FSU/Bucs/Titans: A Positional and Divisional Preview

 

     The wait is almost over! We are less than 3 weeks away from the first FSU game and less than a month away from the beginning of the NFL season. Training camps are in full swing, preseason games have begun, fantasy football drafts have been scheduled, and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. As we enter the home stretch, I felt like it was time to begin previewing the teams we root for. And in the interest of time and efficiency, I felt it was best to make this a 3-in-1 feature.

Initial Storylines

     FSU and Tampa, perhaps more specifically Mike Norvell and Todd Bowles, find themselves in very similar boats. Boats that perhaps are taking on threatening amounts of water, with the captains doing all they can to keep them afloat. I think most would agree that Norvell is the college coach on the hottest seat entering 2026, and you could argue Bowles is the same at the NFL level, though that one is probably more debatable than Norvell. Regardless, these are two men that are feeling the pressure, and two men that need to have successful seasons if they wish to remain the head coaches come 2027.

     Tennessee is a bit of the opposite, with a new coaching staff entering the villa. Robert Saleh was hired in January to become the organization's 20th head coach. Saleh was previously the defensive coordinator for the 49ers, a job he held and was successful at both before and after his previous head coaching job with the New York Jets. Also on the staff is new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, who was the head coach of the New York Giants for the past 4 seasons, and before that was the OC for the Buffalo Bills where he helped develop Josh Allen. Even though Saleh is the head coach, the expectation is that Daboll will be responsible for the offense while Saleh will be responsible for the defense. Both men failed in their first opportunities as head coaches, but both hope to build off the lessons learned and find success in this new partnership in Nashville. The Titans continue to lean into the new era: new coaching staff, new logo, still relatively new QB, new star WR, and a new stadium on the horizon.

     Speaking of offensive coordinators, this is a position both FSU and Tampa are making changes at as well. Gus Malzahn decided to retire after one season with FSU. Malzahn was previously a head coach at both Auburn and UCF before FSU poached him away from the latter to be their OC. It was an up and down season for the Gus-Bus and the FSU offense, and ultimately Malzahn decided to hang up the whistle. This meant Norvell would re-claim the play calling duties. Something he was great at in 2022 and 2023 but then terrible at in 2024. The Buccaneers also made a change, firing last year's OC Josh Grizzard and hiring former Falcon's OC Zach Robinson. Grizzard was an internal hire/promotion who previously served as the pass-game coordinator under previous OC Liam Coen, who excelled and became the head coach of the Jaguars. The Bucs hoped that the continuity would be a good thing, considering the offense excelled under Coen, but Grizzard struggled in his first year as an OC and play-caller and Tampa decided it would be best to move on and search for a more experienced candidate. They liked that Robinson came from the same tree as Coen (Rams/Sean McVay) and that he had some actual OC experience from his 2 years in Atlanta.

A position-by-position look at the rosters

     Before we get into the position-by-position break down for both football teams, let's do a super quick rundown of what each position does.

Offense

QB - Quarterback. Leader of the offense and often the whole team. Takes the snap from the center on each play and either hands off to the running back or throws the ball to a wide receiver or tight end. Examples: Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield, Cam Ward

RB - Running back. Normally lines up behind or next to the quarterback. Receives handoffs from the quarterback and tries to gain yardage by running upfield while carrying the ball. May also catch passes out of the backfield. Examples: Dalvin Cook, Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey, Derrick Henry.

WR - Wide Receiver. Lines up on the outside. Runs routes and catches the passes thrown from the QB. Examples: Justin Jefferson, Mike Evans, Ja'Marr Chase, Emeka Egbuka

TE - Tight End. Sort of a hybrid between a wide receiver and an offensive lineman. sometimes they block/protect, other times they run routes and catch passes. Examples: Travis Kelce, George Kittle

OL - Offensive line. Consists of 5 positions. From left to right: Left tackle, left guard, center, right guard, right tackle. Left tackle tends to be most important as they protect the QB's blindside. Center snaps the ball to the QB on each play. As a unit, their job is to protect the QB on passing plays and create holes for the RB on running plays.

Defense

DL - Defensive line. First level of the defense. Consists of 2 positions, edge rushers and defensive tackles. Edge rushers play on the edge (as the name indicates) and attempt to sack the quarterback, they tend to be large athletic players with a rare combination of size, strength, and speed. Defensive tackles are larger wider players whose job is to clog the middle, stuff the run, and attract double teams to free up the edge rushers.

LB - Linebackers. Middle level of the defense. Consists of middle linebackers (who play in the middle of the field) and outside linebackers (who play on one side or other of the middle linebackers). Their roles involve a little bit of everything, they stop the run, they blitz, they drop into coverage and defend tight ends.

