Florida State Football: End-of-Season Report Card for the Seminoles

Florida State came into the 2011 season as a consensus top 10 selection and the favorite to win the ACC and reach a BCS Bowl. 

The Seminoles endured a bevy of injuries, especially on offense, that sent them into a slide where they lost three consecutive games early in the year, dashing their high hopes in the process. 

Jimbo Fisher’s squad would rebound to win seven of their last eight games, including a thrilling 18-14 victory over Notre Dame in the Champs Sports Bowl to finish the season with a 9-4 mark. 

So how should fans view the 2011 season? 

Here is the season ending report card for Florida State.

Quarterbacks

EJ Manuel came into the season with high expectations, even though he was replacing a first-round NFL draft pick in Christian Ponder. 

Manuel’s season took an ugly turn in the second half of the loss to then-No.1 Oklahoma, when he suffered a shoulder injury that would sideline him for the next three weeks. 

Redshirt freshman Clint Trickett filled in admirably against Oklahoma and Clemson, throwing for over 300 yards in the latter contest, but his youth showed against Wake Forest on Oct. 8 (three turnovers in the first half), and he eventually had to be replaced by a less-than-100-percent Manuel. 

Manuel’s rally would fall short against the Demon Deacons, but he went on to look like the quarterback most fans expected to see over the next five games, all wins in which FSU scored over 30 points in each contest .

Injuries took their toll on FSU’s offense, and Manuel was forced to do battle with several true freshmen late in the season, which contributed to the offense’s nosedive in November. 

Manuel was sacked an astonishing 33 times this season, yet managed to finish the season completing more than 65 percent of his passes for 2,666 yards with 22 touchdowns (18 passing, four rushing) and eight interceptions. 

Give him credit for keeping his cool amidst the turmoil around him and keeping his team on track when things did not go their way initially. 

Grade: B+

Running Backs

Florida State’s troubles establishing a ground game have been chronicled throughout the season, and several factors contributed to their limited production in 2011.

Manuel’s shoulder injury stifled their ability to run the option and put added pressure on the backs and a battered offensive line. 

Chris Thompson began the season as the lead horse in a stable of talented backs at Fisher’s disposal. 

After he suffered a back injury against Wake Forest that sidelined him for the remainder of the season, true freshman Devonta Freeman stepped up to fill the void. 

Freeman got the nod over seniors Ty Jones and Jermaine Thomas and displayed his immense talent on the way to finishing as the team’s leading rusher this season (120 rushes, 579 yards, 8 TDs). 

Those numbers are more impressive when you consider the unstable situation in the trenches.

Considering Thompson’s uncertain future and the graduation of Jones and Thomas, Freeman and fellow true freshman James Wilder, Jr. will be charged with the task of rebuilding the ground attack next season. 

Grade: C-

Receivers

Coming into the season, one of the biggest question marks surrounding FSU was the play of the wide receiver unit, which struggled with drops, blocking and various mental lapses during receivers coach Lawrence Dawsey’s tenure. 

Even though they were without Willie Haulstead (the team’s second-leading receiver in 2010) and Bert Reed missed significant time due to injury, the Seminoles' deep and talented pass-catching unit was able to play all season long at a consistently high level.

While true freshman Rashad Greene emerged as the team’s premier playmaker, several young players like Christian Green, Greg Dent and Scooter Haggins amongst others, all were able to flash their potential and show why the future for this group looks promising. 

Another player whose role figures to increase next season is freshman Nick O’Leary (12 catches), who showed why he’s the best pass-catching tight end FSU has had in several years. 

Grade:  A

Offensive Line

If you watched the Champs Sports Bowl, FSU’s enigma on the offensive line was on full display when they trotted out four true freshmen to start against the Fighting Irish. 

The first half of the bowl game played out like a majority of November did, with Manuel running for his life and the ground game virtually disappearing. 

The Seminoles had a brief stretch (their five-game winning streak in the middle of the season) where the line played at a decent level. 

However, the loss of senior leaders Andrew Datko and David Spurlock forced the Seminoles to usher in their youth movement up front a lot earlier than they expected to. 

While it is convenient to blame injuries, the Seminoles have to be held accountable for not having quality depth behind its starting unit. 

Regardless, there is no way that FSU should ever accept finishing 104th in rushing offense or allowing 40 sacks in a season. 

Considering how they finished, the payoff for this season’s struggles for Rick Trickett’s bunch could come next season. 

Grade:  D

Defensive Line

As bad as the ‘Noles were on the offensive line, their defensive line was its polar opposite. 

Florida State tied for the national lead with 48 sacks in 2010 and followed that up with 41 sacks in 2011 (good for fourth nationally). 

The line was especially stout against the run, only allowing slightly more than 80 yards per contest (second only to Alabama nationally). 

