I caught up with Curt Weiler from The Osceola
1. What is the confidence level in Tallahassee around Tate Rodemaker? How does the offense change with him in the lineup?
I'd say the fanbase is cautiously optimistic about Tate. Obviously, he stepped into humongous shoes replacing the ACC Player of the Year on an 11-0 team. And while he wasn't perfect last week at Florida, he made some great throws in big moments and did enough to get the job done in an extraordinarily adverse road atmosphere. Really, halftime of last year's Louisville game was a turning point for Rodemaker's collegiate career. After replacing Jordan Travis, who left the game with an injury, he threw a terrible interception, the fifth of his career with no career touchdown passes at that time. In the second half, he threw a pair of touchdown passes and led a comeback win. Since that point, he's thrown seven touchdowns with no interceptions in 15 games. Rodemaker does not have Travis' remarkable ability to escape pockets that seem impossible to escape. But he may have better overall arm talent than Travis and he's athletic enough that FSU is certainly capable of keeping plays which utilize his legs outside the pocket in the playbook.
2. Is the 2023 season a reflection of Mike Norvell building a program or more of a reflection of an excellent transfer class?
This 2023 season is much more than a reflection of an excellent transfer class. It's the culmination of years of work that Norvell put turning the mess on and off the field he inherited into a winning program once again. He's been patient and built FSU back the right way, taking the Seminoles from three regular-season wins to five to nine to 12 in his first four seasons. Yes, he's proven himself to be a transfer portal ace and brought in another excellent class of transfers this year including star wideout Keon Coleman and defensive tackle Braden Fiske. But he's also established himself as a great developer (Travis, linebacker Kalen Deloach, offensive lineman Darius Washington and safety Akeem Dent are only a few of the multiple Seminoles who were already on the roster when he arrived and he helped build them into some of the best players on this 2023 team) and also quite a culture builder. He inherited a locker room culture that was in a bad spot with its third head coach in four seasons and has built one of the best cultures in all of college football. So while the portal gets the headlines for Norvell, much more than that has gone into his rebuild of this program.
3. Outside of Jared Verse, who are the playmakers on defense?
I'll start opposite of Verse with fellow defensive end starter Patrick Payton. Payton may not be a projected first-round NFL draft pick next year like Verse, but he leads the Seminoles in tackles for loss (11.5), has five sacks and leads all defensive linemen nationally with nine batted passes this season. FSU's defensive tackle room is anchored by Fiske and redshirt sophomore Joshua Farmer, but relies on its depth and a heavy rotation as well. At linebacker, Kalen DeLoach is tied with Verse for the team lead in sacks (7), leads the team in tackles (63) and has the knack for making big plays as well, with a critical strip sack he returned for a touchdown in the win at Clemson and the game-clinching interception last week vs. Florida. In the secondary, Renardo Green has established himself as a reliable cover cornerback while nickel cornerback Jarrian Jones has had a remarkably resurgent season with three interceptions and a 90.6 PFF grade. Akeem Dent and Shyheim Brown at safety have both played at a high level for stretches of this season to anchor the back of a defense which has not yet allowed 30 points in a game this season.
4. Who do teams key on most on offense? Benson? Coleman? Wilson?
With Rodemaker at quarterback last week, Florida loaded the box in an effort to shut down the Seminoles' run game led by Trey Benson. It worked for awhile but as Rodemaker had more passing success, it opened things up and FSU's run game found much more success in the second half, which has been the case a lot this season. Keon Coleman has also certainly commanded quite a bit of attention (bracketed coverage, double teams and the like) after he had six touchdown catches in FSU's first four games of the season. Coleman still has four touchdown catches in the last four games he's played in and has made an impact as a punt returner, but he hasn't had more than 66 receiving yards in a game over that span. Wilson has benefitted from that extra attention paid to Coleman, racking up 181 receiving yards over the last three games since returning from injury and establishing himself as Rodemaker's safety blanket last week at UF.
5. Prediction
I truly could see this game going either way. What Louisville has done in year one under Jeff Brohm has been ridiculously impressive and winning the program's first ACC title in year one would be a remarkable accomplishment. However, I think that even without Travis available, a few areas of this FSU team (wide receivers, defensive line, secondary) will be a tougher challenge than any units the Cardinals have previously faced this season and I think FSU just does enough to return to the top of the ACC. Give me 30-27 FSU.
