."

Blitzes come from all over the field, and Pruitt has created dozens of new looks. Linebackers creep up to the line of scrimmage, ends drop into coverage, defensive backs are blitzing routinely. It's chaos for the offense -- but it's not entirely simple for the defense, either.

"We all felt overwhelmed at some point, but all those little things and calls, it really helps a lot because it gives us a chance to make so many more plays," Brooks said. "It's amazing to see on film how Alabama did it. They had guys dropping into coverage, all the different calls they had, but they all made a lot of plays off those little calls."

But picking up all those new calls was crucial. As a new crop of freshmen arrive this summer and a handful of veterans return from injuries, it will be the responsibility of FSU's veteran defenders to pass along what they learned from this spring's four-week crash course.

Truth be told, linebacker Christian Jones said, they could've used a few more weeks to prepare. But all things considered, Jones is confident the summer will prove to be a productive time even without Pruitt's immediate oversight.

"This spring, we pretty much put in the whole playbook," Jones said. "The guys have done a pretty good job of picking it all up, but it's a lot of stuff. It's a lot of checks, change the fronts a lot."

The new defense presents some pressure, but Jones isn't complaining. It might take a while longer to get everyone on the same page, but when it all comes together, this new defense could be awfully fun to watch.

"It's spring, so they've got to throw all that stuff in so we can know it in the fall," Jones said. "Once we get to the fall and can game plan, I think we'll have a real scary defense."

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Spring practice arrived with some significant questions, and it ended with at least a slightly clearer indication of some answers. This week, we'll take a look at five of the biggest question marks of the spring and decipher what we learned and how much further the Seminoles have to go before the season kicks off.

Next up: The defensive scheme

The question: How much would Jeremy Pruitt's arrival as Florida State's new defensive coordinator impact a unit that has been among the best in the country the past two seasons under Mark Stoops?

The possibilities: Certainly Pruitt -- along with two other new faces on the defensive coaching staff -- could have made only minor tweaks as they worked with personnel recruited by the previous regime. Or he could have taken everything he learned at Alabama and made a sweeping overhaul, installing a 3-4 base defense and churning out a relatively unrecognizable product. The upside to Florida State's array of versatile defenders was that Pruitt had a malleable product to work with.

What we learned this spring: The spring opened with Jimbo Fisher promising little in the way of a dramatic overhaul to the defense, but of course, he was playing coy. It didn't take long for the players to begin reporting some sweeping changes.

For what it's worth, most players argue, as Fisher has, that the basics of the defense haven't change, only the terminology. But that's really just arguing semantics. The fact is, Pruitt has brought with him a real philosophical change, even if the base defense still has four down linemen.

Where Stoops' group tended to play it safe, relying on pressure from the front four and exceptional coverage from its secondary, Pruitt clearly enjoys living more dangerously. There's motion before the snap. There's multiple looks from the same personnel. There's blitzing -- a lot of blitzing.

"It gives us a chance to make plays," safety Terrence Brooks said. "It's a very complex defense, but it's really good for us. It mixes a lot of things up and it confuses the quarterback a lot."

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida State opened the spring with more significant questions looming over the team than in any season since Jimbo Fisher took over as head coach. The past four weeks certainly haven't provided answers for them all -- including some of the most hotly debated -- but there have been some clues as to what the Seminoles will look like in the fall.

The defensive scheme: Fisher opened spring by assuring there would be few changes on defense despite three new coaches, including a new coordinator. It didn't take long to see he was bluffing. Jeremy Pruitt had players watching game film of his old Alabama teams during the offseason, and he's installed an aggressive new scheme that includes shifting players around, dropping linemen into coverage, bringing linebackers to the line of scrimmage, and blitzing early and often. "I love this defense," safety Terrence Brooks said. "It's amazing. A lot more blitzing, a lot more chances to make plays, moving guys around. Everybody's learning but we're picking it up every day and it's getting a lot better."

The right tackle job: Fisher might never offer Bobby Hart a full-fledged endorsement after the young lineman squandered his starting job with a lackadaisical approach last spring, but there was clear improvement for Hart this time around, and he managed to hold on to his spot atop the depth chart throughout. Moving Bryan Stork to right tackle and giving Austin Barron the starting job at center remains a possibility -- or a threat, depending on how much of the debate is based around motivating Hart -- but for now, Hart looks to be on solid ground.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- No position on Florida State's roster spent so much of the 2012 season in flux, and yet as this spring draws to a close, Jimbo Fisher insists he's sufficiently comfortable with the status quo at punt returner -- at least for now.