DB - Defensive backs. Last level of defense. Consists of 2 positions: Cornerbacks (CBs) and Safeties (S). Cornerbacks are matched up 1 on 1 against wide receivers and are responsible for guarding them and trying to prevent them from catching the ball. If the coverage is good enough, the ball may not even be thrown in their direction. Safeties are more of wild cards that can line up anywhere on the field and do a variety of things. They can play in the very back and try to ensure no wide receivers get behind the defense, they can also be moved up towards the line of scrimmage to blitz and/or stop the run, they can also cover wide receivers and tight ends. For both of these positions, they can play man to man (guard a specific person) or zone (guard an area of the field).

Special teams

K - kicker. primary responsibility is to make field goals and extra points. they also typically handle kick off duties.

P - punter. called upon on 4th downs to "punt" the ball to the other team when the offense is too far away to attempt a field goal and too many yards away to consider going for the first down. they want to pin the other team as close as possible to their own end zone, so as to keep them as far as possible from the other end zone.

Great, now that we've refreshed our memories, let's look at these team by team beginning with FSU.

FSU

QB - For the 3rd straight season, the Seminoles went to the portal to find an experienced starting quarterback. This time around they went with Ashton Daniels, who previously played for Auburn. FSU is hoping the 3rd time is the charm after the colossal failure of DJU and the wildly inconsistent Tommy C. Daniels profiles similar to a Jordan Travis type, a fast athletic player who can create with his legs but needs some polishing as a thrower. Mobility-wise he should be similar to Castellanos, but his taller height and bigger frame will hopefully give him an advantage over some of Tommy's limitations.

     There should be a legitimate battle for QB2 between second-year QB Kevin Sperry and JUCO transfer Malachi Marshall. Sperry served as the backup QB last year as a true freshman, but the only meaningful minutes he saw came in the Stanford game after Castellanos was knocked out of the game with a concussion. But he has spent a year in the system and is someone the staff is high on. Marshall was the JUCO National Player of the year last season and led Iowa Western to a JUCO National Championship, but remains to be seen if he can make the transition from JUCO to high-level D1 football. FSU also added another small school transfer, Dean DeNobile, for depth purposes to serve as QB4. Incoming freshman Jaden O'Neal will sit out his first season while recovering from a knee surgery.

RB - All indications are that this is going to be a 3-man rotation between rising Sophomore Ousmane Kromah, rising senior Sam Singleton, and Texas transfer Tre Wisner. 

     Kromah was a freshman last season and before that he was one of the most coveted high school running backs in the country. This is someone FSU made a hefty NIL investment in and they are hoping that this season that investment pays off. Kromah showed flashes of potential as a freshman, but now he enters his sophomore season as someone who can be the feature running back.

     Wisner was initially the one I expected to be the RB2, however it sounds like Singleton has pulled even, or possibly leap-frogged him, for that role during camp. Singleton was buried behind FSU's other running backs in the depth chart last season but worked his way up the ladder and became one of the more called upon RBs during the second half of last season. Wisner comes from Texas and actually led the Longhorns in rushing yards last season, which speaks volumes about his potential considering Texas is a top 5 program in college football these days. I believe this is a group FSU feels good about if all 3 stay healthy.

WR - You normally start 3 of them. FSU has 2 good ones in returning players Duce Robinson and Micahi Danzi, but there is an ongoing competition for the WR3 spot. 

     Duce will probably be the best player on the team this year. He was good enough to go to the NFL after last season, but FSU was able to persuade him to return for 1 more season and be the alpha of the pass-catchers. He has a rare combination of size and speed and FSU will do all they can to force-feed him the ball this year.

     Similarly, they feel good about Danzi as WR2. Danzi is a speed demon, so much so that he is actually a dual sport athlete who also runs track at FSU as a sprinter. Danzi's blazing speed is a good compliment to Duce, who is more of the physical/big-body/contested catch type. This is someone FSU wants to get the ball in open space in a variety of ways (deep shots, screen passes, hand offs, reverses). 

     The last WR spot is a legitimate competition right now and there's a real chance we could see a true freshman win the job. Entering camp, it seemed like rising sophomore Jayvan Boggs would earn the spot, however it now sounds like a pair of freshman, Jasen Lopez and Devin Carter, are in serious consideration for the spot. Lopez is a dual star athlete as well, also being a member of the basketball team, and it seems like he may be in the lead for the WR3 spot at the time of writing.

