FSU Seminoles

When summer workouts began a year ago, players like Menelik Watson, Demonte McAllister and Nick Waisome were flying under the radar with little in the way of expectations. By season's end, however, they were among Florida State's most productive players.

It happens every year that a few relatively obscure names find their way into bigger roles, and as the Seminoles get set to start another summer NoleNation counted down five under-the-radar players who could be in line for breakthrough seasons.

Next up: Reggie Northrup (So./LB)

Career arc: A solid recruit out of Jacksonville, Northrup found his way onto the field in a limited role as a freshman in 2012, shining on special teams while making a few big plays in late-game situations at weakside linebacker. For the season, Northrup finished with 10 tackles, including six in a dominant second-half performance against Boston College.

Why he's overlooked: With two veterans clearly entrenched in starting jobs at linebacker and a massive group of young and untested talent behind them, there's a clear line of demarcation in the group between the big names and the players flying under the radar. And while Northrup is one of the few reserves with playing experience, it's also possible he'll be upstaged by one of the five incoming freshmen, including highly regarded Matthew Thomas.

Why he'll produce: Northrup's game wasn't entirely refined last year, but his athleticism and ability to find the football were obvious. He was a missile on special teams, and his work ethic and energy at linebacker impressed teammates. He's also versatile enough to back up Christian Jones on the weakside or step in on the strongside when FSU is in its base 4-3 set. Considering both Jones and Telvin Smith will be gone after the season, there's ample reason for Jeremy Pruitt and new LBs coach Charles Kelly to make sure a few of those young linebackers get some much-needed experience now.

Projection: Even with the starting strongside job open, Northrup isn't guaranteed much, and there promises to be stiff competition even for backup roles from Terrance Smith, Freddie Stevenson and Thomas. Still, it's in FSU's interest to find ways to get as many of the young LBs on the field as possible, and Northrup's playing experience in 2012 could certainly give him a leg up.

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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In the months before spring football begins, there will no doubt be plenty of talk about all the talent Florida State lost -- from senior leaders like Lonnie Pryor and Everett Dawkins to talented juniors like Xavier Rhodes and Bjoern Werner.

Those discussions will inevitably be countered by enthusiasm about the future, too. Freshman Ronald Darby had an exceptional year in 2012 and is poised to blossom into a star. Defensive end Mario Edwards Jr. got a crack at the starting role in the final two games of the season and delivered strong performances. Karlos Williams' star has been on the rise for two full seasons now, and he appears ready for a breakthrough. And, of course, the questions of who will take over at quarterback will be ubiquitous.

But as the sun sets on 2012 and the preparations for 2013 begin, here are five more players who didn't exactly earn raves last season but could prove to be significant contributors for Florida State in the season to come.

Kelvin Benjamin (So./WR)

Background: It's somewhat odd that, after more than a year of continuous hype, Benjamin appears to be flying a bit below the radar now. Chalk it up to a rather disappointing finish to 2012. After racking up 25 touches for 476 yards and four TDs in his first nine games, Benjamin mustered just seven catches for 52 yards and no scores over the final five.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Jimbo Fisher was busy breaking down film of Saturday's win over Boston College when he noticed an odd trend midway through the fourth quarter: One play after another finished with a tackle by freshman linebacker Reggie Northrup.

"I'm going through it, and I'm like, 'Daggone,'" Fisher said. "He was just jumping out."

Northrup didn't see significant action until the fourth quarter, and yet he still managed to finish second on the team with six tackles, including one for a loss. It was a huge performance for a player who had just two tackles for the season entering the game, but it wasn't exactly evidence that Northrup had refined his skill set just yet.

"It was hilarious," middle linebacker Vince Williams said. "He didn't know what he was doing, just running around making all these tackles, blitzing, shooting gaps and stuff. I was like, 'I don't know what he's doing, but he's making plays.'"

Fisher chalks it up to instincts, which Northrup has in abundance.

For linebackers, Fisher said, a big chunk of execution is simply having a nose for the football. Northrup still needs to work on recognizing keys and adjusting to different formations, but once the play starts, he's got a knack for finding the ball carrier.

"You can only teach so much," Fisher said. "He reads and pulls that trigger and does a nice job."

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EJ Manuel did his best to play politician.

He'd seen little more than three quarters of action through two weeks, and nothing he'd been tasked with doing on the field presented much of a challenge thanks to the limitations of FCS foes Murray State and Savannah State. But Manuel refused to call Florida State's first two games meaningless.

"I can't say we're better or worse," Manuel said. "Those were the two teams we had to face. If we had played West Virginia, I might have had a different answer."

But West Virginia backed out of its scheduled date with the Seminoles, and the early slate offered little insight into a team that could either mark a return to FSU's glory years or the latest -- and perhaps greatest -- disappointment in an increasingly long history of underachievers.

The real tests begin this week with the start of ACC play, but while Manuel couldn't find much insight in two easy wins over lower-tier opponents, we'll do our best to try to find a few items worth noting.

1. One injury is one too many.

Jimbo Fisher said his team enters ACC play relatively healthy, noting that tight end Nick O'Leary and center Bryan Stork are both expected to practice this week and be ready to start Saturday after missing the Savannah State game. The easy start also gave Fisher a chance to break in some freshmen and get defensive tackle Anthony McCloud healthy, which should add some depth for the long season ahead.

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What can you take from a 55-0 game against a bad FCS team that was played with a running clock for 11 minutes then abruptly called for weather reasons with nine minutes to play in the third quarter?

The answer: Not very much. But Jimbo Fisher will watch film on it anyway, so we're pushing forward with this week's grades.

QUARTERBACK

Florida State scored 124 points in its first two games, so it's tough to offer much in the way of insightful criticisms of EJ Manuel's play, but we did note a few loose ends after the Murray State game that offered some minor cause for concern. It took just two plays for Manuel to provide a rebuttal Saturday.

Manuel connected with Rodney Smith for a 61-yard TD pass on the second play of the game, and it was all easy from there. His final numbers -- 11-of-13 for 161 yards and three TDs -- illustrate both how small an obstacle Savannah State was and how sharp Manuel looked in dismantling the Tigers. The only two incompletions of the day for Manuel were a drop by Rashad Greene and a ball he threw away while avoiding pressure.

What was most encouraging, Fisher said, was the fact that Manuel was in complete control of the game, looking off his first and second reads and finding an open man on all but one play.

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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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