The defensive end group may be the nation’s best, with the likes of Brandon Jenkins, Bjoern Werner and Tank Carradine harassing passers all season long. 

Despite those remarkable stats, the Seminoles failed to place a single defender on the first-team All-ACC list, and only Jenkins made the second team. 

While they may not have garnered the accolades rightfully earned on the field, this unit was consistently good, and even dominant. for a majority of the year.

Grade:  A-

Linebackers

This unit struggled early in the season, and especially in the losses against Clemson and Wake Forest (where they were matched up on tight ends and slot receivers), but recovered nicely enough to finish the season strong. 

Outgoing senior Nigel Bradham finished his career as the only Seminole to lead the team in tackles three consecutive seasons.

The continued improvement of sophomores Christian Jones (a 240-pound freak who improved tremendously in coverage) and Telvin Smith (an undersized heat-seeking missile of a middle linebacker) helped the defense grow as a dominant unit towards the end of the season. 

Whether they were blitzing, in coverage or stuffing the run, the versatility of this unit was apparent, and their play as a whole had a lot to do with how the Seminoles finished sixth nationally in total defense. 

The one area they still need to get better in is defending elite tight ends. 

Grade:  B

Secondary

Despite the tremendous strides Florida State made in 2010 under new defensive coordinator Mark Stoops, the Seminoles still finished 71st nationally in pass defense in his first season. 

This year, FSU finished with the top pass defense in the ACC and leaped all the way up to 20th in the nation. 

Inserting sophomore Lamarcus Joyner (54 tackles, 4 INTs) into the lineup at free safety paid huge dividends for the Seminoles defensive backfield. 

Corners Xavier Rhodes, Mike Harris and Greg Reid bounced back from an early season slump and managed to finish the season playing at a high level. 

However, the unit was victimized by the likes of Kenny Stills (Oklahoma), Sammy Watkins (Clemson) and Chris Givens (Wake Forest) during the team’s three-game losing streak. 

Their performance against Notre Dame’s Michael Floyd is a better indicator of the standard that should be expected from a talented and experienced group going forward. 

Grade:  B

Special Teams

The Seminoles made a living this season winning the field position battle thanks to strong-legged kickoff man Dustin Hopkins and the nation’s leading punter, Shawn Powell, as well as elite return men like Reid and Joyner. 

The coverage units did their part in limiting opponents from gaining momentum in the return game. 

Hopkins finished the season as a finalist for the Lou Groza Award (given to the nation’s top kicker), and Powell was named a consensus All-American after averaging 47 yards per punt. 

While the offense and defense both had stretches this season where they struggled, the special teams unit performed at a championship-caliber level for a majority of the season. 

The lone blemish for this unit came when Hopkins missed a game-winning kick at the gun against Virginia.

Grade:  A-

Coaching

Fisher has gone 19-8 in his two seasons since taking over for the legendary Bobby Bowden. 

Considering the turmoil that played out under Bowden’s final season, Fisher should get credit for bringing some much-needed stability and modernizing the infrastructure to the Seminole football program. 

True, this season fell short of the lofty expectations most analysts and fans had set for the Seminoles. 

Perhaps Fisher’s biggest blunder this season came when he started Trickett against Wake Forest, and claimed Manuel would be used only in the case of an emergency.

He gambled that he could rest Manuel another week, but the move backfired and effectively killed any chances they had to remain in the Atlantic division race. 

However, considering that he righted the ship and the team rebounded to finish strong despite some tough breaks going against them, Fisher may be granted a reprieve for his miscues this year. 

Grade: C

Intangibles

The Seminoles can be a maddening bunch to follow sometimes. 

Clearly, the talent level is back and close to where it used to be when the Seminoles ruled the sport in the dynasty years. 

However, their penchant for committing back-breaking penalties in big games is a trend that has to be reversed if they want to win big again. 

While their intuition may be in question at times, the effort and intensity they played with all season long cannot be. 

The best example of their resiliency came in the bowl game, when they erased a 14-0 deficit late in the second half to rally for a 18-14 win over the Irish. 

Grade: B-

Overall

It is safe to say that Florida State fell short of the goals set for them this season. 

This was supposed to be the year that the Seminoles would win the conference title and advance to a BCS bowl for the first time since 2005.

While those goals vanished in early October, the Seminoles managed to dust themselves off and claim the state title (by defeating rivals Miami and Florida) for the second consecutive season.

The 19 wins in a two-year span is the most for FSU since 2003-04, and Fisher has established a reputation as one of the nation’s finest recruiters. 

With an exciting win over Notre Dame as the backdrop, the Seminoles should enter 2012 with the same goals that preceded this season. 

As I noted above, while this season may not have turned out like most Seminoles fans had hoped, the silver lining is that the dividends paid this season could be rewarded in 2012.  

Grade: C+