1. What is the confidence level in Tallahassee around Tate Rodemaker? How does the offense change with him in the lineup?
I'd say the fanbase is cautiously optimistic about Tate. Obviously, he stepped into humongous shoes replacing the ACC Player of the Year on an 11-0 team. And while he wasn't perfect last week at Florida, he made some great throws in big moments and did enough to get the job done in an extraordinarily adverse road atmosphere. Really, halftime of last year's Louisville game was a turning point for Rodemaker's collegiate career. After replacing Jordan Travis, who left the game with an injury, he threw a terrible interception, the fifth of his career with no career touchdown passes at that time. In the second half, he threw a pair of touchdown passes and led a comeback win. Since that point, he's thrown seven touchdowns with no interceptions in 15 games. Rodemaker does not have Travis' remarkable ability to escape pockets that seem impossible to escape. But he may have better overall arm talent than Travis and he's athletic enough that FSU is certainly capable of keeping plays which utilize his legs outside the pocket in the playbook.
2. Is the 2023 season a reflection of Mike Norvell building a program or more of a reflection of an excellent transfer class?
This 2023 season is much more than a reflection of an excellent transfer class. It's the culmination of years of work that Norvell put turning the mess on and off the field he inherited into a winning program once again. He's been patient and built FSU back the right way, taking the Seminoles from three regular-season wins to five to nine to 12 in his first four seasons. Yes, he's proven himself to be a transfer portal ace and brought in another excellent class of transfers this year including star wideout Keon Coleman and defensive tackle Braden Fiske. But he's also established himself as a great developer (Travis, linebacker Kalen Deloach, offensive lineman Darius Washington and safety Akeem Dent are only a few of the multiple Seminoles who were already on the roster when he arrived and he helped build them into some of the best players on this 2023 team) and also quite a culture builder. He inherited a locker room culture that was in a bad spot with its third head coach in four seasons and has built one of the best cultures in all of college football. So while the portal gets the headlines for Norvell, much more than that has gone into his rebuild of this program.
3. Outside of Jared Verse, who are the playmakers on defense?
I'll start opposite of Verse with fellow defensive end starter Patrick Payton. Payton may not be a projected first-round NFL draft pick next year like Verse, but he leads the Seminoles in tackles for loss (11.5), has five sacks and leads all defensive linemen nationally with nine batted passes this season. FSU's defensive tackle room is anchored by Fiske and redshirt sophomore Joshua Farmer, but relies on its depth and a heavy rotation as well. At linebacker, Kalen DeLoach is tied with Verse for the team lead in sacks (7), leads the team in tackles (63) and has the knack for making big plays as well, with a critical strip sack he returned for a touchdown in the win at Clemson and the game-clinching interception last week vs. Florida. In the secondary, Renardo Green has established himself as a reliable cover cornerback while nickel cornerback Jarrian Jones has had a remarkably resurgent season with three interceptions and a 90.6 PFF grade. Akeem Dent and Shyheim Brown at safety have both played at a high level for stretches of this season to anchor the back of a defense which has not yet allowed 30 points in a game this season.
4. Who do teams key on most on offense? Benson? Coleman? Wilson?
With Rodemaker at quarterback last week, Florida loaded the box in an effort to shut down the Seminoles' run game led by Trey Benson. It worked for awhile but as Rodemaker had more passing success, it opened things up and FSU's run game found much more success in the second half, which has been the case a lot this season. Keon Coleman has also certainly commanded quite a bit of attention (bracketed coverage, double teams and the like) after he had six touchdown catches in FSU's first four games of the season. Coleman still has four touchdown catches in the last four games he's played in and has made an impact as a punt returner, but he hasn't had more than 66 receiving yards in a game over that span. Wilson has benefitted from that extra attention paid to Coleman, racking up 181 receiving yards over the last three games since returning from injury and establishing himself as Rodemaker's safety blanket last week at UF.
5. Prediction
I truly could see this game going either way. What Louisville has done in year one under Jeff Brohm has been ridiculously impressive and winning the program's first ACC title in year one would be a remarkable accomplishment. However, I think that even without Travis available, a few areas of this FSU team (wide receivers, defensive line, secondary) will be a tougher challenge than any units the Cardinals have previously faced this season and I think FSU just does enough to return to the top of the ACC. Give me 30-27 FSU.