While punt return practice amounted to only about a week of work this spring, the two primary candidates to see work were the two players who bookended last season with the job -- Rashad Greene and Kenny Shaw. Both remain in competition for the role this season.

"You've still got other guys that will be in there, too, but punts are more about catching the ball than running," Fisher said.

His caution comes with ample evidence, as FSU fumbled away a myriad of punts last season, eventually costing Greene and, later, Tyler Hunter the job. That left things up to Shaw to close out the season, and he proved to be relatively effective. His 12.4 yard average trailed both Greene and Hunter, who both averaged better than 15, but Shaw never put the ball on the ground.

"When they gave me the job, I tried to do my best, and the coaches say I did a heck of a job," Shaw said.

But whether it's a job Shaw keeps remains to be seen. He's got a leg up now, but aside from Mario Pender, he's had little competition.

That may change in the fall when a bevy of potential return men join the fray. Hunter and Ronald Darby will both return from injuries that cost them the spring and could join the mix, along with speedster Marvin Bracy and incoming freshmen Ryan Green and Jalen Ramsey.

Perhaps the most intriguing candidate, however, is Lavonte Whitfield, whose combination of game-breaking speed and soft hands make him a good fit as FSU's next great punt returner.

"He's very natural at punt returns," Fisher said. "That sucker, punts will come down and lay right as his feet, and he'll scoop them up and go. He's got some tenacity to him."

For all of FSU's miscues in the punt return game a year ago, matching the production of 2012's return men may not be easy.

Florida State's average of 14.49 yards per return ranked eighth in the nation, and the Seminoles were one of just five teams to return three punts for touchdowns for the season.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A hundred yards of green spread out ahead of him, and Terrence Brooks saw himself galloping across each hash mark along the way.

Even now, more than six months after Brooks mistimed a jump that would've inevitably led to a late -- albeit unnecessary -- touchdown against Clemson, he can still see the ball hanging in the air, picture himself snagging it from the receiver and darting toward the end zone at the opposite end of the field.

"I have dreams about it," Brooks said of the Tajh Boyd pass that sailed just out of reach and into the arms of Brandon Ford for a touchdown.

For a player who started every game, finished with 52 tackles and picked off two passes in 2012, it's that play that was the most memorable.

That's OK, Brooks said.

After that game, Brooks sat on the bench with his head hung while teammates celebrated, but now he celebrates it, too. After that game, his teammates begged him to forget the performance, but now he's glad to remember. Before that game, he questioned himself, but afterward, he knew.

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

From the impending quarterback competition to finding replacements for departing juniors, Jimbo Fisher will have his work cut out for him during the next few months as he lays the groundwork for 2013.

With that in mind, we're going to go position by position, looking at Florida State's strengths and weaknesses as the Seminoles prepare for the start of spring practice.

Previous entrees can be found HERE.

Next up: Safety

2012 recap: For all the questions surrounding Terrence Brooks' move to safety or Karlos Williams' role in the rotation, it turned out that 2012 was a remarkably quiet and consistent season for FSU at the position. Lamarcus Joyner was once again exceptional, earning All-ACC honors, Brooks struggled a bit against Clemson but overall found solid footing in his new role, and Williams made strides but never quite cracked the starting lineup. As a unit, the secondary helped Florida State finish tops in the nation in pass defense, and the safeties were exceptional at avoiding the big play. The Seminoles allowed just 41 passing plays of 15 yards or more in 2012, the fewest in the nation.

Departures: Does Joyner count as a departure? He certainly toyed with the idea of leaving altogether, entering the NFL draft where he figured to be a mid-round selection, but ultimately the undersized safety chose to return for his senior season. As it turns out, however, he won't be returning as a safety. Joyner will move to cornerback for 2013, where his size becomes less of a question and he can take a crack at making a bigger impression on NFL scouts. Still, Fisher expects Joyner to be something of a jack of all trades in the secondary, playing some nickel and safety along the way, too.

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