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Florida State football players make impression at NFL Combine. Our takeaways.
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- Florida State football players make impression at NFL Combine. Our takeaways.
Florida State football sent 12 players to the NFL Combine to boost their stock ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft.
The dozen Seminole players did their job and left quite an impression in Indianapolis . The NFL Draft is scheduled for April 25-27 in Detroit.
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The week began with an impressive showing from defensive linemen Jared Verse and Braden Fiske , including quarterback Jordan Travis impressing with interviews with an update on his timeline. It concluded with Johnny Wilson proving to be a unicorn.
Here are our takeaways from the combine.
Built by Storms
FSU players were quick to praise director of strength and conditioning Josh Storm s throughout the season when the Seminoles earned four-quarter victories where they out-endured opponents.
Now the nation got to see how advanced Storms and his strength and conditioning program works under head coach Mike Norvell.
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Fiske set the tone for the Seminoles at the combine by running a 4.78-second 40-yard dash on Thursday. His time topped all DL. He was one of six players to finish top-five at his position.
Running back Trey Benson ran a 4.39 second time in the 40-yard dash, good for the third-best time at the position. Lineback Kalen DeLoach (4.47) was second in his position group, while tight end Jaheim Bell (4.61) and Verse (4.58) were fourth. Defensive back Jarrian Jones (4.38) was fifth in his position.
While receiver Keon Coleman 's 40-time of 4.62 did not do much to help his stock, he reached a top speed of 20.36 miles per hour in the gauntlet drill and had the second-best time of 21.71 mph in running a go-route.
Fellow receiver Wilson continued to prove to be a unicorn. He measured in with the biggest wing span for a receiver in combine history at 84.5 inches. He then ran a 4.53 second 40 dash, proving he can move well at his size.
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Norvell, Bell and Benson all took to X (formerly Twitter) to heap more praise on Storms during the combine.
New recruiting tact for Mike Norvell
Norvell and his staff put together their best recruiting class during their first four years in Tallahassee. Winning helps with that.
But it was obvious the Seminoles lost some of their allure at Early Signing Day following the snub, losing a pair of 5-star recruits on the signing day. That has become a troubling trend that needs to be fixed.
The cherry on top, FSU and offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Alex Atkins was hit with a show-cause for an NIL-related recruiting violation in January.
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Maybe the combine and the ensuing success for FSU at the coming NFL Draft can be the new recruiting trick for Norvell and his staff to close out major recruits against the elite contenders. Especially when you combine that with the expected wins that should come on the field.
Combine proves FSU football was more than quarterback Jordan Travis
Former Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis addresses reporters at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis on March 1, 2024.
As a result of the strong combine, Fiske (9.88) Jones (9.86) and Johnny Wilson (9.86) all placed in the top 15 at the combine in Relative Athletic Score, showing
RAC is a formula that contextualizes how a player tests at his position with size, speed and agility tests taken into account.
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For FSU fans and the team, it drove home the point: The 2023 Seminoles were more than just about their quarterback. Even following his injury, the team won its final two games against rival Florida (on the road) and Louisville in the ACC Championship Game, to finish 13-0.
Yet, FSU was snubbed a spot in the College Football Playoffs for a pair of 1-loss teams in Texas and Alabama [both of whom lost in the semifinals], with Travis' injury to blame , per the College Football Playoff Committee.
"It sucks. It does suck," Travis said of the snub. "But at the end of the day, you have to control what you can control. I've learned that throughout my life and my career.
"…I mean, this Florida State team was really special and I think we're seeing that at the Combine, here with the athletes and just the people we have on the field. But you can't control that, so we've got to move past that and I look forward to seeing Florida State win a lot of football games this year."
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Reach Ehsan Kassim at ekassim@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports), Instagram (tlhnolesports) and YouTube channel (NoleSportsTD).
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Keon Coleman, Braden Fiske among FSU football stand outs at NFL Combine
