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Running backs, defense highlight FSU football's Spring Showcase | Takeaways
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- Running backs, defense highlight FSU football's Spring Showcase | Takeaways
The 2024 Florida State football spring season has ended.
The program held its annual Spring Showcase on Saturday in front of 18,061 fans in a reduced capacity Doak Campbell Stadium due to ongoing renovations.
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While FSU's passing game struggled to get going under transfer quarterback DJ Uiagalelei and a pair of players left the game injured, FSU saw some silver linings in its rushing offense and defense.
Here are our takeaways from the Showcase.
FSU could be a rush first offense
The Seminoles ' running backs were the stars of the show as they rushed for multiple touchdowns and carried the offensive effort.
Indiana transfer Jaylin Lucas had a handful of big runs but didn't break free for anything too long. FSU veterans dominated on the ground, specifically redshirt seniors Lawrance Toafili and Caziah Holmes .
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The rushing effort's strong showing is a huge plus for the Seminoles going into the offense, especially after losing Trey Benson (NFL Draft) and Rodney Hill (transfer portal) .
The running backs filled the gap on offense that was left by the receivers, who struggled to pulldown catches and create scoring plays.
The quarterback play wasn't great either. Oregon State transfer Uiagalelei completed 12-of-26 passes for 177 yards, but could not find the end zone.
FSU was also without backups Brock Glenn and Luke Kormenhoek due to injury and was leaning on its walk-ons, Trever Jackson, Michael Grant of Maclay and Dylan MacNamara.
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Grant , a Maclay School football alum, threw the only touchdown, a long pass to Vandrevius Jacobs to end the Showcase.
Injuries continue to pile up
Florida State football hosted its annual Spring Showcase on April 20, 2024 at Doak Campbell Stadium
FSU was already without seven players due to injuries heading into the Showcase. Glenn and Kromenhoek did not practice last week.
Defensive tackle Joshua Farmer, offensive tackle Robert Scott and Jamari Howard have all been out since the end of March. Wide receiver Destyn Hill and tight end Jarrale Powers have been out for about two weeks.
Wide receiver and Alabama transfer Malik Benson , who was having the strongest day among all the receivers, left the Showcase after suffering an apparent left leg injury. After being examined in the medical tent, he was carted off to the locker room.
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Benson is in the running to take one of the Seminoles' starting spots at wide-out this fall.
While we don't know the timeline of his injury, it's still likely he can be a starter. However, having him out for a long period of time could be detrimental for FSU.
Offensive lineman TJ Ferguson also left the Showcase and had to be helped off the field. L inebacker Shawn Murphy also briefly left the Showcase before returning later on.
While it's never ideal to have injuries, the offseason provides players the opportunity to rehab and recover before returning for fall camp in August.
Defense dominates, secondary needs to clean up a bit
Florida State football hosted its annual Spring Showcase on April 20, 2024 at Doak Campbell Stadium
Similar to how it was this spring, the defense dominated
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Its play in the trenches was consistent, led off by Oregon State transfer Sione Lolohea . It was expected that Lolohea was going to be an impact player and he didn't disappoint.
A few times the line forced FSU's quarterbacks to keep or ground the ball. The defensive backs, in a similar light, locked in on FSU's receivers and made it hard for them to get open.
The secondary continued to do its thing, being the main agitator for why the passing game couldn't get going. Despite a handful of missed picks, the defensive backs broke up a ton of passes throughout the entire showcase.
Shyheim Brown and Azareye'h Thomas led the effort in the secondary while Cai Bates and Ja'Bril Rawls were two young players that shined the most out of the DBs.
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The only concern for the defensive backs came toward the end of the showcase from multiple holding calls. It's been a point of emphasis for the DBs to play cleaner in practice as well and today the officials called them on it.
It's something that can be easily fixed but slightly limited the secondary from executing on the day.
Jack Williams covers Florida State athletics for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at jwilliams@tallahassee.com or on X @jackgwilliams.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Takeaways from FSU football's 2024 Spring Showcase