TE - This is another position where FSU turned to the portal for it's starter, and ended up signing East Carolina transfer Desirio Riles. Riles is a good pass catcher but questionable blocker. This is a problem that exists with the primary back ups as well, rising junior Landon Thomas and second year player Chase Loftin. FSU also brought in a talented high school player in Xavier Tiller. Not sure if he has a significant role this season but he's someone the staff is high on long-term. Admittedly, I don't feel as great about this position as RB and WR.

OL - Currently left to right we are looking at Xavier Chaplin, Andre Otto, Brayden Joiner, Nate Pabst, and Chimdia Nwaiwu. All except Otto are transfers, but all bring good experience from their respective destinations (Chaplin - Auburn, Joiner - Purdue, Pabst - Bowling Green, Nwaiwu - Stephen F. Austin). 

     Chaplin was by far the biggest investment as FSU wanted a quality left tackle to protect Ashton Daniels' blind side. Nwaiwu, who will play right tackle, is more of a calculated risk. He excelled at the small-school level and FSU is hoping he can make the jump to big-school competition. They feel good about the interior of Otto, Joiner, and Pabst, as well as the depth behind them like Jonathan Daniels, Chavez Thompson, Paul Bowling, and others.

DL - This is probably the position group I am most concerned about, largely because I think they are undersized compared to previous seasons. I could see other teams' offensive lines winning the battles in the trenches and being able to run the ball down their throats. But I hope I am wrong and that FSU's strategy of trading some size for some speed pays off.

     At Edge, we have another portal calculated risk in Texas A&M transfer Rylan Kennedy. Kennedy is a talented player who struggled to get on the field because A&M already had a pair of talented edge rushers in Cashius Howell and Marco Jones. Kennedy sought a more prominent role and FSU was happy to oblige. The other Edge position appears to be an open competition between JUCO transfer Jalen Anderson and rising sophomore Darryl Desir (who's twin brother Mandrell Desir also plays on the d-line and led the team in sacks last season). Anderson appears to have the edge right now (pun intended) and was one of the highest ranked JUCO players last season.

     On the interior, we know that senior Daniel Lyons will be a starter and is someone the Noles have high expectations for. Mandrell Desir and rising sophomore Kevin Wynn will also likely be rotated in here regularly. FSU also has Deante McCray, who can rotate in both at edge and inside at DT.

LB - You normally start 3 or 4. The 4 that I would expect to see the field the most are Chris Jones, Blake Nichelson, Omar Graham, and Mikai Gbayor. Jones is a coveted transfer from Southern Miss that FSU beat out Ole Miss to land the commitment of and someone the staff is constantly speaking highly of in camp. Gbayor is also an experienced and athletic transfer from UNC that FSU expects will help bolster this unit. Nichelson and Graham have spent their entire careers at FSU and have gradually worked their way into more prominent roles. FSU also has a handful of depth pieces here like the LaVallee brothers and incoming freshman Izaiyah Williams, who could crack the rotation if healthy.

CB - You normally start 2 or 3. We know that CB1 will be Pensacola's very own Ja'Brill Rawls. Rawls is another player who was probably good enough to hit the NFL, or go wherever he wanted in the transfer portal, but FSU was ultimately able to retain him for 1 more year. He will be tasked with guarding the other team's best wide receiver each game. CB2 appears to be a legitimate competition between rising junior Quindarrius Jones and South Alabama transfer Nehemiah Chandler. Chandler is another small school calculated risk similar to Nwaiwu and Anderson, while Jones saw significant time as a freshman and early in his sophomore year before suffering a season ending injury.

     The staff has a number of players in the second unit they like and hope that a few of them can emerge into reliable back up options. They are high on second year player Jamari Howard, who is physically gifted but only played in 2 games last season, as well as highly ranked incoming freshman Chuck Kennon, Notre Dame transfer Karson Hobbs, and sophomore and formerly highly ranked high school recruit Charles Lester.

S - FSU intends to start 3 and it seems like two of them will be returning star Ashlynd Barker and Duke transfer Ma'Khi Jones. Illinois State transfer CJ Richard appears to be the leader for the 3rd spot, although it sounds like returning player KJ Kirkland has made this a competition as well. Regardless of who starts week 1, I would expect both to play big minutes this season. Hobbs could also see time here if they decide to use him as a safety rather than a cb.

     This is also an area where FSU is hoping for some addition by subtraction, moving on from Edwin Joseph, a talented player who was always a head case and ended up transferring to Ole Miss, and Earl Little Jr, who could have been an NFL player but transferred to Ohio State but always struggled with tackling.

K - It will be Gabe Panikowski, a transfer from Oklahoma State, who was brought in to replace Jake Weinberg who transferred to Miami.

P - It will be Australian Daniel Hughes, who was brought in to replace Mac Chiumento who also transferred to Miami.