FSU football defensive coordinator Adam Fuller gets a bad rap from some fans. Does this FSU defense have flaws? Absolutely, but nearly every defense does, but this FSU defense is good enough for FSU to be 3-1 at worst this year. I’d love to see how they’d look if they had a competent offense to support them. FSU got its first win in 2024 because the defense didn’t allow a touchdown and held the California Bears to three field goals. California attempted two more, missed one, and Shyheim Brown got his finger on the other to force it wide right.
There were too many third and long conversions, missed tackles, and some communication issues. However, here’s the sequence the FSU defense has to work with from the FSU offense:
- 3 plays, 4 yards, Punt (1:44)
- 8 plays, 60 yards, TD (2:56)
- 12 plays, 62 yards, INT (7:01)
- 9 plays, 33 yards, Punt (4:44)
- 6 plays, 10 yards, Punt (2:13)
- 5 plays, 19 yards, Turnover on Downs (:56)
- 3 plays, 4 yards, Punt (1:23)
- 3 plays, 8 yards, Punt (1:59)
- 12 plays, 79 yards, TD (5:16)
- 3 plays, -2 yards, Punt (1:29)
Four three-and-outs and five drives with less than two minutes in time of possession. The defense is always on the field because the offense can’t sustain drives.
Marvin Jones Jr.
Former five-star defensive end and legacy player Marvin Jones Jr. hasn’t lived up to the hype of his high school ranking. Frankly, he has been a non-factor in the first three games and wasn’t playing well against California early in the game.
Quindarrius Jones
Quindarrius Jones is the total opposite of Marvin Jones Jr. FSU was the only school to offer a scholarship while he was in high school. The sophomore had two tackles and a half of a tackle for loss.
However, he brought a lot of energy at a time when it looked like California was trying to gain momentum in the game.
Jones has three crucial pass break ups when he was in man-to-man coverage and was quick to let everyone know he had his man locked up with a seatbelt gesture. I loved the energy, but he was lucky they didn’t call defensive pass interference on one of those plays when he didn’t exactly get his head around to find the ball.
Edwin Joseph
Redshirt freshman Edwin Joseph is a player that had been standing out on special teams early in the season. He’s made some massive hits as a gunner on punt return defense. He’s finally been healthy and is starting to enter the secondary rotation as part of FSU’s Dime package.
Patrick Payton
Redshirt Junior Patrick Payton has had a quiet first three games this season. However, he made some nice plays against the California Bears on Saturday night.
He finished the game with five tackles and a career-high three sacks. He had a career-high 3.5 tackles for a loss.
Joshua Farmer
FSU redshirt junior defensive tackle Joshua Farmer was the most impactful player on the field Saturday night. All of the things he didn’t don’t show up on the stat sheet, but he was a beast. He finished the game with four tackles, one sack, and 3.5 tackles for a loss.
Parting Thoughts
Shyheim Brown had a nice return after missing last week. He led all players with 11 tackles. KJ Kirkland continues his strong play for a younger player, finishing with seven tackles. Blake Nichelson had eight tackles and .5 tackles for a loss. I thought DJ Lundy played with some fire and got downhill against the run a couple of times. Sione Lolohea continues to give solid reps from the defensive end position.
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